Synthfind

“Offered for sale is my Octave Cat Mono Synth. These classic US-made synths are vastly underrated and represent fantastic value for money compared to their more famous rivals, the Minimoog and Arp Oddyssey. They are hard to find, and prices are heading upwards. The flexible nature of this synth means it really punches above its weight: particularly notable features are the cross modulation options, mixable waveforms, raw discrete oscillators and the legendary discrete filter. It dates from the mid to late 70s and sounds like a classic 70s American monosynth should: powerful and tonally brilliant. Sound design-wise it’s almost limitless with an abundance of bass, leads, and sound effects on tap – it’s easy (and very rewarding) to lose yourself for hours programming this beast…

This synth is in good cosmetic condition for its age and sounds great. Inevitably for an instrument that’s 30-plus years old, there’s a few scuffs and scratches which I’ve done my best to show in the detailed photos below. Two keys have chips on the underside, which do not affect playing and can’t be seen from most usual angles (I only discovered one of them when taking the photos). It is an original USA model and uses a neat little step-up transformer to work at 240v: this is included in the sale” Link

“Up for sale is my Octave CAT SRM 1 monophonic analogue synthersizer.

I have had the pleasure of owning this synth for a while now and It is absolutley amazing, I personally think it is a better monosynth than either an arp Odyssey or an minimoog which I have owned both in the past, It is feature packed but the best features of this synth are the cross modulation options, mixable waveforms, raw discrete oscillators and the legendary SSM 2040 filter.

It was produced in the mid/late 70’s to rival the minimoog and odyssey and sounds like a classic 70’s American monosynth should, powerful, tonally brilliant, and pallet wise it’s practicably limitless., bass, leads, sfx there all there in abundance.

The synth was given a full service and overhaul by synth guru, James Walker at synth repair services last year and is in full working order.” Link

“Beautiful OCTAVE ELECTRONICS INC, “The CAT” Duophonic analog “Electronic Music Synthesizer.” Serial #: A17xx. Model 1853. Made in Long Island City, NY (late 70’s).

This is very nice example of The Cat which has been recently serviced by Analog Synth Service (Greg Montalbano) in Oakland and received a clean bill of health (calibration, contact cleaning and some new caps). The synth sounds amazing and even though it’s modeled on the Arp Odyssey it sounds superior IMO with all discrete filter and oscillator, dual sub-oscillators, duophonic sample & hold, and more flexible/mixable waveforms. It sounds fantastic and is very stable.

There are a few small scratches on the face and some lost paint around the VCA volume, but overall very nice cosmetics and unworn lettering. The sliders work well with no scratchiness. The faux-wood side panels look good but have some rough plastic edges here and there (pic 11 shows the worst area). Also a very small name and serial number have been etched into the finish on the back right corner.

Octave Cats are just starting to be collectable as Odyssey prices continue to climb…get one while they’re still affordable. ” Link

“Octive cat, very rare, good condition , fully functional.

This is DUOPHONIC version NOT SRM” Link

“Please look online for tech info about this synth, as i dont relaly know much about them.
I also have a manual and schematics on CD from this if wanted.

There are some good and bad points, so please read below. I am not an expert, so inspection is welcome, but i
will try to be as clear as possible.

-Firstly and most importantly the unit works. all the knobs and faders seem do what they should.
-Some knobs and faders are alittle scratchy and could use a clean.
-The keyboard needs a service or the contacts may need a clean, as some keys play out of tune notes, and some dont work randomly etc.
-One of the knobs (fine tune in VCO2) is missing (the actual shaft is broken, so probably needs a new pot, although it still works as-is)
-The rear panel is missing (never bothered to put one on it as it has been sitting on a desk all the time ive had it.)
-The rear sockets are a little rusty and it could probably could use new ones as they are fairly cheap.
-a couple of screws are missing from the side panels – see pics.

NOTE – the pics show one more knob missing from the “keyboard control” in the VCF section, but i have the knob, it just fell off for the pic

feel free to ask any non-technical questions. but please remember i am not a synth person and i dont really understand them that well ” Link

“This listing is for an Octave Cat vintage analog synthesizer. The unit is 100% functional and it is in very nice cosmetic shape as well. Bushings were recently replaced so everything is up to par. Well maintained and lightly used in a smoke free home studio. ” Link

“OCTAVE CAT VINTAGE 70′S ANALOG SYNTH/RARE!

SELLING AS IS,COULD USE CONTACTS CLEANED UP AND SERVICING.MIGHT NEED SOME REPAIRS,AGAIN ,WE ARE SELLING AS IS AND YOU WILL PROBABLY NEED TO DO SOME TYPE OF REPAIR.

KEYS PLAY CORRESPONDING CHROMATIC PITCHES EXCEPT FOR A COUPLE OF THE HIGHEST KEYS.

EVERYTHING SEEMS TO WORK BUT CONTROLS ARE DUSTY SOUNDING AND WILL MOST LIKELY NEED A GOOD CONTACT CLEANING,PROFESSIONAL SERVICING, AND POSSIBLE REPAIR WORK.

DOES NOT COME WITH ANY FOOT PEDALS,CASE OR MANUALS” Link

“This synth was professionally serviced and calibrated by a technician in LA who services dozens of keyboards monthly. It performs fantastically, all the knobs, sliders and switches work as they should, the action on all the keys feels great and it is in beautiful cosmetic condition. There is light wear and a couple blemishes in the wood, but considering the synth’s age the side panels are in nice condition (see pictures below). It was a bit tough to get a clear picture of the serial number on the back but it reads M3881.” Link

“Up for auction is The CAT Eletronic Music Sythesizer by Octave Electronics. Overall it appears to be in good to very good condition, when we plug it in it turns on. We have no way of testing it, so we cannot guarantee that it works, but we see no reasons why it wouldn’t. Exterior is all in good to very good condition, some very light scratches here and there. The ground on the power cord has been removed so the plug should probably be replaced. Comes with manual. Manual is unfortunately falling apart, may be missing some pages, but is mostly there.” Link

“Great Cat that is 100% operational. I bought this here on eBay several years ago when they weren’t on the radar yet and people still assumed this was an Odyssey clone. The wood sides are scratched, but the body is near mint. There is one nick in the paint the size of one of these letters and you have to look for it. The keys and all the plastic look brand new – there is no yellowing. The model sticker under the AC cord is peeling at the corner. Again, the wooden end panels are scratched, but a day with a sander and some lacquer would turn this into a museum piece. I’ve been checking out Cats for years and this is by far the cleanest I have ever come across. It’s been my crown jewel and sincerely makes me nauseous to let it go. It’s just time for it to go to a new home and be enjoyed by someone else.” Link

“This is a wonderful example of the classic Octave Cat SRM synth and is truly in great condition. The oscs stay in tune well. The cosmetics are good. The wooden ends are in good condition and the white knobs on the black faceplate look so cool and classic. All caps and sliders are present and nothing is missing. I am including a copy of the manual, which is hard to get and has the service procedures, schematics, tuning examples, etc. The manual also includes patch sheets so you can get back to those awesome sounds again S/N for this beauty is B3257.

The mono-/duophonic ‘Cat’ is a 70s analog synth with an architecture designed very closely after the famous arp odyssey. The term ‘SRM’ stands for ’series revision model’, so it is an improved version with additional interfacing options and ssm-based filter, there is also a ‘SRM2′ model in existence. The Cat features 2 vco’s, one with pulse width modulation, both with a sub oscillator, vco1 and 2 can be adressed separately in the ‘duophonic’ keyboard mode, like in the Arp Odyssey. This technique uses the internal keyboard voltages, so this will not work with external control voltages. To add to the feature list, the Cat offers a mixable noise signal, a resonant 24db lowpass filter, one adsr-envelope and one ar-envelope with retrig option and furthermore a lfo as well as sample & hold. The lfo is permanently synced to the gate signal, so it automatically restarts when a new note is played – often useful, sometimes limiting.

The strongest point about the Cat is modulation, there is an abundance of modulation possibilities on oscillators and filter – pwm, sync and crossmodulation from vco1>vco2 and vco2>vco1 simultaneously and independently, all with very precise control. VCO1 can be switched out of the audio path, if things get too nasty. The various vco waveforms and suboctave signals are available in parallel, each one having their own slider – this comes in extremely handy with sync and cross mod sounds. The filter can be driven into self oscillation and is controlled by lfo, sample & hold or one of the envelopes and above all offers frequency modulation by vco1. Interfacing is possible via a cv/gate stereo jack, inputs for pedal control of vcf and vca and even an external signal input to the filter are available.

Soundwise, the cat’s dominant impression must be ‘powerful’, things can get very thrashy and harsh, but there are always nuances where strange and beautiful timbres evolve, and there are enough control possibilities given to sensibly pinpoint a certain sound. Generally the sound is positively like ‘ancient electronics’, it can provide anything from deep bass, to powerful percussive sounds, to complex noisescapes, and it brings in a character all of its own.

This Cat works very well and all functions are 100%. All keys fire but the key contacts need a good cleaning (included manual has full service functions). It will perform well for you in your studio and will add lots on interesting sounds to your mix. These are pretty rare today and one in this condition isn’t typical.” Link

“This is an original “Octave “the Cat” Electronic Music Synthesizer”….. manufactured from 1977 to the early 80’s. Iv’e had this one for almost 10 years…. I’m an electronic music producer, but iv’e always used VST’s and midi controllers and such….. I HAVE plugged this Cat in, and it DOES work…. I’m not familiar with how to use it properly, with a formant i guess, (external input), which i imagine creates more tone than the beeps and buzzes and rhythmic pulsations that you hear when you simply play the keys with the Cat “standing alone”. If there is anything wrong with this unit, I am unaware of it….This thing is in the exact same condition it was when i got it ten years ago….(from a friend who owed me alot o’ money). As you can see, there are a couple knobs and slider caps missing off the face, but the functions still easily work and are operated…. (they have the standard half-circle heads for replacement knobs to slip onto, so not a biggie to replace). – AGAIN- all the knobs and sliders are in seemingly good working condition, as with each move of a slider and with each turn of a knob, there is change in the sound/waveform that you hear. -there is some minimal white paint splatter -only on the keys (which i have not taken paint thinner to), that i’m sure can be removed with either thinner or something of the sort.” Link

Courtesy of PrinceznaZmrzlina on YouTube

Courtesy of synthesiserrepairguy on YouTube

Courtesy of OriginalJambo on YouTube

“Vintage Cat Electronic Synthesizer by Octave Synthesizer in excellent condition and fine working order.” Link

“Heres my octave cat analog monosynth up for auction. It is the early version ,not the srm. It is in very good condition and plays perfectly,and every function works as it should. Cosmeticly it is good also , but is missing 5 slider caps and the small plugs that cover the tuning holes.Other than that it looks very good. It has a small modification that moved the cv out to the low audio output so you can control it with a converter or another analog synth with cv and gate outs. I was using it with my obsx and sounded awesome with the oberheims output going in to the cats audio input, and with the obsx in mono mode made for a huge mono sound with lots of mod and env control mixed with the already fat cat sound.The cats cv and gate are both wired to one jack and not useful unless hooked up to another cat. So the cv was hooked up to the low audio output,and can be easily returned to original cond by returning the one wire,and can do so if you would like.Also the keyboard bushings are new and feels great.” Link