Didn’t buy this as a project, but arrived DOA.. been stored & unused since the 80s I think. So not abused, but certainly neglected.

Anyway.. cleaned the buss bars, which let you play it from the keys again.
Re-capped the power supply- replaced old electrolytics & tantalum capacitors.
Replaced an IC on the main PCB to bring the suboctaves back to life.
Cleaned all the sliders, pots, jacks & switches with De-oxit/ Faderlube, brought a couple of switches back to working order.
Cleaned the keys. Paintwork is blistered all over from rusting to the body, you will often see this on older painted pedals & synths. Applied a sealing polish to the casing to restore the finish & keep it in check.

This was as far as I got..

At present the synth is fully working except for the filter section. This is on a different circuit board (smaller one in pic) & looks an older design, much like early ARP gear, more solderflow circuit than PCB. There are a couple of jumper leads, & some factory-cut traces. The ICs are socketed, but those look a little corroded, was planning to clean or replace them. Actually, I did recap this board too, come to think of it, as I had the components to hand, but haven’t spent time checking the traces or connections. At the moment, you can affect the Filter Cutoff slightly when the Resonance is full on, other than that, nothing much happening, the Modulation knobs not affecting the sound either, except when switched to S/H.. it does the S/H thing very well!” Link

This is hands down my favorite mono analog ever. I’ve played with a lot. I first fell in love with a Kitten. Below it was a Pro One, behind me a Mini Moog, surrounded by Juno’s, and various other synths. I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was make the thing purr, and make it growl. It’s fatter than a minimoog, and has modular like options. The Filter FM on this thing is second to none. Not to mention you can modulate Osc 1 with Osc 2 while modulating Osc 2 with Osc 1. Yes. It’s amazing.

I am selling this because I have used the heck out of it, and I am moving to a tiny apartment in NYC and will have zero space for a long time. I also need extra money as a safeguard for my big move. I’m selling it for much less than I bought it not because I don’t think it’s worth more, but because I need to sell it fast. I bought it for 1300 plus shipping a few months ago and it was worth more than that. If you bid and are able to be around to sign for the package, I will even expedite the shipping and eat the cost myself, so long as you make sure to give me feedback so paypal releases the funds.

I will 150% buy one of these again some day. Maybe next year even. Just can’t have all my music equip right now (selling other synths too, check my other auctions).” Link

it makes sounds, both oscillators seem to work and the classic SSM 2040 filter works
it has many ins and outs including CV/ gate and audio into the filter possibly a good clean out of all the pots might sort some of the problems? however it is sold as is besides the electronic faults the condition overall is ok but it is missing one knob and the missing the bottom panel which was made from cardboard apparently?

it needs repairs to get it all working but you will be rewarded with a classic vintage synthesizer
plenty of chemical brothers sounds can be had” Link

Included in this auction is the synthesizer itself as well as a well-fitting Anvil road case.
Synth works well and and sounds great!
All jacks, keys, and controls operate well with no issues.
It has recently been professionally serviced; the keyboard scaling was off, but is now triggering across all octaves perfectly.
No further repairs as far as we can ascertain.
No existing mods.” Link

This one is far from perfect, and needs work. Here’s what I know: I bought it in need of repair, but never got around to getting it fixed. I spent 30 minutes with it and discovered the following – it makes sound, most of the controls work, including the envelope, VCF, Sample and Hold Controls, Filters, Noise. The keyboard does not seem to track. Meaning, the keys trigger sound, and it’s useful sound. As is, it’s a great “bleep bloop” machine. However, you can’t play scales. Not all of the keys work but I’m guessing that’s a contact issue because some of the other keys are scratchy. I’ve been told the keybed is the weak point of these synths, so that makes sense.

Considering how many cool sounds I can get out of this thing when it’s not functioning properly I can only imagine what it can do once it’s fixed up. I’ve been told it’s similar to an ARP Odyssey.

The rear connectors are external audio input; glide switch (for a footswitch, not included); pedals to VCF and VCO1 (pedals not included); series patch to slave and from master; and audio out low/high.” Link

This model has MIDI capability with a professionally installed retrofit by Kenton electronics.
(So you have a truly great analog synth controllable via MIDI – which is how I have used it for years . .)

Absolutely Superb sounding Synth in really Good Condition.
Cosmetically there are some marks and scratches etc. but it works great.

This has been recently serviced by a synthesizer expert ( see receipt in pictures ).

This is a superb sounding synthesizer with all the ‘bite’ normally associated with the best Moogs and ARPs.

It excels the basses and leads sounds and the filter can really ‘scream’.

Happy to show working – but time will need to be arranged’ Link

I have had this Synthesizer since 1978, and it was a lot of fun playing on it back in the days, but the Synthesizer can only play 2 notes at a time, sorry, that’s how they designed it back in the days. It is very old and Vintage, so if you are a Vintage Synthesizer collector, here’s an old one for you. The Model number is: 1853.

I will note, the power cord was extended my good friend, and Electrician. he extended it many years ago, because the origional power cord was never long enough, and it used to Frustrate me, till my friend made it longer, and it has never given me a problem, but it can always be changed out to something better.” Link

ANALOG BEAST , RARE & VINTAGE SYNTHESIZER

ALL OSC WITH ALL WAFEFORMS CAN PLAY IN THE SAME TIME – HUGE SOUND !

Good condition , had professional service / check up this year.

It’s 220 V .

This is Original Version of CAT , sounding more ” Raw , in your face ” using Discrete Analog VCOs and VCF.” Link

Model 1853
Serial # A1838

These are well known and earned the nick name “Copycat” to the Odyssey. Have been used by many artists from the Chemical Brothers to Ben Folds. There is a great article regarding this and the history of the Cat on Sound on Sound:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may99/articles/octavecat.htm

I recently had this serviced and is in all around great shape for its age. It is definitely not a “project” but contains a couple noisy pots that could stand to be replaced. Otherwise, the output sounds crisp and clear and provided you know how to generate your sounds, sounds great! These are incredibly rare finds and when they do pop up, they go fast! ” Link

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

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

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

This is DUOPHONIC version NOT SRM” Link

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

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

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