Octave Cat Synthesizer

A Ferocious New Breed

The Octave Cat synthesizer by Cherry Audio is a recreation of The CAT duophonic synthesizer, which Octave Electronics released in 1976. Octave Cat, which was created in collaboration with the original creator of The CAT, faithfully reproduces the strong resonant filter and fat, ferocious growl of the original hardware. With enhanced polyphony, a powerful integrated effects suite, and a flexible dual-step sequencer, Octave Cat enhances the original hardware's adaptable modulation, screaming audio-range oscillator cross-mod, and violent oscillator sync.

Octave Cat Features

• All aspects of the original CAT precisely modeled in exacting detail
• Over 300 presets
• Dual Panel Views with an authentic Main view for synthesis controls, and an additional FX/Seq panel with extended features
• Monophonic, duophonic, and polyphonic (up to 16 voices) voice modes
• Unison for mono and duo modes
• Two distinct VCOs with discrete wave, modulation, S+H, and sub octave settings; VCO1 with saw, triangle, and pulse with PWM, and VCO2 with square and saw waveforms
• Vintage-correct four-pole 24 db/oct filter, based on the original “cascaded OTA” SSM2040 filter with precise replication of The CAT’s unique resonance
• Accurate reproduction of the original’s Transient Generators section with two envelope generators: a standard ADSR (attack/decay/sustain/release), and an AR (attack/release)
• Sample and Hold with VCO1, VCO2, or Noise as source, with Glide that slews the voltage steps for smoother transitions
• User-selectable Bend Depth, Octave Shift, and note Glide
• Tempo-syncable LFO with onset delay
• White noise generator
• Classic-style dual-channel, eight-step sequencer, independently assignable to oscillator pitches, filter cutoff frequency and VCA amplitude, with tempo sync, quantization, and keyboard transpose
• Studio-quality integrated effects: distortion with tube and fuzz, 2/4/8/12-stage phaser, flanger/chorus, three syncable delay types, and five reverb types
• Selectable original “Mark I” or later-style “SRM” skin
• Standalone virtual instrument and plug-in versions included
• Channel pressure and polyphonic aftertouch as a polyphonic modulation source
• Support for MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) -- Pitch, Channel Pressure, and Timbre -- making Octave Cat capable of more organic and expressive performances when using MPE-compatible controllers
• Complete MIDI control and DAW automation for all controls, with easy-to-use MIDI learn and mapping
• Cherry Audio’s popular Focus zoom-in feature, as well as standard UI zoom and resize via drag
• Complete documentation available directly online from the instrument or in downloadable PDF format
• User-adjustable oversampling control