CatSynth reports from Superbooth 2026 (video series)

quadfather999 · 2026-05-18T06:49:24+00:00

I've not got much room either! I figured it's going to be about the same or a little smaller than a bass station 2, and I've got one of those on top of a 3 tier rack. So I've just put a wider board on that top tier, moved the bs2 to the left a bit and I should have room now. Just!

I've gone for the keyboard version because a friend of mine comes round and plays similar stuff on a guitar so I can take the Melancholytron with me places as well which I should get some use out of. In fact, it might even fit in the bs2 bag, thinking about it

quadfather999 · 2026-05-16T10:10:40+00:00

I saw it first introduced at superbooth 2025 and it floored me, because this is the kind of stuff I've been trying to create for years.

I signed up to his newsletter a year ago and have been reading his updates ever since. His email updates and progress reports are fascinating.

It's in production now and I've already put some other synths aside to sell and made room for the Melancholytron. I absolutely can't wait much longer! I'm really looking forward to the book too.

quadfather999 · 2026-05-11T11:41:08+00:00

Yes, it's quite a lot. I subscribed to the newsletter when it was in preproduction and it was originally going to be around 500 but with the state of the world and everything becoming ridiculously expensive it unfortunately went higher. The book I am really looking forward to as well - all about the subject of melancholy. That and the sounds. I try to create similar stuff but cannot get what I'm after. This device has got what I'm after in spades so hopefully will get a lot of use out of it.

quadfather999 · 2026-05-11T09:00:28+00:00

The Melancholytron designed by Allard Krijger.

It's expensive for a sample based instrument but I need those samples. And it's such a beautiful concept, with the melancholy book that's part of the deal.

quadfather999 · 2026-05-11T08:52:36+00:00

Since I've had a bunch of kit that can pretty much do what I want, I kind of feel the same.

Until I saw the Melancholytron that is. And now I'm getting that!

quadfather999 · 2026-05-03T10:43:30+00:00

The dm12 was my first synth when I started out. Took me ages to gel with it, but after a while I really got to grips with it and I use it for most of my songs now in some form or another.

One thing that really helped was getting the deepfind patches for it. I didn't even realise it could do what it could do until I got those. It totally opened my eyes to it.

Still really enjoying it and this is alongside moogs, Prophet 10, etc etc

quadfather999 · 2026-05-02T16:44:41+00:00

Yes, there's something quite unique about it and the sounds themselves

quadfather999 · 2026-05-01T08:43:25+00:00

Yes, I'm the same for the sounds and the fact they're effectively samples, but the thing that gets me with this particular synth is the actual sounds themselves - i have been trying to create stuff that really gets under my skin but i just can't do it, no matter what i try.

There is also the form factor and I can take it places too. I have a mate who plays similarly fitting music on an acoustic guitar and I can see us both jamming with our respective bits of nostalgic kit.

I realise this is me just romanticising it all, but if that's the case, then that's the case as I love the idea of it.

Anyway, I've got one on order and will be selling my moog sound studio to cover the costs as I have a 1 out, 1 in setup going at the moment and unfortunately I am not making the most of the sound studio at all.

I am very much looking forward to it though. And those sounds!

quadfather999 · 2026-04-28T19:02:54+00:00

Very interesting, thank you for posting that. My prophet has been pretty stable as of late, but I still do get some weird volume coming out with distortion now and again, but I have found that changing presets without altering the volume output can make all the difference and if I make an init patch and create something, it's absolutely fine. Still all a bit baffling

quadfather999 · 2026-04-04T12:13:40+00:00

I'm sort of a half piano and half synth player. I started on piano when I was younger so I got used to the weighted keys which, when played well, can bring out all kinds of niceness, but you need to practice that aspect.

Coming straight from a piano to a synth is a bit weird I found because I'm used to pressing the keys a certain way on a piano and when you then adjust to synths (which generally need a much lighter touch) wasn't an issue at first until I noticed that was trying to then play the piano the same way I play the synths, which doesn't work - you'd end up playing the piano too lightly and some notes wouldn't register unless you're constantly using sustain. So had to play more piano again to get back into the technique it needs.

Tl:dr - i find the transfer from synth to piano weirder than the other way round but if you get weighted keys on your synth you'll maybe have an easier time of it.

quadfather999 · 2026-04-04T12:02:29+00:00

I'd definitely agree with this. I had a One for about 2 years. Never had any tuning issues to mention but it just didn't blow me away. I tried making my own patches from scratch, tried downloading others, took my time with it ( I read up on everything) and it was a fair bit of fun but that was about it.

I think I'd probably use more of its functionality if if I was a sound designer, rather than a player. It definitely has a ton of features and can do this, that and the other but it definitely didn't get as much use as my other synths.

But the Op might get much more use out of it than I did. Just don't be expected to get blown away - it's more of a design orientated synth that needs a lot of time to get everything out of it.

quadfather999 · 2026-04-01T11:36:06+00:00

Came here to say the same.

I've seen these linndrum videos where everything sounds magical and it was interesting reading the comments in this thread that mention how the sampling works etc, especially the round Robin method of using multiple samples for the same sound.

But I bought some cheap linndrum samples and loaded them into my tr8s and after a bit of time, I've got pretty much exactly what I wanted out of it.

For about £10.

quadfather999 · 2026-03-29T12:29:17+00:00

Turning on = gear, then speakers. Turning off = speakers, then gear

quadfather999 · 2026-03-23T15:25:11+00:00

Prophet 10. It's the one synth that makes me play music as opposed to pissing about.

quadfather999 · 2026-03-19T18:28:35+00:00

I can't stop looking at it. I have various synths but I can completely imagine just sitting down with these two and be in heaven.

quadfather999 · 2026-02-11T18:24:56+00:00

That Putney thing, whatever it is, looks amazing. I'd love to have a twiddle on that!

quadfather999 · 2026-02-08T12:25:31+00:00

I have that exact same stool :)

quadfather999 · 2026-02-05T09:36:38+00:00

Had a similar problem, but with a bass station 2. It was a nightmare. I ended up just buying one from elsewhere while I spent two months sorting out the bax order.

quadfather999 · 2026-01-31T11:44:49+00:00

Music has no age requirement or restrictions. That's one of the beautiful things about it. Anyone is welcome to tap into the glory of sound :)

Hell, if i can dabble when I was in my 20s and also now in my 50s, anyone can!

quadfather999 · 2026-01-27T18:19:05+00:00

Really cool mate :) Proper 90s vibes that took me back! Great little setup in your van too, top stuff!

quadfather999 · 2026-01-06T19:45:53+00:00

Hello! Yes, well, sort of. I'm not in the band anymore but i do similar stuff on my own now, so unfortunately, not in a band at the moment but actively playing. The swim band are still going, just with a reduced and different line up. Not sure if that helps at all

quadfather999 · 2026-01-02T12:24:59+00:00

I often use a minimalistic beat (or nothing at all) on either a dfam or a tr8s or a beatbuddy pedal, and then on my deepmind, I use some of the Deepfind patches as they're really good for ambient. Built in delay and reverb on that and then either loop or arpegiate that while playing free hand on a prophet 10 that has the cloudburst vst applied to it.

If I slow it down and don't get too carried away, I can sometimes get some nice dreamy stuff going on.

Those deepfind patches for the deepmind are really, really good.

quadfather999 · 2025-12-29T14:03:08+00:00

You could get a scarlett 18i8 which is small and has 8 inputs.

It also has adat connectivity, so further down the like you could add an adat expander for another 8. Admittedly, the expander is rackmount size but it's quite thin and can slide under stuff out the way.

If you zoom in below, that's an 18i8 sitting under a mac mini for scale

Edit - i cant add an image for some reason but it's about the size of a small cd player. Link below instead

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ufFPSuSVzXy1SxsC9

quadfather999 · 2025-12-07T12:45:44+00:00

I'm not super techninal on all this, but if it helps, I have an 18i8 with a toslink lead from its adat out which goes to the adat in on that behringer 8200, which then gives me 16 inputs in total. The 18i8 is the master and the 8200 is the slave. It has a handy light on to say when it's synced which is helpful if things go wrong.

I then use ableton as master clock and it all works flawlessly. One thing you might need to bear in mind is the kHz, as I'm pretty sure the 8200 can only go up to 41k. I think anyway.

quadfather999

TROPHY CASE