OK, it’s just an artist’s impression but we weren’t allowed to shoot any video or take photos of this one at the risk of offending any pet lovers and also err... letting the cat out of the bag...
Anyway the news is now out - a major synth manufacturer was exhibiting the Mewphonium Cat Piano behind closed doors at this year’s Winter NAMM show in Anaheim.
The unit generates sound via a series of sharp spikes attached to the keyboard. When a key is played a spike is pressed into the corresponding cat’s tail causing it to squeal. Cats are chosen on the basis of the pitch at which they squeal, younger kittens usually being best suited for the higher octaves. As with normal pianos the volume is associated with key velocity – play harder and it gets louder, although we did notice that this can also effect the pitching somewhat...
As new technology is launched others tend to jump on the bandwagon and we have heard strong rumours that a rival company is going to be exhibiting a hamster Xylophone at the Musik Messe in Frankfurt starting on April 1st. Check the upcoming SonicState web coverage for details of that one.

More info:
• www.kirchersociety.org
  
  

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