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I bought the CAT three nights ago. I paid $300.00 USA for the original 1853 model. I personally *feel* better knowing its the real deal, with discrete VCO components. But if you did a blindfold test with an SRM version, I might not even be able to tell. Though, this synth does seem to have a little extra push, or "edge" to it. Its so squirmy sounding sometimes! I was inclined to review it the very first night I brought it home, but I decided I would wait. Well for a couple of reasons... I went to the seller's house and pluged it in, and it was fine. Every key worked, all the knobs sounded something out. Good deal. I plug it in at home and VCO1 goes down for a few hours. Im freaking out. It comes back and has been with me since (3 days). While VCO1 was down, VCO2 was hard pressed to make a STRAIGHT note. It sounded JUST like an ARP Odyssey with S&H with lag. Like a jittery middle C note, but still kind of playable. When VCO1 comes back, it has this "lag" or jitter problem as well. It went away, for a day. Then came back. It's still around, but not as heavy as at first. Unpridictable? Er, yes! But so what? Whats the fun in having a 'purrfect' analog?? Im guessing I need to get a 20-40mhz oscilloscope with a voltmemter. I just probably need to tune/calibrate it (it is also intervelically out of tune). Now, the only real worry I have is the "jittering". If you want, you can email me at sealscrofts1975@yahoo.com and tell me about the jittering; if there is a procedure I can read or take to fix this. I would definitely appreciate it. Okay- this synth sounds HUGE. At first it was easy to get lost (I called my non-musical friend across the country to brag and he noted that it sounded like something was "stuck" inside of it!). This synth is seriously heavy sounding, I dont want to say it's as fat as a minimoog. But it definitely seems more vicious. Now ive played many odysseys in the last couple of months, and I can confidently say I like this synth much more. I really like the fact that you get 2/3 sliders and 1/3 knobs. Do any other synths have this idea besides the 2500? Such a sweetheart of a layout! The filters are incredible, and I really like to send sine LFOs to the filter! Ive already made at least 20 patches (have blank sheets if you need them emailed) and recorded a whole song I wrote with it. Of course this is still hard to do with the "jitter" problem. I plugged my bass into the input and came up with some sickening mu-tron like sounds. Yes! While I am a teenage novice, I feel I can and should learn about electronics in a very short time... I can't understand someone buying an analog and not getting a craving for learning about simple electronics. Funny, but I would consider this the "standard" synth. Due to its simple layout. Simple sound, almost like no "give away" character. Diffucult to put into words, but when I hear a 2600, mini, Cs80, DS2, polymoog...etc I KNOW what they are. But if I heard this synth I would probably not know what it was...and I guess that *is* this synths character.
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