Octave

Also known as: Octave Electronics, Octave-Plateau, Octave-Plateau Electronics

Unclaimed

4 Products · Used by 33 Artists

Octave CAT Synthesizers

$39.00 - $1,666.13

5 available stores

5.0 (3)

16 artists using

Octave The Kitten Synthesizers

$1,100.00

1 available store

4.5 (1)

8 artists using

Octave Plateau Voyetra Eight Synthesizers

5.0 (1)

11 artists using

Octave Plateau Voyetra 8 Polyphonic Keyboard Synthesizers

5.0 (1)

1 artist using

Octave Electronics was a synthesizer manufacturer founded in 1975 by engineer Carmine Bonanno in Long Island City, New York. The company built its reputation on the CAT, a duophonic analog synthesizer released in 1976 that paired innovative features — dual sub-oscillators, mixable waveforms, configurable sample-and-hold, and an aggressive resonant low-pass filter — with an entry price roughly half that of comparable instruments from ARP and Moog. Successor models followed, including the CAT SRM, the digital-keyboard CAT SRM II, the smaller and cheaper Kitten, and the CATstick control-voltage joystick.

In 1979 Octave merged with Plateau Electronics, a New York synth service center, and continued under the Octave-Plateau name. The combined company introduced the Voyetra Eight in 1981, an eight-voice polyphonic rackmount synthesizer that was among the first instruments to ship with MIDI. The firm pivoted toward music software in 1986 and rebranded as Voyetra Technologies; that corporate lineage was later folded into Turtle Beach Corporation, ending production of Octave-branded hardware.

The CAT in particular found its way into a wide swath of electronic and synth-pop records, with documented users including Devo, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Split Enz, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, and Röyksopp.

Octave has 4 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Synthesizers. Their gear is featured by 33 artists, with the strongest followings in Electronic, Rock, and Pop. Notable users include The Chemical Brothers, French 79, and Ty Segall.