Ansel, JL Cooper Synapse, and Zara

Our friend Ansel poses next to a JL Cooper Synapse MIDI processor. We see one of his fellow cats hiding just below – we’re pretty sure this beautiful black cat is Zara.

From Charles Whiley via Facebook.

The JL Cooper Synapse is a MIDI router and processor which can route and merge various MIDI inputs and outputs. It’s very similar to the Digital Music Corp MX-8 that we have at HQ, but bigger. I recall seeing the JL Cooper one in brochures earlier on but it was out of my league at the time. Ansel is lucky to have found one, though.

Oberheim (the cat) and JL Cooper Synapse MIDI router

Oberheim the black cat next to a JL Cooper Synapse MIDI router

Oberheim the cat is back, this time with a JP Cooper Synapse MIDI router and processor. From Charles Whiley via Facebook.

The JL Cooper routers were among the earlier MIDI devices I read about as I was understanding what is needed to go from one synthesizer to a home studio. I never did get one (not practical for me at that time in the late 1980s), but I still have the Digital Music Corp MX-8 that got later on to serve a similar purpose.

Olive with JL Cooper, Studio Electronics, JoMoX, Sequential, Roland, and More

Olive the cat  in chair in front of an impressive array of tabletop modules.  Next to her is a rugged JL Cooper fader fox; a Studio Electronics BoomStar, and a Yamaha 1980s item below it; a JoMox Alpha Base, a Sequential Prophet '08, sundry rhythm machines from Boss

Olive sits confidently in the command chair in front of an impressive array of tabletop modules. Next to her is a rugged JL Cooper fader fox (I had one of these on loan in the 1990s and wish I still had it). We also see a Studio Electronics BoomStar, and a Yamaha 1980s item below it; a JoMox Alpha Base, a Sequential Prophet ’08, sundry rhythm machines from Boss, and much more.

Submitted by Olive’s human Charles Whiley.