Are You Happy with Your Moog One? (Considering buying)

The Moog Forum Moog One
1

I’m in the market for a new synth(s). I’ve got some decent eurorack, a Prophet 6 and a Peak and am thinking of going all in and getting the Moog One (I’ll probably sell the Peak and possibly the P6 if I go Moog One)

In many ways it seems like a dream synth and I’ve never owned a Moog. I went deep on the reviews and YouTube videos and while people seem to like it I haven’t heard anyone absolutely gush over it and I feel for a synth in that price range people should be going wild for it.

I know it seems to have it’s fair share of bugs (tuning issues etc) and people seem to think the factory presets don’t do it justice (similar to my P6 tbh) so I’m not sure.

I went to Sam Ash in NYC and sat with it for a bit on some headphones and flipped through the presets. The vibe of the store was kinda weird so it was hard for me to really dig in but while the sounds were nice it almost sounded a little digital sterile to me (I know its pure analog). I saw an Ob-6 next it it and plugged in my headphones and was immediately wowed by the sound. It just sounded so much more organic and alive compared to my jam with the Moog. I decided in that moment that I didn’t need the Moog one.

Then later that day I went to Guitar Center to potentially scoop up a Sub 37 and they also had a moog one on display but the store was empty and it was hooked up to a PA system (albeit a kinda shitty one) I played some more but this time it sounded a lot more interesting and alive (I guess headphones vs speakers) which made me even more confused. A few other things I didn’t love is the presets are pretty slow to load. Also I checked and the firmware on the display One’s were all pretty old (like 1.0.6 old) I know there’s been some updates since that but I’m not sure how much of that I would notice in a store demo.

So currently I still haven’t been blown away by the sound of the Moog One and that’s definitely what I’m looking for above all. My P6 sounds amazing but its also pretty limited in it’s sound pallet which is why the Moog one is interesting to me.

So I wanted to see what people on here are thinking about their Ones. Let me know if you have any thoughts about this!

Any help is appreciated!

2

The only negative I can say is that it has too many capabilities. That is, you’ll have a hard time knowing how to stop and limit what you do with it. It can basically create any sound you can imagine and that sometimes can be too much to handle. If you do buy it, get rid of all your other synths because you need to give it all your attention. This is truly the only synth you need. I’ve had it for 2 years now and I’m still discovering new things every time I sit with it.

Hope that helps! :smiley:

3

Hope my journey helps with your decision. I had a Prophet 6 that I sold to get an OB-6, which I liked more (both are great but I’ve always been a sucker for the Oberheim sound; had OB-8 a while back that I loved). The OB-6’s has a fat and warm sound, although I wished it had at least 8 voices. Soon after getting the OB-6 I auditioned a John Bowen Solaris for 3 weeks in my studio. I was blown away and mesmerized by its huge, multifaceted layered sounds. The pads were spectacular. So, I tried very hard to match these sounds on my OB-6, but could never get close enough, probably because of the Solaris’ 10 voices and 4 oscillators per voice up against the OB-6’s 2 oscillators per voice and only 6 voice polyphony. But in the end, despite the incredible sounds of the Solaris, I ended up not buying it because, being a digital synth, it most definitely had a colder sound that, of course, the OB-6 most definitely did not have.

Then the Moog One came out. I read everything I could about it, and soon after, Guitar Center Hollywood had one on display. I rushed down, put on a pair of headphones and…was underwhelmed. I thought the sounds/presets were boring, on the thin side, and maybe little papery too. I thought to myself, maybe all the Moog One complainers on Gearslutz were right, even though most of them negatively piled on after only having heard early online demos. So I left the store and went back home to my faithful OB-6 and apologized for my brief fling.

I forgot all about the Moog One for almost a year, but then I started getting this nagging feeling that there had to be more to this instrument than what I heard at GC. After all, I thought, how could the smart people at Moog not design something spectacular? But then Covid hit and I couldn’t go anywhere to have a second fling with a Moog One. Bummer. So, I listened many more YouTube demos, read countless reviews, and ended up being impressed by Geosynth’s custom sounds. That’s it I thought, enough is enough, and I decided to man-up to the tune of $8K and just buy it, a 16V. It arrived with the fresh 1.4 software preloaded, and with bated breath I powered it up…and bingo! Just what I had hoped for: it sounded as huge and multifaceted as the Solaris, but with the warmth and analog punch of the OB-6. There was no correlation between what I heard on headphones more than year earlier at GC. What I heard in my own studio were big, warm expansive multilayered pads in motion, thick brassiness, solid basses, etc. I think the key is that you have to audition it with the new factory 1.4 presets, and/or good third party sounds such as Geosynths (check out his YouTube videos). Also check out the score by Daniel Lopatin for Uncut Gems. It’s pretty much all Moog One and it sound spectacular.

After all is said and done, I couldn’t be happier with my Moog One (and sorry to say, I parted ways with my OB-6).

4

My 8 voice is my main “modular synth”. I have a P6 too. My view is that the P6 is a lovely sounding synth and very simple to program, its limited in terms of modulation, but it does what it can very quickly. I often mock up sounds on it which I later do on the One. The One was my substitute for going modular. I wanted an analog synth that had nearly as much flexibility as a modular rack BUT be polyphonic and with ability to save patches. The One works like a dream in this regard - I have absolutely no way got near to its limits yet. The firmware is much better now and it is robust - and I think it will improve some more. I also have a minimoog Model D and I know a lot of people say the One cant do Minimoog sounds but I’d disagree; I have a number of Model D lead sounds I’ve programmed on the One and they are stunning PLUS you have far more expression and modulation options to utilise.
The FX ought to be better than they are - I only use the Stereo Chorus on occasions mostly I just use external FX if needed. Moog do need to step up the FX algorithms some more IMO. That said if an analog synth needs FX to sound good - Its not a good analog synth!
It’s extraordinarily deep for an analog synth - and you do need to really understand subtractive synthesis and modulation to get the best from it. On saying that I’d never going with it - too heavy and too liable to be pranged!

5

Short version:
I am happy. The software version 1.4 .0 got my bass notes finally in tune. It is a dream machine.

6

The moog One meets or exceeds all my expectations.
It is expandable and extendable for the future.
I will not regret in this investment.
The moog One is my preferred musical instrument.

Summary: Yes, I am happy.

7

Generally quite happy.

  • Fantastic sound
  • Fantastic sound design options
  • Excellent ‘player synth’ (keyboard, touchpad, wheels etc.)
    Nowadays relatively stable but it’s a concern.
    I had quite some hanging notes and various other tech issues.
8

Because of all the different filter options/combinations, the Moog One can sound absolutely insanely huge, but also paper thin… I think if someone doesn’t know how to dial in the huge, they can feel like the synth overall sounds pretty thin and not as impressive as a Minimoog where it can immediately be huge without too much tweaking.

The key to making thick monophonic sounds is to route the SVF in series with the Ladder filter. Basically it drives and thickens the Ladder filter and soon you’re in dangerous speaker destruction territory. Now I understand why they didn’t include Multidrive, it wouldn’t have made sense with the two (three) filters.

9

I love my Moog One.

  • Wonderful and beautiful sound, not as superfat as a Memorymoog but a wider palette and much easier to blend in a mix.

  • Extraordinary possibilities. It’s a programable polyphonic modular. And this would be nothing without the very clever ergonomics giving access to everything faster and easier than any other polysynth.

  • Multiply x 3.

  • Frequent updates. This is important, there are still minor bugs (sequencer isn’t stabilized yet…) and new functions on the waiting list.

  • One regret : the Moog One screams for Poly AT. Sadly the excellent keybed isn’t able to control this parameter.
    Hoping this feature will be available to be controlled by an external keyboard (as upcoming Expressive E Osmose).

Yes, superfan.

10

As much as I want to love the Moog One… no, I am not happy with it.

I have several BIG issues:

  1. terrible tuning instability (*notes on this below)
  2. frequent hanging notes
  3. NEW issue, all G keys behave improperly (** notes below)

These 3 issues make the unit unreliable for recording and performance. I’m really unhappy with this. I’ve called in and was assured the (1) tuning issue would be resolved with the (then) upcoming firmware update. *This update employs some sort of oscillator compensation, where it adjusts the tuning of the note - but my tuning is so far off that either it misses the mark, or you can hear the incorrect note glide into an almost correct note, which makes an INIT patch sound like a trombone.

The hanging notes can only be resolved with a MIDI Panic execution, and having this happen during recording (or a live show, if that ever happens again) is very problematic.

**Lately, I’m having issues with all G keys! Some of the Gs are off by a full octave, and the rest that are in the correct octave play at a noticeably louder volume than the rest of the notes on the keyboard. In addition to the G keys issue, all oscillators now sound more distorted than before (a sound similar to setting your synth in unison mode, but the unison mode is certainly OFF).

I don’t know what to do. There are things I love about this synth - I want to love it. It’s a masterpiece in many ways. But my unit is so problematic that I hardly touch it because I just end up frustrated with the issues listed above.

I don’t know what my warranty will cover - I’m hoping I can get a new unit, or… I don’t even know. I’m not rich, this is a huge loss. Any suggestions would be great.

11

You need to speak with your supplier or Moog directly. That sounds very wrong and I’m sure they would agree.

12

In my experience, speaking with Moog directly is impossible. I opened two tickets in 40 days and am still waiting for a response. All I got was the automatic reply from their Zendesk server. I don’t know what’s going on over there, they’re probably all dead… it’s the only explanation I find that could justify such a bad attitude.

And… to reply OP’s question: I would be happy with the Moog One if only it worked as expected and was more stable. In my opinion, it looks great but sounds not so big and works like a broken clock. There are better synths out there that sound as good but work better and cost a fraction.

13

Given all we now know about the lacklustre (generally) sound for an expensive analog synth, and ALL of the reported problems, combined with the sheer cost of the thing..

I would (and have) skipped the Moog One.

I’ve not long had a Prophet 10 Rev 4 in and it’s SUBLIME. Everything tonally, build wise, reliability wise and ‘ease of use’ wise the moog one should have been at the base of it (then expand on that with all the extras the One has if you so desire).

Frankly, I think Moog missed the mark with the ‘one’ and designed it all wrong, for an audience that barely exists to do esoteric stuff most people would rather use much cheaper digital, or even software, to do while leaving analog hardware to just work fast, sound right and inspire you rapidly out of the box. THAT is what the Prophet 10 does (poly unison mode = heaven), and 10 voices over the P5 is more than enough and very enjoyable to play.

I’ve also owned a Prophet 6 and OB-6 and frankly, as nice as they were, they do NOT compare to the sheer depth of tone, vibe and feel of the new Rev 4 Prophets.

I would forget the One and get a prophet 10 for half the price. Spend the rest on other synths.

Now if Moog actually re-issued the Memory Moog ala the Prophet 5/10 rev 4s and didn’t set ridiculous price points like the ‘one’ just cos it includes everything and the kitchen sink, they would have a total winner on their hands. It would have to sound just like the originals, look like them, feel like them but be of course a LOT more reliable! :wink:

A re-issued memorymoog is what most of us wanted from a polyphonic moog anyway, not all that digital synth like depth with so many possibilities you just don’t wanna use it (kinda like the Andromeda A6 also missed the point of a big fat sounding analog and went thin, sharp and overloaded with functions that just dragged it down).

If Moog have any sense and having seen the reception of the new Prophet rev 4s, they’ll be working on a MemoryMoog re-issue and only giving some needed modern updates (maybe a patch name screen too) but nothing like the frankly stupid Moog One which is more like a computer tied to an average sounding ‘technically analog’ engine.

In the analog domain… TONE > Features… EVER. SINGLE. TIME.

Prophet 5/10 rev 4 are the best sounding modern poly synth keyboards (other than the smaller boutique makers like the River but even then I prefer the Prophet’s tone) at a good price and great build quality. They sound basically as good if not better than the vintage ones and the new toys are a joy to use (poly unison, more voices, 2 diff fllter types, A/T, Velocity). Moog are sitting on a goldmine with copying Sequential with the MemoryMoog… as it stands right now the Prophet 10 particularly cleans up that end of the market on tone and feel alone, Moog One doesn’t come close (big screens and tons of modulation do not impress me on analog synths), but if a MM was to come out? it would be a lot closer (i’d still prefer the prophet as I always did prefer that sound anyway but the MM would be great - do it moog!!).

Now if someone could basically fire all the staff at Roland’s synth division and rehire some proper analog synth fans to give us a Jupiter 8 re-issue life would be complete… stick on a Model D (start making them again Moog don’t be stupid) and it’s game over… Behringer etc can then go whistle with their tacky clones.

14

Given all we now know about the lacklustre (generally) sound for an expensive analog synth

what?
I have a prophet, a mini and used or owned a pile of analog and I don’t get your post. I can only assume you’ve never spent time with one. I can’t fault the “sound”. I can be critical of the FX but the UI, depth of sound and flexibility are out of this world.

15

Wait…you don’t even own a Moog One but come here to pump the Prophet 10? I don’t recall anyone in this thread asking about opinions on the Prophet. DSI forum a better place for that I suspect :mrgreen:

16

Wrong forum to discuss about your gear.