Have seen a memorymoog plus for sale. Supposedly good condition,slight calibration issue with pitch bend wheel and also the balanced xlr is not working.
Are the memorymoog pluses generally more reliable and worth buying or would it be better to get a new poly such as the evolver keyboard? I have used a memorymoog on sessions in the past and it was incredible.
Is it worth touching this old board or is it likely to cost me an arm and a leg in service/repairs?
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Well, you’ve really got to choose for yourself, no matter what anyone on these boards will say. If the Mem happens to have all the Lintronics updates, chances are it’ll be just fine; no real need for regular service and repair.
But, you’ve got to consider: does the Poly Evolver have a polyphonic sequencer? Are you willing to sacrifice the two extra voices in the Mem? What about the fact that the Mem doesn’t have a touch-sensitive keyboard? Or, the fact that the Evolver synths have “wavetable” capabilities, as well as analog tone circuits? Which one offers greater patch memory, and does that matter?
It’s up to you, really.
The biggest difference is buying ANY vintage KB is an investment. Just buying the KB alone is not the only thing you have to be concerned about. You should be prepared to have money for service and spare parts. Remember, ANY vintage analog is not reallly best suited to take out and gigged every week for a number of reasons. If you’re going to plant it in a studio for occasional use, go for it.
The Evolver KB is my next synth. I wouldn’t mind getting an A6 either, but really, you can do things with the KB Evolver that you can’t do with any other performance poly synth, unless you’re going the modular route. But then, most modulars sit in a studio anyway.
Solution? Buy both. 
Mike T.
Man go for it i have been drooling over a memory moog for ages and if i could afford one i would have one 
I saw this Memorymoog on ebay. I suggest you try it out before you buy it!
Bought the Memorymoog and picked up today. It is without doubt the most inspirational keyboard to play bar none, and i don’t mean this lightly. It really is that good. The model i bought is the plus and has been 100% stable so far. Nothing comes close.
Congratulations,you’ll really enjoy it 
. Midi’d with other synths you can get some great textures, I used to MIDI mine with a DX7 all the time. Right now mine are in need of repair and calibration. One day .
In case you don’t know the Plus had real early MIDI, it will only transmit and receive in omni mode, you can get a MIDI filter though. The Sequencer can be fun, limited but fun. Also the Arpegiator is a lot of fun to play with.
As you’re finding out you can do really nice pads, bass, leads, effects… for fun come up with a patch, put the MM in Mono mode, and chose to have all six cards playing, that will give you 18 oscillators on one key, you can of course thin it out to just one or two cards.
Experiment with the different assign modes,cyclic chose’s a new card each time you press a key, for example if you hit C3 six times in cyclic it will use card A the first time, Card B the Second, Card C the third… there will be slight variations with each key press.
Also in case you haven’t noticed on OSC1, 2 and 3 you can press one, two or all three of the Wave forms to create a more complex sound.
If you don’t have them try and get a voltage control pedal, the one Moog Sells on their web site should work. The pedals give you a lot of creative options, filter sweep with one, modulation with the other… foot switches work well to, especially when hooked up to the release jack, and glide.
Do you know if it has the original “factory patches” ?
If so #21 is a fantastic string pad, very warm and full. If not they should be available on patch sheets ( all were printed in the back of the manual) or may be available on tape back-up.
While not identical, the Memory is like a Model D, only with a lot more modulation capability thrown in . Moog even had an add in the early 80’s (US) with the MemoryMoog pictured in the center with six Mini’s surrounding it.
Have Fun
Brian
If you hold on to it, don’t forget to stick its name in your signature gearlist.
Hi.
I own a Memorymoog Plus, and it was just away for repairs. I would suggest asking the seller if the battery has ever been changed, if and when it was last calibrated, if the power supply has ever been modified.
I am not trying to make anyone jealous but I asked the owner of a local music store if he had seen any analog gear lately…he said no and that was that. After looking around the store for a bit he remembered that he had an anvil case in the back with a repair job in it that was never done and never picked up. He said it had been in the store for 15 years. My wife convinced me to take a look at the thing and it was the MM+. It had two broken keys and the case had been opened, but it just needed a good cleaning. I asked him how much he wanted for it and he said $100.00!
No kidding…$100.00. I bought it of course (the anvil case is worth more than that) and took it home, took it apart and cleaned everything…powered it up, did a tape dump and it is a fully functional MM+.
I sent it away to have the power supply modified, the keys replaced (and bushings) and to have it calibrated.
Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but if you ever get a chance to buy a MM+ for 3000 or less I would do it…it is one of the greatest polysynths ever made (i may even like it better than my Prophet 5).
That was my story…now I am following that auction as well to see where that MM+ lands.
Hey,
BTW, if you want to see a good deal of clear large photos of a MM+…they can be found on my yahoo group sites:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/synthphotos1/
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/synthphotos2/
plus, you can drool over all of my synths and tell me how special I am.
a memorymoog plus for 100 dollars!!! You lucky-------.! best deal i got was a clav d6 for £20, a local school was about to trash it.
I have a LAMM and love it. I would never consider selling it. I just wish it transmitted pressure and I would use it as my master keyboard.