if the Little Phatty can transmit its parameter values through midi, then moog could make a box/rack (as has been mentioned before) that doesn’t have any of its own sound controls but houses another 3 LP engines
it could have audio in (to mix the keyboard voice with the 3 others), audio out midi in and midi through (incase you want a 7,10,13 or 16 voices).
the front panel could just have four buttons (same light up squares as on current version) that select between the four the modes:
mono -
de-activates the 3 internal voices and acts just like playing the keyboard normally, but you don’t have to unplug anything.
unison -
stacks all four voices onto one monophonic note
poly 1 -
mixes the four voices so that they sound more like a classic polysynth sound, rather than four fat monosynths
poly 2 -
mixes the four voices so it sounds like four fat monosynths all playing at once more
like the memerymoog sound
ok so if 3 x LP keyboards cost $4425, how could they save if you take away all the keyboards, mod wheels wood panels etc
i think that if the stage edition really is going to go for $1000, then they could definitely make this for $2400 or less.
the other idea is to make a rackmount of the LP (nothing new here, but wait)
if you hooked up the keyboard version to the rackmount version in a duophonic way
then perhaps you could get 2 knobs per section! i don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
As content as i am that moog have finally released a synth that i can stretch my budget to, I still feel the need to say that i think they should consider this approach of beefing up the little phatty into a polysynth rather than producing a completely new poly, but that’s just my opinion
Use the the guts of the LP to make a new MoogerFooger - a one voice synth like the Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM), with CV and MIDI inputs, and add the MIDI In Key Order feature in the firmware (like the Voyager) for a proper poly response. With this new 'Fooger you can configure as many voices as you need/want/afford for a polyphonic analog synth (you’ll need a mixer, of course).
Moog can also use the new 'Fooger as a basis for building a dedicated poly synth, with a controller section to select modes (mono, unison. poly, etc). It could either be a ‘slab’ keyboard (everything under a large front panel) or a ‘modular’ concept like the Oberheim 4-Voice. I like the later idea, as a configuration based on individual modules would allow Moog to offer multiple voice configurations at various price-points, and allow users to buy a cheaper version initially and expand the polyphony as funds permit (start with a 2-voice unit, then add a couple more 'Foogers to increase polyphony). Conceptually, a 2-voice synth based on this idea would have a keyboard and controller section, and two 'Fooger modules installed, with blank panels filling the remaining spaces. The synth would already have the wiring in place to support additional user-installed 'Foogers (maybe up to six or eight total?). A proper design would keep the unit from looking like a some kind of ‘Franken-synth’ with blank panels.
Now all we have to do is come up with a name for it.
does anyone know if it will be possible to link phatties together for polyphony?
it looks like you could but the only thing i’m not sure about is which voice plays when?
say if you have 2 setup in a duophonic way, you press one key (it sounds), you take away your finger and then press another key
as both notes are single and played on their own i wonder if it would use the same LP for both notes, if it did then that would pose a problem when you want to do those reverby long release time sounds
the only way i can think of it working is by turning the local control off and putting the midi out back into the midi in after going through another LP but i still don’t know if it would work
how does the voyager manage its poly chain
BTW i don’t really know much about this sort of thing, i’m just guessing based on what i’ve read here and there (which isn’t much)
it would awsome to able to chain LPs, the voyager is just way too expensive to even think about in a poly aspect (for me anyway)
The Voyager has a Master menu command called MIDI In Key Order. This feature allows you configure multiple Voyagers (or RME’s) for polyphonic response. The LP’s software does not include this particular menu command, but it could probably be added in a future OS update to allow multiple LP’s to be chained for polyphony.
The PhatFooger… controlled by the MotherFooger of course!
As for needing a mixer, why not have audio ins on the back of the modules, similar to the PER, so the keyboard’s audio outs would be feed into the first module and each successive module could be fed into the next one in the chain. The final module would be the output (sum) of all of the modules, then there would no longer be a need for a mixer.
With multiple modules you would have one ‘PhatMotherFooger’ LOL!
of course!