I’ve had two LP’s now, both with bugs, but I have to admit to really loving the synth. I’m currently using it almost exclusively on a new recording and find that its “limitations” are the very thing that make me explore the potential of the machine further and achieve sounds I don’t usually get with my Voyager. Achieving white noise and various S&H like patterns is fairly simple and a lot of times more interesting because you’re getting a new approximation of two functions that are somewhat overused in the synth world.
I think a lot of it is asthetics, too. The LP is SO streamlined and inviting to look at, which I think a lot of people like myself view as an important quality. I’ve been on the verge of buying a DSI Mono Evolver Keyboard for some time now, but everytime I go to demo the thing, I just walk away feeling that I’m playing the latest Novation K Station or something similar. An amazing synth, don’t get me wrong, but those kind of “chunky”, “solid” and “simple” features that the Moog products have seem to be missing.
The bugs have been irritating, but I’m sure those will get ironed out over time. The LP feels like a synth that will be a real sought after item in 10 years time, providing they stop manufacturing at some point.
I think that a lot of synth designers (many kinds of designers actually) forget that we live in a physically world filled with physical limitations. You can cram a thousand tiny little knobs on the front of a synth and have ultimate control and space efficiency, but your interaction with it will be limited by the physical size of your own self.
That’s why I hate those really small modulars with the tiny knobs and banana plugs. Sure it saves space, but the interaction between man and circuit is (in my experience) hindered. I don’t know about you, but I have big hands. I like to grab things and twist and flip and switch and press, not fiddle around with dinky little knobs.
Music is about creativity, not effeciency. More engineers need to think like musicians. That’s kind of funny because Bob Moog was not a musician, but he knew what they wanted.
I agree with you on the big knob statement…that’s why i went with Synthesizers.com for my modular…lots of big knobbies!
however, i think you are wrong about Bob not being a musician, it’s been said in Analog Days (book by Trevor Pinch) and the Moog Documentary that Bob not only plays the Theremin but also took many piano lessons in his youth. I dunno if that qualifies as a musician but i’d say he definitley knew a thing or two about performance & what is desired in a musical instrument. Granted, it was known that he often cooperated with musicians to develop instruments because he valued their input but I also think he developed alot of ideas on his own.
We have the Voyager today because Bob listened to musicians.
Back around 1999, an anonymous poll went on AH asking what musicians wanted in an analog synth. It was later revealed that the poll was requested by Bob Moog, and the Voyager was the product of the responses of that poll.