which is the better polysynth or can’t they be compared in any way?
This is a matter of taste to me.
or rhodes choma or jupiter 8, etc,They all have strong points, and they all have major weaknesses. They are all different. I don’t think a great polyphonic synth has been made yet. Though the polyevolver is getting close to it.
OK my vote goes to memorymoog. I have the plus model. Its got basic midi, tuning is stable and above all this poly sings. Best poly, bar none, imo. Also 6 note poly i feel is min requirement in the poly dept. Thats where the evolver falls down as does the pro 5. 4 note poly is not enough for my needs anyway.
Memorymoog is def the richest sounding of all the polys i have used and it has the classic moog filter. In mono mode it can stand its own next to my source and voyager. The jupe 8 sounds thin by comparison. If you can find a memorymoog then i’d recommend the plus model which is much more stable and has basic midi. Also theres the andromeda but its interface is overly complex and it doesnt sound as good.
Since I’ve yet to play either one, I must say that you should get both of them. Both different sounding pieces of gear, equally expensive and each with individual wooden casing. One of them for each hand, if you like.
I go with Till . . in that both synths sound unique so it’s down to the listeners own taste.
Personally, having owned most of the big poly’s I sold my Prophet 5 and Jupiter 8 because I found my Rhodes Chroma could do a good job at impersonating both these machines but i kept my memorymoog . . as so far I have not been able to find a synth to match it sonically.
I sold my Elka Synthex . . which I regret but the damn thing was so flakey anyhow.
The other thing to consider is that the memorymoog was developed a good 6 or so years after the Prophet 5 so in theory it should be a better developed synth (it isn’t . . i found my Prophet 5 to be far more reliable then my memorymoog!).
Mal
I don’t own a Memorymoog but my friend has a Memorymoog LAMM. He usually brings it to my studio when we play.
He is always jealous of the sounds the Prophet~5 produce. He and I think the Memory sounds a bit nasal and not as warm sounding as the P5 or OB8. It is also quit slow when it comes to MIDI sequencing.
If I didn’t own any analogue sizers then I would buy a Prophet~5 or an OB-8.
I have some nice sizers so if I had the money I would buy a Memorymoog LAMM. It is a great and pretty sizer.
(Remember only my opinion)
Regards
Demokid
Prophet 5:
I know 2 Prohets 5 from the past, both revision 3.3, one i bought on ebay from a guy from the UK which sounded unbelieveable, means when you touch a key it seems like the sound plays itself, huge, but it had some problems and i couldn’t get a tech for repair. No tech is willing to repair Revision 2, you have to know this, not even wine country sequential.
Presets of the Prophet 5 are not very interesting, do your own programming and explore extreamly powerful sounds.
5 Voices , 6 voices are better and acceptable polyphony IMO.
2. Prophet i got to know produced a lot of heat at the heatsink at the back of the instrument but simply doesn’t sound good.
It is my honest opinion that you got to have luck to get a good sounding and fully working prophet 5 as they all sound different and can have different problems. If you have the chance to play one for a week and you like it, buy it.
Prophets go for 1500.- up to 2000.- US$.
Memorymoog:
I own 2 of them since many years, both have the Lintronics Upgrade. If you decide buying one of these it doesn’t matter what serial number it has, they are all RELIABLE. If they don’t have the Lintronics Advanced Memorymoog (LAMM) Upgrade you got to have luck since this is the most unreliable synth ever made. The later ones are reliable but i don’t trust them. One opinion of a person who had 5 MMs said “They all break down”. LAMMs go for 5000.- Euro or more, so they are much more expensive.
I totaly agree with goldphinga that the memorymoog is the best sounding polysynth. Wery fat and beefy, very alive with harmonic distortion, a lot of things happening in the background of a sound-program, the punchiest synth of all even better than a Minimoog. It sounds scratchy, rough or silky, depending on the setting and most of all, extremly WARM, sorry Demokid, you are wrong. Presets of the Memorymoog are better than the presets of a prophet but aren’t really interesting too. It does NOT sound like a minimoog, it can behave a little bit like the mini (same filter) but doesn’t cath the beauty of the mini. It has its own big sound. If you use the unison mode (6 voice for 1 note) you can blow away anything else there plays in a band.
If you have further questions contact me. My E-Mail: zbeluhan@web.de
i would not put the memorymoog and Oberheim OB-8 in the same comparison. The OB-8 is a great synth but side by side to a memorymoog the 12db filters sound very thin.
in my opinion the P5 has a very clean, simplistic sound . . very 80’s english new age pop . . if that’s your thing then you will love the P5 . . Only delving deeper into the voice modulation can you uncover a ballsier sound out of the P5.
The Memorymoog is more versitile . . if you listen to the factory presets it can do a greater range of sounds then the P5 . . it is more chameleon like, creating big American Rock pads, retro piano tynes, glocks and FM type bells, screaming mini solos . . in fact sometimes i forget it is analog completely as it can create some truly stunning digital sounding stuff. As stated above . . the MM contains a lot of harmonic movement within the sound . . this may be due to the Oscillators drifting but it does create some very rich and warm sounds.
i wouldn’t say the memorymoog is nasal sounding at all but it does have the ability to do more varied timbres then the P5 . . so you may have just programmed it so.
Mal
Hello,
In my OPINION…the prophet5 is a much brighter synth with a wider range than the Memorymoog. I own both with Midi and the Memorymoog wins in the “power” department hands down. However, the prophet5 seems more like a living instrument to me. I bought my Pro5 from Wess Taggart, and when I sat down and played the first note (through a cheesy amp wess had set up) I knew the synth was special. You can squeeze strange little sounds out of the Prophet5 that you cannot out of the Memorymoog. For special effects the Prophet5 is the best. The Prophet5 also has tuning variations not found on the Memorymoog.
But I love them both, and the Moog filters of the MM are not to be denied.
So it is a matter of taste.
I’d say go Memorymoog but with the L.A.M.M. modification - this modification by Rudi Linhard is expensive but imho required; it makes your Memorymoog completely stable (major problem with non-modified Memorymoogs, even with the Memorymoog+), adds full (!) MIDI control, a filter input plug, etc…
The Prophet-5 is a great synth (I don’t own one yet but I know the synth pretty well), but the MM has still that little “more” (3 oscillators vs. P5 2 osc, more features, and that great MOOG sound). I own a Memorymoog with L.A.M.M. and my very own Prophet-5 is upcoming very soon - I have a deal with a guy who sells his rev. 2 in great shape (technically perfect - not so obvious with rev. 2 !! - and still looking like new), but in your case - if this is your first/only analog synth - I’d recommend a P5 rev. 3.xx to be sure that it sounds (and keeps sounding) stable.
Anyway, both synths do sound great - you can’t really go wrong.
Good luck & enjoy !!
I have quite a lot of experience with both the Memorymoog and the P5. Both are great synthesizers no doubt! 
However, I personally prefer the sound of the P5 (rev 2) over the sound of the Memorymoog simply because I think the P5 complements the rest of my gear in a better way than the Memorymoog. I use to own a Memorymoog but I sold it a few years ago since I needed the money … 
Thanks for the replys guys it has helped me alot it is not my first synth but it is my first real analouge poly i think i’m going to go with the p5 because as mentioned the mm i have seen is not with the lamm upgrade so the p5 i have seen a rev 3.3 will probably be more reliable once again thanks for sharing the knowlage(-:
I think u’ll regret not getting the memorymoog. Its so versatile. Also my plus is completely stable and has never let me down. I cannot fault its sound in any way. Its rich, wide and can be soft or really in your face. Next to a mini or voyager it can produce just as powerful b lines and leads and great fx and pads as well. Then it also has the fantastic moog filter which is the best out there. I too love the P5 but it just doesnt sound, feel or look as good to me!
I think stability of the memorymoogs is blown out of all proportion. I have no probs with mine and i gig it a lot as well and it is just the standard plus version. Midi works fine on it as well.
Obviously price is an issue for you as well,and i dont know how much the mem and p5 you are looking at are going for. You’ll not regret owning either but the mem is my choice.lf you pick it up at a good price and still dont like it you can proabably sell it and make a good profit as they are so sought after. I would say to anybody that gets the chance to buy one that you are silly not to. !
The Memorymoog is one versatile machine and I’m always learning on it. I’ve had mine since 1986, one of the last ones off the line from the original Moog Music plant in Buffalo.
My MM+ has seen a lot of gigging but it did reach a point where the internal connectors oxidized beyond cleaning, causing tuning and other problems. I wound up identifying all the connectors that carry critical control voltages and replaced the circuit board connector pins with gold plated ones. The original tin plated ones were only rated for ten years and they oxidize; gold plated is standard in military electronics, they don’t oxidize, and they last TENS of years. I did that work ten years ago and I had zero trouble since.
I’ve played P5s, rev 2 and 3. Both are good sounding machines but they just don’t have the brawn of the MM. One thing the MM has over the P5 is that you can get unison mode down to one voice on a MM; this makes it much more useful for monophonic voices. The P5 fires all five voices in unison mode and you can get it down to one voice. I had an Oberheim M6R that did that and it was useless for monophonic playing, I sold it.
And the MM filters are quite versatile, lots of variety.
My Andromeda gets a lot more sounds than the MM, but it doesn’t have the brawn and its filters aren’t quite as good.
MC, I was going to say pretty much the same thing 
. I’ve had a MM since 1987, bought it used, it was always a fun synth to play, very warm and full.
In the mid to late 90’s I had a chance to play a P5 Rev 3.x, while it was nice, I did not like it as much as the MM.
Sadly, my MM’s need a lot of work right now and are not playable. MC, you want to come down for a few days ?. It was a lot of fun in unison having anywhere from 3 to 18 osc’s on a single key .
Brian
I own a Prophet 5 Rev 3.2 I bought new in 1981. I also gave the Memory Moog a try in a music store a few times. Trying one and owning one is not a fair comparison, but I think the MM had a fatter sound than my Prophet 5 has. But at the time, I also had an Oberheim which was WAY fat, and P5 in the same rig really made a great combination. Later on I starting hearing that the MM had a number of service problems. But I don’t know if it was any worse than what people experienced with early Prophets. I kinda thought of the MM as a poly Mini Moog with more controls! Awful pretty, both the MM and the Prophet.
Question…can you get parts for the memory Moog anywhere?
Mike T.
CEM chips are getting harder to find (true also of P5 and OB), basic components (ICs, etc) easy to source, knobs buttons and pots might be a challenge. Only failures I’ve had were a few CEM chips.
MC:
Fortunately, I can still get parts for my P5 Rev 3 from Winecountry. But those parts aren’t going to last forever, so I’ve started to buy mission critical parts and will be buying more when I can free up some $$$. The only “major” part that ever went bad on my P5 was one of the VCO’s, which I recently replaced when I brought it in for a complete check up. Since them I spent about another 175 bucks on parts, and I still want to get a space VCF and VCA for it. I think WC sells all three VCO, VCF and VCA for a package price, so its a LITTLE cheaper then individually. If you want to keep a classic running, it doesn’t hurt to have parts.
Mike T.
Mal, just how different is the Chroma Polaris from the Chroma?