Further to my earlier thread, i would now like to ask some questions please :-
i am seriously thinking of purchasing an original Minimoog synth later in the year. They come up on ebay every two or three months or so in varying degrees of condition and price tag. i currently own a 1979 Multimoog which is fine, but obviously it it not a Minimoog !!
Anyway, a couple of opportunities have arisen recently. One is from a guy in Germany who has one in excellent condtion and this has been serviced (five years ago) by Rudi Linhard. i have been in touch with Rudi who confirmed this and also that he fitted Linhurst Midi-Kit to it. The seller has had it since 2006 and it has only been used in his studio. He is asking 4,000 EURO (plus shipping to UK). It comes in a custom made flightcase built by Rudi. The serial number is 78**.
My other option is to purchase one here in the UK which is currently under restoration with a respected UK service engineer. It is also in excellent condition and has no modifications at all. The price tag is 3,500 GBP (including delivery). The synth was purchased (not sure from whom) with a view to restoring it and seliing it on as a private sale (obviously making a profit). i think the serial number is in the mid 7***.
Due to the distance factor, i am not able to pop over and have a play on either of the synths. In actual fact, i have never even seen or played on an original Minimoog before !! But (assuming everyone is telling the truth, which i am very sure they are), either of these synths should be of an excellent standard and condition.
Anyway, i am new to this site and so would appreciate any help and advice kindly offered.
I’m not quite sure what it is you’re asking.
The only question marks are in the subject line.
If you’re asking which Mini you should buy, I can’t say.
These instruments can be highly variable even though they’re all Minimoogs.
Try and think of them like cars or people- they’re all the same, but different.
You want one that will become your own personal instrument and finding the right one may take some time.
I do suggest you find or make an opportunity to play one before purchasing.
The prices you’ve quoted seem high to me and you should at least see and touch one before buying.
If that’s not possible, I agree that buying one that’s been properly serviced recently is the way to go.
Five years between service, is in my opinion, borderline between requiring basic service again and ready-to-go condition.
A friend of mine has borrowed a Minimoog for a few weeks and so i am going to be able to have a play on it at the end of this month. But obviously it is not the model in Germany or London which are for sale. But at least it will provide me with an opportunity to see and hear one in the flesh. Do you suggest this because you are concerned that i might not actually LIKE the Minimoog (for whatever reason) ??
Yes, i can appreciate that Minimoog’s have their own individuality compared to digital keyboards (which do not).
On ebay, i have never seen one sell for less than 2,500 GBP. i bought my MultiMoog from ebay US and had it shipped over. It was totally fine, but i would not want to risk such a distance again with a Minimoog.
i asked Rudi Linhard if he would be able to give the Minimoog (he serviced for the guy in Germany in 2007) a quick once-over, but he said his back-log is so long now that it would be a minimum of 18 x months before he would be able to even begin thinking about looking at it !! And Rudi only repairs synths and so does not have any for sale.
in the netherlands ( dutch synthforum : synthforum.nl ) several people are able to get you one and others to professionally service them.
by the way ask " leo "
the distance from gb to the netherlands is so small you could pick it up with a one night stay on the most and a trip by train/ plane/ car will set you back little money too.
that’s the way i would go
I think any decent Minimoog will be good to try out, but I’m more suggesting you play one you’re able to purchase.
Oscillators can especially sound different between certain revs and everything adds up to a whole.
In other words, your Multimoog has vcos and a Moog filter, but just doesn’t have the tone that a Mini does.
Like anything, the Minimoog is the sum of its parts and design.
So… no… I rather think you will really like a Mini once you play one.
I just think that if one is going to spend all that money, they get what they wanted, not the first one that presented itself and created an emotional decision.
Anyone that’s ever dated or been married understands.
Buying a Minimoog D is exactly like buying a used car: I would never buy one without having a test drive first, no matter what the salesman says and how many references he’s got from the old lady who had it last and only took it to go to church on sundays… And especially if its 30+ years old !
But that might be beside the point since neither of them are close enough for you to check out in person… Just my personal feelings about it.
And Kevin is right: probably the worst thing to do, with women, with vintage analog synths, with cars, is to succumb to the first emotional impulse.
Yes, the Multimoog is very good for what it is and gave me a good introduction to Subtractive Synthesis, but i just can not (for the life of me) get that Minimoog sound out of it !! The Multimoog is an instrument of which you have to accept it purely by its own merits.
i am age 44 and have been dreaming of owning a Minimoog since i was in my twenties. So it is not a random decision by any means. i have tried out the Voyager and other post year 2000 models but i just did not like or connect with them at all.
The idea is to have my Rhodes on the bottom, Clavinet in the middle, and Minimoog on the top.
i totally hear what you are saying about going to visit the synth before buying it. A VERY FAMOUS keyboard player (who kindly replied to my annoying emails !!) advised me only last week to ‘try before you buy’ for all the exact same reasons you are.
My reason for favouring the Minimoog in Germany was simply because it had been serviced by Rudi (though in 2007) and that as far as i am aware he is regarded as the definative engineer. Obviously it would not really be possible to try it out before buying with me living in the UK. This one has MIDI fitted but i am not really at all bothered about having that facility to be honest.
i could drive to London (four hours from Liverpool) and try the one out there i suppose. It would only cost me a day and 60 quid in deisel.
i can’t see it being a problem with the seller if i want to try it out first. Its me who is doing all the leg work.
Yes the model is nearly 30 x years old as you say. But if it has just been serviced this summer then surely it will be in as good as condition as anyone would expect ??
Rudi’s kit is very good, but it can make servicing of that Mini more involved.
Lots of wires and an extra board in there.
It does give you an extra LFO though.
Instead of having to use osc 3 to do vibrato, you can modulate all 3 oscs with the RL Midi board.
So it can do some sounds stock Minis can’t.
Amen on the car analogy. Very close in so many ways.
I won’t go into my (previous!) lack of impulse control re women and cars.
As i say, i am not really that bothered about having the fitted Midi facility on the Minimoog from Germany. However, i asked the seller in London about having him possibly fit a SAMPLE&HOLD which he said is possible but has not got back to me with a price. Of it, he says :-
Osc 3 is the one you use as the lfo, so you select the Lo setting and then click through the waveform selector for the shape you want. The thinking is to either replace one of the many waveforms or to add another. The waveform selector switch may have another ‘notch’ that could be used.So you would still have OSc 3 as a normal oscillator. The additional circuitry would be added internally, would be non intrusive and would not bugger around with the stock Minimoog functionality.
So that would be an additional cost to the original 3,500 GBP. i think S&H would be a great facility to have onboard, though in the same breath i could live without it. As you know, the MultiMoog has onboard S&H.
I’ve always been in the belief through the decades all Ds have more or less the same extraordinary sound-qualities.
But recently I’ve talked to a salesman in a big store and he said , he had some that sound weak, and other-ones who sound very powerful.
I don’t know what about this, but it’s likely to be true.
I grabbed in the early 80ies one of the last with my first keyboarder and both are really “earth-devastating”.
Many people say there are differences between the older and later ones in sound. But my tech who has them moths by months for fixing carries the opinion, that differences aren’t that great between.
I’m thinking, in the words of B.Moog, there’s a kind of wisdom when he said, if he had to choose, he’d take a later one.
In general I can confirm, referring to my own, it’s an overwhelming instrument and my final advise is: Sit down and take your time and compare some until you drop don your coins on the desk, to have at the end a fine one.
take, bus or train or aeroplane ( 99 euro’s return from manchester etc )( we’re neigbours you know ..)
when buying a minimoog, calculate a ( psu )recap ,callibration and /or servicing with keyboard rubbers, trimmers replace etc/ whatsoever is neccessary, all about 300 euro’s or a bit more.
when buying in the netherlands it can be done easily as connections are short and technicians good and experienced ( when knowing where to look afcourse).
lately i’ve seen minimoogs going for 3000-3250 -3500 depending on when and what had been recently done from the above
i’d certainly go and pick it up myself.
when a a worst state b.e.woodwork very bad/ broken keys , 2500 is the most i’d pay
overall the advantage of the mini’s is that mostly things can be fixed , and afcourse they sound and feel great.
if you want one, go for it , they won’t be getting cheaper on the short term certainly
i was told that the very early Minimoogs were fatter sounding but had less-stable Oscillators which would be frustrating to the performer tuning-wise. And that the best sounding (overall) are within the first 10,000 made. And also that the best batch (reliability and sound-wise) are those with serial numbers from around 7,500 to 10,000.
This is (boiled down) information i have gleaned from a few Moog technicians recently.
Well the dearest i have seen one on ‘ebay UK’ for (and is still on there now) is 5,500 GBP which is just totally stupid !! And ones which work but have a damaged/chipped/scratch exterior seem to sell for between somewhere 2,000 and 2,500 GBP.
This friend of yours Leo, does he recondition and sell Minimoogs himself ??
As you own a Minimoog do you perform live with it ?? Or just use it in the studio for recording with ?? Have you got and vidoes on You Tube featuring it ??
no, on stage i sometimes take the multimoog though
think it’s better equiped for live usage, i also have a good case for it etc.
the voyager is all build in in the studio, the mini i don’t want to damage at all..
Yes, i have a MultiMoog as well. i bought it 5 x years ago and it is in for a basic service at the moment. Pitch Ribbon needs some attention and so does the overall tuning. i can’t get it to sound like a MiniMoog though. i kind of hoped it would sound like one when i bought it but obviously it does not. i was not able to afford a MiniMoog at this time and also i did not want to go straight out and buy the ultimate product before testing another model first.
i have gigged the MultiMoog a couple of times and used it for Bass sounds. It is good for this. But as i say, i can’t get the fat MiniMoog LEAD sound out of it !!
In general, I’m not s.o who’s advicing to take old stuff out on stage. But everybody should do what he’d like.
I’d say, take a very good D-one and aditionally a Prodigy for performing. I don’t know if he’d really replace a D for you puroses but very long ago I had a keyboarder with a P in my band and there had been a really fine breakthrough.
I also don’t know if the new Moog stuff would keep up as well.
I’m playing now rock for about 40 years and many good sounds are often stamped into the ground. Musicians in a band have absolutely be professional as possible, and the FOH-man as well, to be able to verify fine kork-sniffer sounds like those of a D at optimum size.
To my opinion Ds are too worthy to take them on stage…here a “Ding” and there a “Dong”, and the value of him will diminsh day by day. Unless you are a tough guy or a great performer who doesn’t care about.
But this also doesn’t mean, that the Ps should not considered as valuable as the Ds.
And especially if its 30+ years old !
The Multimoog is an instrument of which you have to accept it purely by its own merits.