The Satellite, a one Osc synthesizer with fixed preset was manufactured by The Thomas Organ Company under license from Moog. The back plate says so : Thomas Organ Co. The word is (I am not sure about this) that the filter is not a genuine Moog ladder filter.
The Minitmoog, looking like a beefed up Satelitte, has two Osc, pressure sensitive keyboard and it was manufactured by Norlin, That’s what the backplate says. That is as much as I know.
Even though the backplate says Norlin, is it manufactured by Thomas too? What about the essential character of the Minitmoog : true raw moog oscillators? Genuine filter? Anything else in it that brings it closer to the Moog sound and electronics or is it just the same as the Satellite with one more Osc?
Both have a ladder filter, but it is 12dB/oct not 24dB/oct like the rest of the line. Preset only, very dated presets. Very little variability. Ramp waveforms only. No audio input, no filter controls such as cutoff or resonance.
Moog landed a license deal with Thomas Organ who built Satellites into their home organs and as standalone units. The royalty rate was so good that it was a major revenue generator for Moog. In fact the royalty rate on that license deal was what attracted Norlin to Moog.
Minitmoog was made by Norlin/Moog not Thomas. Production lasted only a year (1976). A chemical reaction rendered the aftertouch unusable. 2nd oscillator did little to make it beefier. Same presets as the Satellite, maybe a few new presets.
The Multimoog made the Minitmoog obsolete.
Neither define the atypical Moog sound. Frankly my ARP ProSoloist - with the “infringed” 24dB/oct ladder filter - sounded a lot better.
I’m not a big fan of the Satellite, but they’re good for melody lines and solos.
The Minitmoog is much deeper and had great aftertouch.
I say “had” because most aftertouch sensors have degraded over time, so they’d need to be restored.
As far as I recall, both had true Moog filters.
Allright, thank you both very much. Two out of three is very good. Now if CZ can pitch in then I’ll be all set to make a decision
Edit : btw, MC, the Satellite does have cut-off and resonance control, called at the time Color and Emphasis, although they don’t sound the same as later Moogs. Different names are used for the Minit. I disabled both the RCA high level and quarter inch low level jacks, disabled the volume pot at the back on my Satellite, and boosted the output by using a lower resistance. It now sounds, well, like a Satellite, but a bit louder. The lunar preset 2 octaves down with cut-off all the way down is pretty nice at making those spaghetti-western frog like sounds.
I have a decrepit satellite I use just for decoration, but occasionally plug it in. It is totally unstable, but can make some cool sounds when flipping the switches and running through delay. It looks pretty cool and a good conversation piece.
then I’ll be all set to make a decision 
