Hi I’m a new owner of 2 Minimoog Model Ds. I have 2 things I was hoping to get clarified.
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When all osc/noise switches are set to OFF and no Modulation switches are on, I still hear a very quite sound when I hit the keys. This happens on both. Is this normal? Sort of like a low thud with some noise. When I turn any osc1,2 or 3 frequency pots the sound is effected.
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I have a newer Kenton Midi kit installed and had it tuned by an experienced tech out here in Los Angeles. If the synth is in tune at the 0 position on the tune knob, and if the midi has been tuned properly, shouldn’t the midi be in key when sent midi? I have to move the tune knob up to have the scale in tune. I need to do this for each octave. Seem weird?
Thanks in advance for any help!!!
Hello and welcome !
Wow, lucky enough to have 2 Minis ! 
Yes, on my 1975 Minimoog there is the very faint residual sounds of the oscillators in the background when all switches are OFF in the mixer section. This is normal, as the VCA is not of very high quality and a rather simple design, which is also part of the reasons for the Mini’s fabulous sound. One trick to lower the residual sound a bit more, is to flip the “external input” to ON with its volume level at 0 (no need to connect anything to the Ext In jack).
The slight “thump” you hear is an overshoot of the envelope CV for the VCA. Here again, normal. The Minimoog D is not a super sophisticated electronic design, and is even rudimentary in some parts. But that’s what makes it so special. This ain’t a perfectly quiet, and dead sounding digital synthesizer, you can be sure of that !
As for the MIDI tuning issue, if the MIDI note sent to it isn’t playing in tune when coming out of the Mini for each octave, but the Mini plays in tune when played from its own keyboard, then the MIDI-to-CV probably needs recalibrating.
Anyway, that’s my opinion. I might be wrong about the MIDI issue…
If you are sequencing, if I am not mistaken, you need to hit the 0 volt key, which I can’t remember right now. (Low F?) And you can’t hit any keys while sequencing or the scale will be messed up. But you probably knew that.
Also there are a few idiosyncrasies you have to be aware of. Make sure the pitch wheel is dead center (a deadband mod might be in order). A small amount of give either way on the wheel can put it out of tune, even when coming back to dead center. Also, after I tuned my mini, I found out that the pitch scaling is not a perfect 1v/octave. So mess with the scaling on the kenton if there is a scaling control.
There is no way you should have to tune for each octave, that might be a sign of a bad calibration job, or something broken, but it happens on both? Have you tried each oscillator by itself in all octave settings?
Anyway, hope you get it worked out, the model D is an amazing instrument. Just get a 104 delay or tape delay and you are set for life.