I am the proud owner of a slightly used reissue Model D. It’s in great shape and everything seems to work properly except the noise generator. I have no experience with the Model D reissue or original, so this might be normal. The noise volume (pink or white) is nowhere near the volume level of the oscillators, and it seems like it should be higher. Does anyone know if this is normal or if I have a problem? Thanks!
The noise of my 2017 Minimoog is lower in volume than on my 1979 Minimoog.
Is it low enough to be a problem? I’m not sure if mine is a “problem” just yet. I might open it up and see if something is wrong (if it’s possible to SEE if something is wrong)…
For me it is only a problem, that some sounds need to have different mixer settings compared to my 1979 Minimoog and a friends vintage Minimoogs. And the red noise modulation is slightly lower in max modulation amount. This is a minor problem, but well noticeable if you do an A-B comparison with vintage Minimoogs.
So all in all it is just a minor thing.
But maybe your noise is even lower than my noise level.
I did get a private message stating that “the noise level is supposed to be about the same volume as 1 oscillator set to triangle wave with nothing else enabled in mixer section…”
This is basically true with mine, so maybe I’m just nuts. In looking into this, I did notice that the external input normaling to the output for overdriving the filter is NOT working, so maybe there still is a problem. I think I might have to contact MOOG for this one.
I think the low noise level was brought up in the past and that someone from Moog said that was normal (at least for the Reissue). I do concur that it does seem to be on the low side and it would have been a little nicer if it ran with a bit more higher gains. But overall so far it hasn’t been to big of an issue for me that is.
Currently discussing both issues with Adam from Moog. Very quick to respond. Hopefully they’ll either have a fix or put my mind at ease that there is no actual problem at all.
I noticed that my noise level (on my 2017) is a lot lower than the oscillator volume and not really great for making those swooshy, noise-based patches like on my Sub37. Glad I’m not crazy at least, though I’d love it if it had an even noise level.
On the vintage ones there’s a trimpot for adjusting the noise level, it is on the power supply board, lower left. No idea if it is the same location on the reissue.
As there is due to the external PSU for sure not the same power supply board, it is relocated. But finding a transistor with an open leg and trace the ciruits to find a trimmer should be possible. But of cause, this means opening the Minimoog and maybe undue a board or two to get there.
I concur completely.
The Noise is too quiet. Try recording a slow-rise wind swell and the signal to noise ratio reveals hissing/static louder than the noise.
As soon as a hack is revealed I’ll be implementing.
Not the end of the world or anything but it is too quiet.
interesting, ideally there would be a trim pot somewhere to adjust the noise level
Small update on my Model D: the noise level doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue as I originally thought, but the output looped back to the external input bit is apparently. I got an RMA and I’m sending it back to the Moog mothership next week. Hopefully all will be well after it comes back.
Don’t know about the reissue but on my 1977, it’s (noise level) one of the three trim pots on the power supply board on the right edge of that board when facing from behind. The other two are the + and - 10v pots.
As it turns out…
YEAH!!
Is that the noise level trim-pot on reissue? If so what level was yours set at and how much higher can it go? I feel like the noise levels are WAY too low to be useful for me. I cannot get enough overall volume out of my Minimoog if I keep the 3 oscillators low enough to hear the noise turned up at full volume. The noise function is basically unusable for my playing because of this.
I just opened mine up to have a look ( with some help from John Updike ) here are a couple pics:
the noise trim pot is on the 2nd board, behind the one on the left
it’s pretty easy to adjust
turning the trim pot counterclockwise increases the noise level. I turned mine clockwise and put the thing back together before I tested it, not realizing I had turned the noise to the minimum 
I guess I should have recorded a before clip, but here is a sample of the noise level trim at max
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I started with white noise, brought in OSC1 square wave to full volume, then changed to pink noise & did it again
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did a couple swells with just noise: white & pink
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after that I changed OSC1 to sine, and repeated #1
https://soundcloud.com/user-912416213/d-noise
ps cutoff freq was @max, filter emphasis @min
I really need to do this BUT am a little nervous. Was it Moog support that helped you? Also just to be totally clear did you choose to turn it up to full volume?