40 band of filtering! How many of these were made? Has anyone ever tried one?
They were only made to order in the Moog Music Buffalo days, never a production piece. I doubt there are very many, definitely rarer than the 1630 Frequency Shifter if the 'bay is any measure. Only Moog CE makes them anymore.
From what I’ve read of owner’s experiences with them, they sound amazing. Jan Hammer used to play his Freeman string synth through one, can’t cite a specific example.
I have an early 80s keyboard mag interview with Deep Purple’s Jon Lord. He did a solo album (never released in the states) that had his Polymoog strings put through a Moog String Filter. Then a Moog Music rep dropped in and heard the featured piece. The rep asked who did the strings (thinking they were real), and when Jon told him it was the Polymoog the rep went very red.
A few years ago, Genesis dumped a pile of vintage gear on the ‘bay. One of them was a Moog String Filter. None of Tony Banks’ keyboards came up, and a bunch of the gear were old “Genesis” stencil Anvil cases with rotting foam inside.
I know the concept behind the String Filter and I have schematics of the original AES paper that pioneered the idea. I don’t know anyone who has schematics for the Moog model though.
Wow what do you think one would go for today? 8k? How many knobs were on one of these?
I found this guy that made a clone, Jürgen Haible. Well he’s working on one:
http://home.debitel.net/user/jhaible/jh_string_filter.html
The mp3’s sound incredible.
He’s also working on a Frequency Shifter clone.
8K? Don’t be ridiculous. Modusonics will build you a new one for $1345.
Knobs: input level, output level, resonance. Input jack for CV control of resonance. There are four “Filter Frequency Selector” switches for enabling low, low-mid, mid-hi, and hi filters.
There isn’t even an image of one on the net that I know of.
I know of Jürgen Haible’s work, he’s very talented. He completed his frequency shifter clone at least four years ago.
If you think the String Filter or the 1630 FS are rare, try finding a DVCO.
This is a 2U rack dual VCO designed for expanding Minimoogs. Also a custom order, not a production piece. Controls for waveforms, pulse width, octaves, detune, level, and sync. The oscillator circuits resemble the Minimoog oscillators, Joe Rivers of keyboardmuseum.org has schematics and I’ve seen them.
I think I’ve seen only ONE of these come up for sale, ever. Even though the Museum of Synthesizer Technology in Britian had a String Filter, they never got a DVCO. I have a pic of one in one of my old back issues of keyboard mag.
Modusonics still makes these too.
Does the “D” stan for dual?
How did it expand the MiniMoog? Did it make it polyphonic?
I’m bugging Moog Music to make an expander to turn your Voyager into a polyphonic Voyager.
“D” means “dual”
It did not make a Minimoog polyphonic. The keyboard CV from the Minimoog controlled the pitch of the DVCO and you routed the audio to the Minimoog’s external audio input. That way you could have four VCOs and still use the Minimoog’s third VCO as an LFO.
Yeah I got the dual thing the second time I read the post.
If I bout a bunch of Ken Stone band pass filter kits(w/resonate filter) do you thing I could any way simulate the Moog String Filter? Each board is really cheap $6, and the parts cant be too much.
Go to “modules” then "band pass filter.
Well you’d need to know what frequency, bandwidth, and resonance to tune each of the 40 filters - and I don’t know where that info is.
I’m only 8 years late on this post, But I have an original Moog CE String Filter. Contact me with any questions.
macrutan
Hello :
I have an DVCO custom eng rack. This module has 2 minimoog oscillators and will be the only??? vintage moog product with sync .
The sound is amazing and usually I use it with my modular system and the 2600 to get 2 more oscillators. I have all the docs and parts to modify an minimoog to get 5 oscillators . Still I have no plans to fit this kit in my minimoog because its an musonics and I prefer get it as stock as possible.
Mike bucki was selling them (NOS???) but as every knows this “gentlemen” has dissapear form the earth.
If needed I can provide more info & schematics…
Bollinote
Pics please 
Try Google? 
Below is their image search URL.
Just type “Moog String Filter” into the box and hit return.
http://www.google.com/imghp?
Here is a photo I took of what one looks like inside.
http://www.synthfool.com/moog_string_filter_inside.jpg
Those blue goodies with the red paint on them are adjustment trimmers.
They were all set to an exact setting at the factory and then were sealed with paint to avoid movement in the future.
Simply put, this is a good idea that has limited uses.
It’s a bunch of fixed filters tuned to certain frequencies, levels and resonances in order to mimic the acoustic body resonances of a violin or other stringed instrument body.
The idea being that given the right waveform(s), it will add resonant overtones of an acoustic body instrument and thus sound more realistic.
But it is far less magical sounding than just putting a sound through a simple chorus box.
Most people have no need or desire for what it does and Moog didn’t sell many.
People often try one and say “is that all it does?”
Still, they have their uses for serious synthesists attempting more perfect string instrument simulations and for special effects.
I landed an ADA STD-1 tapped delay last year. That thing can get nice woody resonances. With the MIDImurf->STD-1 chain (using the Murf as a fixed filter bank) you can get scary good violins, violas, cellos, etc.
The Multimoog (1977?) has sync.
When did you acquire the DVCO? I thought of buying the unit when they were first advertised (checked out a SEM too), but ended up buying a second Multi to add two more oscillators.
Dear Piktor
You are right : the multimoog has sync ( I completely forgot and the most funny thing is that I have an multimoog in my collection).
DVCO: I bought it from Mike Bucki about five years. I imagine that mine was NOS form the moog period. Also I bought all the parts to convert an minimoog to use the DVCO (still to be done). I usually use it with my arp 2600 or my MOSS-LAB modular and i must say that the DVCO sound amazing!!! very powerfull!!!
Also I had the chance that Bob Moog himself during his visit in Spain fit his signature on the DVCO ( I will never forget my breef meeting with him in person talking about moogs).
If for some reason you will come across one DVCO for sale !buy it!!!
Regards
jan
Here is the Moog CE String Filter I mentioned:
http://tinyurl.com/7vzhoqn
Hello …
I know I am a year or two late, but if anyone is still following this topic.
I just came into possession of a String Filter. I hear some parts moving when I move it from side to side. Should I open it up and see what’s going on? Does anyone have schematics I can look at to better understand how everything should look inside?
Also, Macrutan, can you show us photos of the inside from all angles? Detailed hi-resolution ones? So I can compare and show you mine and maybe we can solve my issue?
Please.
Kind Regards,
Ahmad
I’d open it up for sure to see what exactly it was rattling around in there, but because of that I surely wouldn’t dare plug it in or turn it on.
You might find a yellow tag inside there also which can tell you when it was manufactured.
My two cents:
I’ve played with several string filters and have yet to see what all the interest is.
I understand what they do and conceptually it’s a sound idea. (no pun intended)
But in practice, I just don’t find it very impressive.
I’d take a person that knows how to play string parts well on almost anything over a great string sound using a string filter.
To me they rank in the category of “Is that all it does?”
Again… my opinion.
As for Jürgen Haible, he died and won’t be developing anything further.
Was a brilliant designer otherwise.