I just saw a very interesting video tour of the DSI factory. Does anyone know if there’s anything like that for Moog?
I assume Moog does all of its manufacturing in-house. How automated is it? Is the LP line the only product that uses SMT?
Questions… questions…
Okay… I found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27EMQ_I6Xc
But it’s from a few years ago, and there’s no Phatty production.
There’s this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkqQDM-KBq8
Which is more recent.
But I’m struck by how, although there is obviously a manual “assembly line,” Moog doesn’t seem to have [in these videos] facilities for manufacturing the actual circuit boards. Is this farmed out to a contract manufacturer?
Also… does anyone know if circuit board manufacturing, as opposed to assembly, is done on a batch or continuous basis?
the circuit boards are most likely produced in batches, because Moog does not ship hundreds of synths per week. But a pcb-board company does them by hundreds per week. And running a line at a non constant fast rate would cause a loss of money.
The boards are done nearly automatic. But the assembling is done by hand.
BTW: DSI is also only producing batches of boards in “their” contracted company.
This is interesting. SO… If Moog introduces a new line – say, the Taurus III – it doesn’t need to take production capacity out of another line [except in terms of assembly and large parts, but much of that is interchangeable, I imagine]. It also means that re-tooling costs are probably pretty low…
Yeah I seem to think that the circuitboards for the Phatty were manufactured overseas? I seem to think i remember reading that was to cut costs.
Yes…I think the LP circuit boards are the only lead-free product coming out of China. 
in CHINA ??? like the Microkorg!!!
gees 
They had to keep costs down SOMEHOW to get the price below 1300 USD. I think we can all agree that the Little Phatty is far superior to the Microkorg. 
But the MicroKorg is plyphonic and has a vocoder!
It’s a piece of crap! It sounds like crap, it feels like the Yamaha PSR-50 I had when I was six, and it looks like something from Toys R Us. Now please stop trying to get me riled.
My respect for my LP just dropped a notch.
I watched a film on-line about the production of PCBs in greater Asia. The robotics, testing, masking
are amazing. The quality control is very organised, and from the film, a segment at ASUS said, I believe, 99.95% perfect. And that on an assembly line that can reconfigure in a few days. Why we only use that tech here for CPUs and the like is hard to understand. So if Moog Music outsources the surface mount tech, I bet they go with a quality house.
And surface mount is a lot more durable then discrete, just very difficult to work on. ( I worked on hand-held radios before my eyesight got bad.)
2 cents. Not kicking sand.
-best
What’s all this about the microKorg?!
Those instruments are great. They’re like the LP of the normal synth world. They’re cheap, and sound great. The micro was the first synth I owned, and I love it!
LP of the normal synth world is exactly right. Which is why the LP is still superior. If the Microkorg fits your needs, great! I just felt it was inferior to the LP. I was open to either one when I was looking for a synth. The LP felt more like an instrument and less like a toy IMHO.
Oh yeah, when it comes to playing the microKorg against the LP then the LP wins hands down in every field. No argument there!