Moog Grandmother - knob resistance

The Moog Forum Moog Semi-Modular Analog Synthesizers
1

Hello There,

Just got my first Moog today !

I opened it up quickly in order to check the unit, but have not time to hook it up.

I tested all knobs but two of them seems to have a different resistance than the other :

  • Cutoff (which could be normal)
  • Envelope Amt - which seems to have no resistance at all.

Could you please tell me if this is normal or I got a defective unit ?

Again, I didn’t turn it on for now.

Thank you for your feedback !

BR

S.

2

I am checking the knobs on some of my gear, but I can’t find one on which all of the knobs have the same resistance. None of them are cheap: Yamaha, Koma Elektronik, Ableton, Modal Electronics. I would say it is completely normal

3

Hi synthury

My Matriarch has a much looser cutoff knob - the rest of the knobs are quite solid feeling.

Same with the sub phatty - except the cutoff knob is much more stiff

4

Synthury,
I discovered the exact same thing on my new Grandmother. I was suspicious as well. The Filter Cutoff and Filter Env. Amt knobs have a different feel than every other knob on the unit. My thought was, yeah cutoff for fast filter sweeps… sure. The fact that you had the same experience with the same two knobs is reassuring that it is, in fact, by design.

Can anyone else confirm that this indeed by design?

Thank you!

5

FYI just checked my GM it’s the same as yours

but seriously, knob resistance will change over time as you use the thing, I wouldn’t worry about it!

6

Nice. Thanks ummagumma!

7

I would emphasize that I like the ENVELOPE AMT haptical feedback at zero-crossing (on my GM) which gives you the chance to work blindly on this control. Would be great if moog introduced this zero-crossing mechanical feedback for all their gear with -/0/+ controls.

Could it be introduced aftermarket with another knob mechanics? (sorry for the no-clue-question).

8

Hey I know this is an old thread but I thought might provide some insight.
I purchased my Grandmother around the time it came out and the cutoff resistance matched all the other knobs. It had weight and gravity to it, felt very smooth. Then the pot started developing the scratchy noise which from what I’ve found was a common issue. I sent my GM over to Moog to be repaired and when I got it back, the scratchy sound was gone but the knob felt loose. I was kind of annoyed by this because it just didn’t feel right and I was certain they screwed up, but Moog assured me it was within spec. So I went and tested some brand new Matriarchs and Grandmothers and they too had loose feeling cutoff knobs… so I guess this new loose feeling knob is in response to the issue with the scratchy knobs I guess? I don’t know… I mean I can do some really fast sweeps now which is cool, but I can’t really do slow sweeps smoothly without extreme concentration. It’s not that big a deal I guess but I really do wish the cutoff felt the way it used to. I’ve been trying to find a replacement pot with little success and I’m kinda holding off on a matriarch in hopes that Moog start using a cutoff with some resistance to it. I just kinda don’t understand why they’ve gone this route. All my other synths, even my volcas have better feeling knobs. Whatevs.