Ok,
tell me your opinion.
Does the Multimoog sound as good as a model D?
It’s surely a cheaper alternative.
Thank You
No. There is a reason the Multimoog is cheaper. It has more bells and whistles but does not sound as good as a model D.
Thanks MC
That’s a clear statement.
Maybe, the one thing that the Multi would have over the Model D is the ring modulation.
For years, I had a Micromoog. Now, I know that a Micromoog is not a Multimoog, but the only difference between the two is another oscillator, and the touch effect. Not too long ago, I sold my Micromoog and my Sonic Six so I could buy a Minimoog.
I do not regret the decision… I can’t believe how great the Minimoog ACTUALLY is… it’s ASTOUNDING. And, it does have just the SWEETEST sound…
HOWEVER.
Okay, everyone… get ready for outrage… I’m going to buck the Moog tide.
IF you are a big LFO user… and you use LFO a lot… (which I think is true for MOST synth users…), the Minimoog is a two oscillator synth.
Comparing the Mini to the Micro, keeping the LFO thang in mind, the Micro really measures up against the Mini in as far as simple functionality goes. The Mini’s modulation capabilities are somewhat limited compared to the Micro! Of course, the Mini has 3 stage ENVs, etc. but still. The Micro, if I’m not mistaken, contains the ladder filter and same oscillator type as the Mini!
So, if you take a MULTI (which DID come out several years after the Micro, and may not contain the same oscs), which has TWO oscillators… in many ways, the danged thing EXCEEDS the functionality of the Mini!
BUT… functionality and sound are two different things.
The Multimoog, if it’s ANYTHING like the Micromoog (and actually should sound BETTER than the Micromoog), sounds GREAT. The diversity of sound generated by the Micromoog alone seems to rival the Mini… so the Multi must be even MORE impressive.
The question is, is the Mini sound “better” than the Multi sound?
I ran into this same problem with my Sonic Six. I LOVED the Sonic Six sound… but it was NOTHING like the Minimoog. It had a GREAT sound, and had bizarre functionality that was VERY useful musically… but if you read reviews, people are always dismissing the Sonic Six because it isn’t a Mini… and that is JUST STUPID.
So, I’d say, before you dismiss the Multi for not being a Mini, listen to BOTH of them… PLAY both of them, and find out which one suits your natural inclinations. The Multi is not LESSER than the Mini (in many ways it is the superior of the Mini), it’s just ANOTHER great Moog synth, with a DIFFERENT sound.
I’d say, if you’re looking for a traditional Mini sound, buy a Mini. If you’re looking for a more versatile synth that still has the Moog filter sound, get a Multi.
Oh, and by the way: If you want a Moog synth that will BLOW AWAY a Multi, and possibly a Mini, for less than you’d pay for both… buy a Micro in great shape, and then buy a Micro in so-so shape… connect them via the CV controls… and POW, you’ve got a two osc, two Ladder filter, four ENV, two S/H, etc. etc. synth which is EXCEEDINGLY powerful for the money. : )
I, too, had a Mirco for years, but i sold it after I got my Voyager. Though I did think that the single oscillator was extremely limiting I remember that I could get the DEEPEST basses out of it. For the longest time it was attached to my left hand when there was no bassist during a gig. Whenever I want to get that deep bass on the Voyager I have to turn off all the oscillators except one to prevent phasing problems.
I agree with you, museslave, the Micro/Multi is just a different beast. BUT the prices they seem to be fetching these day are outrageous! Thats part to do with why I sold mine 
$500+ for a Micro?!? No thanks, not worth it IMHO.
What’s the deal with these prices? 
I would love to get a MULTI but I just can’t see paying this much!
I hope Moog releases a nice budget synth to fan these flames.
That would be “DOUSE these flames”, fanning the flames makes them bigger
In the past, after several attempts to get a Micromoog that I would be
proud to own I finally came across the best example that one could ever imagine.
I valued it as it was near perfect.
I was fortunate to come across a Multimoog in the same condition that my
Micromoog was, near perfect!!! I’m not lying when I say this, but if both my
Micromoog and my Multimoog were wrapped in plastic and boxed in a new
Moog box you they could pass as new!!!
The reason for this story is that having both of the above Moogs in the
condition that they were in is expremely rare, but when I heard my first
minimoog in person both the Micromoog and the Multimoog were out the
door. In my opinion, neither the Micromoog or the Multimoog sounds
like the minimoog. I value mine and with the exception of me owning a Moog modular my minimoog is here to stay.
Save your money and buy a minimoog!!!
i’d like to see someone try that price after the 29th of march!
come on cheap moog!
Oh man you’re right OysterRock! Sorry.
I should have said Moog should fight fire with fire!!! 
Beat the vintage with a better modern. 
The Micro, if I’m not mistaken, contains the ladder filter and same oscillator type as the Mini!
Unfortunatley wrong on both counts.
No slam though, it’s an often made mistake.
The filter in a minimoog is made up of many matched separate transistors and run off a fairly low voltage.
The circuits are fairly different in many ways really.
The filter in a micromoog (and multimoog) is made using a transistor array. A chip that looks like any other IC. It runs on a higher voltage also.
And while I can’t cite any huge differences because of it, the mini board is single sided, while the others are dual.
The difference is that a Mini sounds more resonant and moving.
Because of the lower voltage, the signal to noise ratio isn’t so good.
With more noise, things move around a bit more and not just as background audio noise. All of the nodes in a mini filter have this increased. Run a few millivolts of noise into a vco input and the pitch will be slightly unstable. Same for almost everything in a Mini.
The lack of a common substrate as found in a transistor array adds to this.
The vcos also are very different, again in a mini running on lower voltages, using different circuits, board layouts, parts, etc.
In fact, neither synth shares much with the other at all inside (mini vs micro/multi)
The envs are different, the oscs, vcf, type of glide, keyboard contact design, power supply, noise source.. on and on. They’re all very different.
Fwiw, I love all of 'em, however Multimoogs are often a pain to service and calibrate compared to a Minimoog. Minis see way more keyboard contact problems though in their keyboards and rotary switches.
Thanks, Kevin! I’ve been dying to hear a tech describe the differences for a very long time indeed!
I would still describe the filter on the Micromoog that I had as superior to pretty much any other synthesizer I have, or have had (other than the Mini). If it’s just an IC, and not actually a ladder filter… is there anything to account for this superiority?
I’ll post examples if anyone would like to hear them. : )
The micromoog filter also has a vastly different feedback architecture than the minimoog. The minimoog filter does not have constant resonance over its frequency range, so the engineers at moog were trying to improve that when the micromoog was on the drawing table. While the micromoog will self-oscillate over the entire frequency range of the filter, its resonance is not as colorful as the minimoog.
Those two traits are extremely hard to accomplish in filter design; although ARP got the closest in the 4072/4075 cascaded norton amp design. I heard an mp3 of the modcan polyfusion filter module and that sounds rather interesting too.
That’s not to imply that the micromoog filter is inferior, it does have its uses.
I owned a Micro for about 10 years, it was my first synth, and I bought it in '93 for $40 at a pawn shop in Rural MO, where I happened to be travelling through. I learned to understand subtractive synthesis with this board and after owning several different analogs since I know even more now that it was an extremely powerful and playable synthesizer. Unfortunately it was killed by a friend who was borrowing it several years ago. I’ve been wanting to replace it with a MultiMoog, but I’m having a hard time justifing buying one for the amount of money that they trade for now. I’m sure this is not likely to change though… Can anyone explain that comment above about pricing after March 29th? Is that a fiscal date or something?
After hearing a MiniMoog in person, I agree with everyone on the planet that there is just no stand-in for the sonority of a Mini; It’s just magical. But, besides the Mini, I think the Micro/Multi is probably the coolest most playable vintage mono. So many people talk about the Rogue or Prodigy as the affordable Mini, but I don’t see that at all. To my ears none of the budget Moogs really capture the Mini sound well enough to justify their “Moog” pricing. The Micro/Multis, however, at least have alot of unique special qualities (very good routing options, osc modulation of filter, and a crazy raw electric sound) that would compliment a Mini-- almost like an Odyssey.
I believe (does anyone know for sure?) that the Mini and the Micro/Multi were the only Bob Moog designed Moogs.
To say the Minimoog sounds better than the Multimoog is just plain untrue and just an opinion! (and opinions are like…everyone has one!) While the Minimoog is a more popular and well used sound the Multi is more bitey and carmelly! The Multimoog certainly has more abilities than the Minimoog D, including velocity, ring mod, and the ability to get the oscillators to self oscillate, of which the Minimoog Model D cannot do very well at all! By the way I own/record with a sweet Minimoog Model D, Sub 37 & my favorite of them all, my Multimoog.
Welcome to the forum!
Please post some of your tracks or link us to some videos if you have any.
Eric
As alluded to by others in this revived thread the Minimoog Model D is not special because of its immense feature set (although some of its options like an audio frequency keyboard tracking LFO is unusual and very useful) but because of the absolutely amazing sounds it is capable of within its limitations. This is most evident in other threads where the Mini D is compared to the Voyager. Although the Mini filter does not resonate as willingly at lower frequencies it has far more character and animation than most other synths. Kevin (RIP) and MC among others share a vast amount of experience and knowledge on this forum (and in this thread) which we can all learn a lot from. Minimoog Model Ds also vary more in sound than most people think. For example my present one sounds significantly better than the others that I’ve owned.