New Mother 32 - first weekend of fun, first thoughts

The Moog Forum Moog Semi-Modular Analog Synthesizers
1

My first Moog instrument, the Mother 32!

Walked into Guitar Center on my birthday Jan 7th and asked about it because website showed one in inventory. 30 minutes of searching produced the only unit they have seen for awhile just in that day. Walked out with it in my hand.

I was looking for a compliment to my Minibrute and a Blue Lantern old box synth called a Salamander. The Salamander was a one-off expanded version of his normal sized Salamander box synth. I have had it for about a year and a half, but not a lot of use. It has the following modules built into it permanently and is fully modular (no hard wired modules):

1x VCO w/sine, reverse saw, saw, tri, pulse w/pulse mod, square, sync, fm, ring
1x VCO w/sine, saw, reverse saw, tri, square, pulse w/pulse mod, fm, sync
1x VCO w/sine, saw, reverse saw, tri, square, pulse w/pulse mod, fm, sync
1x LM4250 Polivoks filter, hp, lp, bp, fm, bright switch, res
1x Diode Ladder filter, hp, bp, lp, fm, res
1x OB 12 filter, hp, lp, bp, fm, res
3x attenuators
2x Three Way Multipliers
2x lfo, saw, square, rate, skew
2x TADSR Envelope Generators (T for time)
1x Clock, rate, skew, distort, in, out, out lfo
2x VCA, 2 cv in, input, output
1x Three Input mixer
1x noise, white, red, white hp, white lp
1x Midi to CV converter, portamento

As you can see, for a box synth with permanent modules (one big printed panel with all labels, knobs, and patch points) it has quite a bit. Being fully modular, it was ready for an addition like the Mother 32.

I ran KB and Gate out of Mother 32 into multipliers and from there into PCV in and Gate in on the Minibrute, and PCV to two Oscillators on the Salamander and Gate back to EG’s and into VCA unless I had EG out from mother into VCA on the Salamander.

Had a blast with the sequencer after a bit of fine tuning to match all three synths. With the Mother 32 controlling Pitch CV I was able to get about one full octave in tune with all three machines. Pretty good to me.

I already have another Mother 32 on order after weekend of playing. Lots of possibilities with two Mother 32’s and the Salamander + Minibrute.

I have looked at Moog products in the past and never had the urge so bad as I did after watching videos on the Mother 32. It has a few quirks and limitations, but really is a lot of bang for the buck for a neat fit with other Eurorack format modular gear. I had many combinations of stuff going on, but first night with it was solo Mother 32 and was so impressed by what it can do by itself for the amount it gives. Opening up CV functions on a smart patch panel (unlike my Salamander Synth where patch cables are all over the place in front of knobs) that is out of the way was brilliant.

Hope Sweetwater isn’t months away from fullfilling. Really want to get my second one soon to start playing with it.

Pretty cool stuff for just the first few days with it. Can’t wait to explore more.

2

Had my iPad with iConnectMidi hooked up to Mother 32 sending a sequence from Genome Midi Sequencer.

It sends clock out but not sync in the way I’m using it. No Mother 32 Sequencer running. Setting my Minibrute on hold mode (drone) and mixing a Pulse and Saw already run through the OB12 filter from Salamander with Square from Mother 32 via Ext Audio in and patching out EG to Salamander’s OB12 Filter FM input and sustain off and very short decay. Twisted some knobs on OB12 filter and Minibrute with Pulse, Tri, and Sine Subosc blended with some very slight filter slow sweep with low range resulted in one of the most beautiful synth patches I have ever made. Going to try to record it tonight with an out from mixer into my MV8800 sampler.

I ditched the computer and 14 years multitracking experience with computer for the MV8800 skinned and maxxed out as center sequencer/tracker last year. All hardware. 9 years on Ableton Live alone after trying a few DAW’s, but all put away to go back to tedious multitracking with more limited options. Hahaha. It’s focused more than PC though for me. Do some magic with what limited abilities the equipment gives. I’m sure I’ll fire up the computer DAW in a few years, but for now, it’s been nice just using hardware again. Can’t wait for second Mother 32 to get here! I ordered another 12 channel mixer too. Finally enough gear that I needed more than a single 12 channel mixer to hook it all up.

3

Hate to burst your bubble man. I heard someone just received theirs from an order placed Oct 15th. Myself I ordered Nov 27th and I am guessing sometime in late February or March.

If you are in a hurry I suggest you start scouting other options.

4

Not in that big a hurry really. I have several things ordered to be shipped at the time the Mother 32 comes in and is ready to ship. I have enough to keep me busy for now. One of the sales rep’s gave it a February early prediction or a late March late prediction. I will wait regardless. Moog now knows what the demand is now at least, so next batches will be anticipating the larger volume of orders they initially could not predict. If it falls into March or later, I will probably pick up another modular or semi-modular that should play nicely with the others or even pickup another cv sequencer to run with the Mother 32’s. There are a lot of great synths out now. As long as it has some cv patching cababilities. I am amazed at how well the Minibrute and my Salamander work with Mother 32. Really some flexible options with just a few other modules.

5

So, I found out the problem with affordable analog gear today. Was browsing through youtube and saw a new video posted by Korg on ots polyphonic minilogue synth. Full 4 voice polyphonic analog synth with sequencer and even a little oscilloscope built in. No CV on it, but its a beast of a synth - here is the problem though…its also affordable like the Moog Mother 32. $499. Good grief. I bought one from Sam Ash today. They got two. First sold in 30 minutes, mine was out as demo less than a day.

Different beast than the Mother 32. Each powerful, but I will give the edge to the Mother 32 for being able to patch in and out of it and full CV support plus sequencer. The Minilogue has a sequencer too with one lane of notes for up to 16 steps and 4 lanes of automation for recording knob turns. Also stores 200 presets and just as many sequences. I don’t see these as competition at all and lack of CV nearly drove me away from buying but then I heard it and it sounds incredible. They will compliment each other nicely. I will now patiently wait for second Mother 32 and two tier stand.

This has got to be the greatest time in quite a long while to be a fan of analog machines.

6

I know the feeling. I walked into GC the other day and walked out with the Korg minilogue, while it is a cool and nice sounding synth it just didn’t seem to fit in my workflow. So I took it back and picked up a Mother-32 (they had two in stock). I liked it so much I went back and bought the second one the next day and the two tier rack. This thing is great. I also have a Bass Station 2 I’m using for keyboard control of the Mother 32 and Elekton Analog 4 control CV functions of the Mother. This small little setup has some great power !!! I may later buy a third Mother case and PS, 3 tier rack and new Waldorf Wavetable module. Too much fun !!!

7

I definitely love the Minilogue and will keep it for sure, but I am seriously chomping at the bit for more Mother 32’s.

I just went off on an hour long weird ride with my single one that absolutely morphed playing a little vanilla sequence with vanilla sound into the most freakishly cool sounds I did not think possible from the single oscillator, filter, lfo, and limited EG. These things are quite powerful and sound amazing.

I freaking love modulars and the Mother 32 is going three tier as soon as they have more and tax returns get here in two weeks. Since I already have one backordered, I’m cancelling the two tier rack and buying a three tier.

Also on the shopping list with tax returns - Roland System 500 complete. Between the Roland and the Moog three tier Mother 32 setup, plus minilogue, I’ll be set for a little while. The old Salamander synth is having serious problems staying in tune so it is going to get put to use for its multiples, clock/slew/distort, attenuators, TADSR’s, and lfo’s, but not the oscillators. Possibly put those filters to use too, but really love the filter on the Mother 32. The Roland System 500 is a beast of a nice setup too. Malekko/Roland partnership is a good thing for the System 500.

I was seriously impressed by the Mother 32 as a single unit. There is a whole lot of sounds available just from one. There were times it sounded like I had several oscillators going. Cool unit.

8

Cancelled Sweetwater Mother 32, but changed the rest of the order. Now three tier rack, mixer, patch cables, minifooger bucket brigade delay.

I bought two new Mother 32’s off ebay plus a Moog CP-251 for sone extra options. CP-251 has 1/4" jacks, but low-gain electronics has the ULT-4 I bought for $99. It is a 10x10 format converter. Converts 1/8" to 1/4" or 1/4" to 1/8" whichever way you want. 10 jacks of each. One could also use 1/4" to 1/8" cables, but thought the converter, which is passive, would be easy with all the cables I already have of both types.

S&H, 1to4 mult, dual wave lfo, noise generator, lag processor, cv mixer, 2x attenuators

All same voltage format as Mother 32. You can patch lfo or other sources to in on mult, then send out three to all three Mother 32’s for syncing. Just more options and seemed a no brainer as it works with any synth using cv.

All will be with me next week. Pretty excited to set it all up.

Now for those complete System 500’s to start shipping…

9

I spent this weekend getting very familiar with the step sequencer. My other two Mother’s are arriving this week, so wanted to explore capabilities more in depth.

Very simple sequencer and very easy to have running and edit sequences, add glide, ties, holds, accents, ratchets, change sequence length, and change patterns while it runs.

This is a fun little sequencer. It keeps it simple just like the rest of the synth. It’s just right.

10

Tonight I went in to the minor wrestling match of hooking up three Mother 32’s in the three tier rack. They should have slotted the screw holes. It was an extremely tight fit, but finally all together and looking great.

Some really interesting options using three by itself and no midi. Very easy to sync all three and use a single Mother 32 as a master to both others slaved. They will even slave daisy chained from clock out to tempo in on second and clock out of second to tempo in again on third. Starting first ones sequencer can start all three and keep them synced.

More to come after some experimentation I need to do.

11

Noggin, beware of the moon, stay off of the moors, and don’t dangle the patch cables, read the mother surfaces scratch pretty easy … :frowning:. My 3 are still on back order along with the Minilogue, i could be a doctor cause i have allot of patients … :slight_smile:

12

I have had the first one for 5 weeks and no scratches on it yet. The nice thing about the eurorack patch jacks is there is a bit of metal there, so even if you aren’t precise the first time trying to put a cable in, you will probably hit the metal of the jack and not the surface of the Mother 32.

I try to be careful anyway, but its going to get use. A lot of use.

Now if I can just get the guy selling the Werkstatt to ship promptly and get my cp-251 in, I’ll be able to really see what options I have!

I am glad I kept scouring ebay. There are a few Mother 32’s up for sale on ebay now. Regular price too, unlike the Minilogue which people are trying to sell for more than standard $499