I am seeing some low frequency artefacts on the Sub 37 sample. that don’t appear as large on the Sub Phatty. I don’t know if this is the issue you are hearing.
I am using a program called Wavepad, selecting a 1 second sample of a note and looking at the FFT output. On the Sub 37 I can see a spike around 82Hz and harmonics, regardless of note, that I do not see nearly as large on the Sub Phatty.
I will try and upload some graphics but if you could record a few seconds of a single note on both synths then upload I can be more precise.
I listened through an X32 Rack to Sennheiser HD650 headphones, and tbh, the only thing I hear is the Sub 37 oscillators sounding much brighter than the SP oscs (as designed). My ears aren’t detecting any anomalies in the Sub 37 waveforms.
Obviously, everyone has their own opinions and desires for a synth, so it’s hard to say something definitively that will be agreeable to all Sub 37 owners (and potential owners).
But, speaking only for myself (and having programed the Sub 37 on a fairly consistent basis for almost 6 months now):
Of all the things I’ve wished could be changed, many already have been changed via a software update, and more cool functionality will certainly be added in the future. But I’ve never once been programing and wished that the oscillators sounded differently than they do. If I didn’t like them, those kinds of thoughts would haunt me every time I sat down and tweaked. But they don’t… as I very much like the sound of the Sub 37.
Part of it, I suppose, is that I’m not using the Sub 37 as a substitute for a pre-existing instrument (like I would on a keyboard that’s supposed to exactly replicate some famous synth or effect). Instead, I approach the Sub 37 exactly as it has been designed to sound, and then create the coolest presets I can possibly make on it. In all cases, where there was something that I wished was different, it always has to do with wanting yet another parameter or an additional choice on an existing parameter.
If the Sub 37 doesn’t sound the way you wish your synthesizer would sound, the answer is far more likely to be found in a different synth as opposed to returning it for yet another Sub 37 (that will also sound like a Sub 37). Nor is a software update likely to change it into a different-sounding synthesizer. As stated in various posts above, the Sub 37 sounds exactly the way the designers intended for it to sound.
Further to my previous post, which has yet to be moderated and appear… I have now had the opportunity to compare the two wav files on headphone and I can hear a low hum (rather than buzz) on the Sub37 sample.
Alleluia!
There’s a few people on another famous forum too.
It’s so present that i don’t even know how people can’t hear this weird sound (seems that most people don’t have good ears or are newbies with substractive synthesis).
Most people think i’m crazy or stupid but there’s a drone note/hum or buzz sound centered around the note E2 (first E below middle C) present all the time.
Anyway, i’ve just get a refund by the polish seller but i’m not happy with Moog support in general.
They never reply to my email
So i don’t even know if that’s an issue or a normal behavior (the polish distributor have exactly replicated the same settings on a second unit and both sound identical. This drone note when sweeping from Saw to Triangle is present. According to them this is rather a “feature” than the “fault” which is pretty weird don’t u think? How can u get a clean Triangle or Sawtooth wave with this drone sound… I’m sure that my unit was a faulty one (and maybe the second one used for the test) but i have no proof.
I have to know because if that’s an issue, i’ll buy a second one but if that’s a “feature” i will definitely not!
Is there someone ready to test his S37 with the same basic settings? (Same notes, VCO triangle then Saw, Range 8 or 4, volume below 5, no multidrive or feedback, Filter wide open, 24 db and the same notes).
An audio file would be great to compare.
there’s a drone note/hum or buzz sound centered around the note E2 (first E below middle C) present all the time.
I did have one session where I was sure this very thing was happening. I messed with it for a bit and kept having this problem. It was definitely a low drone note that did not change pitch regardless of the note being played. If I remember correctly, I was only having the problem with a new preset I was creating. I could not reproduce it starting from other presets. I kept messing with it and then the problem went away. I think at the time I attributed it to a mixer setting that was too high…causing some weird distortion. I don’t seem to have this problem anymore, but I do remember that hour or so when it was undeniable. If the problem were to have continued, I’d definitely be looking for a resolution or returning the synth. But the problem has not come back since that once session. I am not sure it was due to distortion/mixer overload but that was my best guess at the time.
Could you test your unit in Panel Mode? Open one VCO, range 4 or 8, volume at 5 or below, triangle wave, filter wide open, 24 db, no multidrive, feedback, Modulations and let us know? And an audio file would be great to compare. Thanks JonLukas!
Unfortunately i can’t compare my Audio file with this one (for me there’s only a sub bass, i can’t hear any drone note the spectrum of the Triangle Wave).
Please, play the same note (high pitch range) with the same settings (see below) and filter wide open.
Thanks Rufus!
Settings: Panel Mode, one VCO, range 4 or 8, volume at 5 or below, triangle then saw waves, filter wide open, 24 db, no multidrive, feedback or Modulations then play the same high pitched note of my Audio file.
Could you test your unit in Panel Mode? Open one VCO, range 4 or 8, volume at 5 or below, triangle wave, filter wide open, 24 db, no multidrive, feedback, Modulations and let us know? And an audio file would be great to compare. Thanks JonLukas!
Ok I did the test as you described. I am not hearing the low drone note that was problematic. I am on 1.0.2 now, and I was on 1.0.1 when I had the problem (only once, have not reproduced)…not sure if that has anything to do with it.
Here is the audio file…the oscillator does sound a little ‘fuzzy’ but I think that is by design (though I might have preferred a purer wave). But I am NOT hearing that weird drone note staying the same as I play different notes: http://electricjazzgroove.com/moog-test/moog-test.wav
Thanks very much!
Well, i hear something at 0.23 (the highest pitched note) but it’s absolutely not so loud as on my unit (now returned), the oscillator or your S37 seems to be normal.
Now I’m almost sure that my unit & the second one used by the polish tech was both defective (strange coincidence), but since you play “low pitch” on your recording (and the drone note is low so it’s difficult to hear it when playing with lower octave), could you follow my notes & settings? (High pitch KB and VCO Range at 4")? Thanks in advance!
I then used some analysis software called ‘SignalScope’ to look at shape and frequency spectrum. I need to edit the images together and post in a bit but the upshot is that I also have a constant 82Hz tone regardless of note played. It is a lot lower than the note level but it is there.
I also noted that the 82Hz ‘modulation’ of the note waveform was worse about the third index line clockwise on the shape knob.
Many thanks for this! Unfortunately for you too, there’s a constant low drone note in the spectrum of the vco (between Square and Triangle), Bingo! Though not as loud as mine, it’s present. The polish seller and i are right, it’s not only an issue only with my unit (now returned) but a “feature”
i have good ear & i’m not stupid
Time for a high pass filter then .. I can just hear the low tone but mostly when the shape is ‘pure’ triangle and it needs headphones clamped to my ears !
It will be interesting if Amos or anyone else from Moog pops there head in and give a techie explanation
I have now also checked my Sub 37 (#385 - OS 1.0.3) and yes, I have also this drone-sound, audible if one (or both) oscillator is switched on and playing on higher octaves. It is always there, if I have select a waveform between triangle and sawtooth and it just begins to disappear, when I turn the waveform-knob clockwise from sawtooth to the rectangular-waveform. Approximately in the half of the way between sawtooth and rectangular it dissapears completely. And because of that this “drone-wave” never change it´s pitch even which note I play on the keyboard, it cannot be a wanted feature of the designers… Sorry Moog Music, but this isn´t nice and has to be eliminated, but I fear, that a software-update can`t help … And now?
It´s so sad, because I really like the new Sub 37. But now that I know about this Drone-Sound in the background, I hear it always when I play in higher octaves, and on some sounds this drone could be really annoying. For example on distorted sounds, when the Waveforms of both VCO´s are cancel themselves, when they are in phase. In this moment you can hear this drone-sound relatively loud. The same without distortion, when you play soft triangle or sawtooth leadsounds with unison VCO´s, and the filter-cutoff is something around 500Hz.
@ Moog Music: Please, do something to eliminate this fault. I don´t want to give back my new Moog because I really like it´s architecture, sound, optic, … The keyboard-problems reported in another thread is not a big problem for me. For me it feels not perfect, but o.k. and I can live with it. But this drone-sound in the background of the triangle- and sawtooth-waveforms are not o.k. …
All credit to gencomprodukts for first posting about the effect but it seems, without doubt, it is a design issue. Even if I cannot hear it too clearly that may be entirely due to what I am listening with and ears … the FFTs I ran on both gencomprodukts samples and my own Sub37 (Serial No. 1221) display an 82Hz signal and harmonics.
Given that the frequency of the ‘drone/buzz/hum’ does not move with note value would suggest it does not originate in the VCOs themselves, and I cannot see where in the Analogue chain such a fixed frequency spike would originate. That leads me to suspect digit aspects of the Sub37, for example is the led back light or display ‘strobed’ in anyway?
I mention that because my suspicion is that the very similar Sub Phatty does not exhibit this ‘feature’ and the Sub 37, apart from being a front-panel-expanded-Sub-Phatty has some extra ‘smarts’ and a back lit display etc.
Sorry Moog Music, but this isn´t nice and has to be eliminated, but I fear, that a software-update can`t help … 
And now?