is there someone with both mf-102 and mf-107 whishing to give me an advice on what to buy first or addressing me to sites where I can hear both of them in action? on the moog website there’s only one freqbox audio demo… I can see that mf-102 is a great vintage style ring mod and I can imagine it sounds like a rocking good ring mod. but what about the freq-box? looks like a new kind of combo analog fx. am I wrong thinking that with the freqbox I’d be able to do more or less all the things that I could do with a ring mod, especially if I use an external LFO to modulate freqbox’ parameters? in short, could the freqbox also sound something like a ring modulator?
Check out some of the homegrown demos on Youtube. I have both and the ring mod is a much more versatile effect IMHO. The 107 does some interesting sounds but I think it’s best used quite sparingly.
I agree with everthing in the last post. If you are unsure of what to buy, buy the ring modulator. It’s what you would expect a ring modulator to be. The Freqbox is not a multifunction pedal. It is a single oscillator (or VCO) that has a variable waveform that can be synced to the signal or the frequency of the VCO can be controlled by the envelope of the audio in signal.
Bottom line, its a bit hard to control although some claim, and in many way have, found ways to control it. At low mix levels it can add something to a guitar or anything else but if you are looking for a more bread and butter box I would go with the ring mod or even something like the phaser, MURF or low pass.
I don’t have the freq box, but my first Mooger was the ring mod, and I am very happy with that choice. Its a much more versatile unit than the freq box. The freq box, in my opinion is of best use with alot of other foogers in tandem, or with a synthesizer. There is alot of stuff you can do with the Ring Mod, its never let me down and even with my small Moog set up of Ring Mod, Low Pass filter and Cp-251 it brings alot to the table.
The FreqBox is great, but the Ringmod is a better effect.
If you wanted to build a modular synthesizer, the FB would be a great VCO (if you have CV to run it). The Ringmod can also be a VCO, but it really shines the most as a very versatile effect.
I have both. I like both. The key with the FreqBox is to use it in a subtle way. Don’t get stuck in the “it only does those pitch sweeps” mentality because if you dig a little deeper it can do alot more than that. Just like the RM doesn’t “only” make out of tune clang sounds
The last two demos on my page are of a bass being played through the FB and then through the RM so you can hear what they sound like “side by side” more or less…
Hope this helps. Both are useful depending on your sound.
thanks guys, from what I can see your advice would be to buy the ring mod first. I already have a mf-102 phaser, a re-210 space echo and many analog and digital synths, including my beloved voyager OS. after some 10yrs spent with plugin and digital effects I finally discovered that there’s nothing like analog stuff for effecting sound. I think it’s the only way to modify your sounds without losing their original charachter. I’m looking to make my polyphonic synths, especially my matrix1000 and juno-106 sound a bit more gritty and personal than they usually do. I’m very much into cosmic analog sounds, so my first choice would have been a classic ring mod. but I was curious to understand if the freqbox could also sound similar to a ring mod.
Has anyone tried to use a crossover to split the frequency of audio into different bands and then routed each frequency to a different freq box? That is almost a vocoder and could work with some polyphony.
If you already have the phaser, which is the 103 and not the 102 which is the ring mod, then get the ring mod. Then a CP-251. These three boxes play so well together it’s INSANE!
hey guys, thanks a lot for your demos and advices. I decided to go for the ring mod. I already own a phaser, a voyager OS and a vx-351. and yes, next in line will probably be the cp-251 to control some parts of my brain thanks moog for making cv controlled effects.
