ouch! 
Thatās very unfair. 1) Heās never rated that solo himself, and 2) heās done a lot of other stuff with the modular.
Hmmm.
If I had the money (unfortunately I donāt), would I buy one? Well -
-
Do I rate Keith Emerson? - Yes
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Do I rate the Moog modular? - well, it depends. For certain things, yes.
-
If I was to buy one, would I buy a Keith Emerson clone? - no. I might buy one if it was the configuration I wanted, but not a copy of someone elseās modular. As a musician Iād want it to be my modular, not a copy of someone elseās.
I think it would be nice if someone was to give one of these to Rachel Flowers, though. I think sheās proved her right to it.
Much agreed, Sweep! 
Except I think this rig might be overwhelming for Rachel. She should definitely be gifted a MiniMoog but if she wanted to get adventurous a smaller modular like a System 15 or 35 would probably be much better, at least to start out with! 
The absolute worst way to start learning any modular is by starting with a large systemā¦
Stephen
.
John and Stephen - yes, I agree with both of you, a modular could present difficulties (though I wouldnāt risk underestimating Rachel, either). 
To explore some points about the production of this modular I think it may be helpful to consider Rachelās possible use of an instrument -
I find I respect Rachel - not just for achieving something that would be beyond most people despite being blind. Plenty of blind people achieve significant things. But her obvious love for Keith Emersonās music and her blend of skill and sheer enjoyment seem to me to be the main things that come across very positively from her.
Whether sheāll make her own original music to a similar standard, or whether sheās more of a performer than a composer remains to be seen. Time will tell. Iām sure there are people whoād happily work with her in a band performing situation, but she may have her own personal development to follow.
And that leads me to the point with this remake of Keith Emersonās modular. Thereās a market for copy instruments - the David Gilmour black strat and so on. With this modular you presumably get pretty much what Emerson has, which is of course ideal for playing ELP stuff. For someone like the guy from Noddyās Puncture who sometimes posts here that looks to be ideal, and Iād like to hear his take on this. And for someone like Rachel it might be a potentially useful system, though as I said we donāt yet know where sheās going to go with her music.
But for most musicians, does it really make sense to have the exact configuration Keith Emerson has? Many of us may respect Keith Emerson greatly but still not want to make similar music, and the point of a modular is to select the modules you need to make your own music with. I wonder if it might make more sense for Moog to follow up this Keith Emerson model with a more flexible choice of modules - you could specify variant modules, or ask for certain modules to be left out so you can add whatever you need later as you explore the possibilities of the system. That, to me, recalls the original point of modular systems and opens out into the desirable situation where musicians who arenāt in tribute bands or arenāt exploring the work of someone else can develop their instrument in just the way they need to for their own music.
I certainly donāt have a down on musicians who would value a Keith Emerson clone instrument, as should be clear from what Iāve said. But I would like to see something more open-ended. Of course there are plenty of modular systems available for people who want to explore them, but when Moog have gone to this much trouble already it seems sensible to open things up a bit more. And it isnāt everyone who needs a rocket launcher.
It didnāt hurt Keith Emerson
Keith started out relatively small, it was a borrowed system 35 (I think) and the owner tutored him and even went on stage to help him patch.
Why is that āvery unfair?ā He is a good player but I just donāt like his music. Please show me some great examples of stuff heās done with it. I feel the same about Wakeman.
Iām more inclined towards Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Bernie Worrell, Tangerine Dream, JMJ and that type of stuff if Iām really interested in hearing synths.
I just never was too thrilled with the type of arrangements and style of ELP and Wakeman. There is a post on muffs about how he never seemed to change the patch much. 
hey I didnāt write that ! 
It started out as a single cabinet Ic modular but that is still bigger than the Moog 10/12/15 modular.
And large modulars didnāt hurt Tangerine Dream or Klause Shulze either.
People, people, please ! Could you make better use of quotations ? Itās getting tedious and confusing to re-read multiple imbedded quotations, some badly truncated, all the time ā¦ 
Thanks.
No problems with not liking his work. I meant it was unfair to him to assess him by the Lucky Man solo which he didnāt rate and which he only plays because people specifically ask him for it. If other people werenāt asking him, he wouldnāt play that solo at all. Heās said that many times.
I think if you donāt like what youāve heard and you donāt like Rick Wakeman either, you probably wouldnāt be pleasantly surprised by anything I could suggest. Thatās perfectly reasonable, of course, and as youāve said there are plenty of other interesting keyboard players.
āCould you better use quotations ?ā -thealien666
Corrected.
Hey, hereās the guy from Noddyās Punctureā¦ the nameās Tom, BTW. My take on this is that I already have my own Modular (sourced and imported to the UK with help from the Emerson campā¦) and which I have extensively modified to also include one of my Minimoogās. I didnāt actually want to make a three or four tier Emo-clone system. For one thing it would take too much to move around as I always intended to use it live. My band is an expensive hobbyā¦ so although I am willing to āmove gearā there is a limit. Hammonds, Leslies and a Modular, well you know what I mean..! Also I wanted a system base more on Keithās early set-up. With the 901 oscillators, I wanted the early sound. So knowing that it might end up shooting me in the foot āliveā I built in the Mini as insurance. Emo never had that modification but it donāt bother me as I am making it āmy ownā. And with some greatly appreciated help from CZ I have also managed to make a sure-fire modification which enables me to compensate for the scale drift of the 901a in about 10 seconds, live, on-stage with audience waiting..! The system has only been out once to date but I can report that it works a treat. I have copied elements such as Emoās TV screen & LED waveform gimmick and also made a pyro launcher for the ribbon controllerā¦ I love ELPās music and ALL Emoās Moog meanderings. My ELP tribute band tries to recreate all of that as well as the Hammond antics & dagger throwingā¦! The funny thing is, if Moog do make a handful of these and they go to rich buyers/collectors - I doubt if any of them will actually end up being used to itās full potential playing ELP music in a live setting. Iām probably the only one mad enough and fanatical enough to put myself through every thoroughly enjoyable second of itā¦!
By the way hereās another video clip from my gig a couple of weeks agoā¦
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCR7PtzCBfw
Cheers,
Tom
totally agree
Thanks for that, Tom. I thought your contribution would be instructive, and it is. Your last point certainly is. It might be interesting to know, one day, how many of these got built and what happened to them.
That quick tuning adjustment certainly sounds interesting - and a very useful thing to have.
Incidentally there used to be another ELP tribute band, called Aquatarkus, who I think were Italian. I donāt know if anyone here knows anything about them? Their keyboard player used a Korg MS10/20 setup, perhaps rather improbably - and got great results that way. I sometimes used to do Emerson stuff when I had an MS20, but it isnāt what Iād choose if I was going onstage to do it for real, so I think he did an amazing job. And Keith Emerson mentioned back in the 80s that heād seen ELP clone bands in Japan using Poly 800s and doing amazing feats of joystick waggling to get exactly the glitches he got the night they recorded Pictures at an Exhibition.
Another Emerson tribute band (The Nice)
Hi All,
I didnāt want to mislead you with my post referring to Keith.
Of course, I didnāt think about āLucky Manā but even more of a wonderful and extraordinary prformance of a song I canāt remember now any more, but with ELP.
But what Iāve meant was the overimpressing work he did when playing, plugging, unplugging and turnig the knobs either at the same time or sequently very sensible, LIVE and VERY performative.
My question was sooner, whoās going to do like that nowadays and who of the common people with their present musical tastes will be interrested in to listen to ?
Please think all of you too, here in the expert circles it is talked about that a big mod system can only be produced in China to make it profitable for Moog.
Itās very likely, components will be shipped ready for the last assemble from China to the US.
See Kurzweil, what is written upon: Developed in the US and assembled in Thailand (or Korea ?)
Iāve also heared about the new 2600 housing because of lacking quality thereās a severe delay of delivery.
If you imagine that a Chinese worker is getting 1$ a day for work this makes sense.
Otherwise itās not believable to realize.
Yes, of course, there are a lot of enthusiasts and great experts who are very skillful to use a thing like that and making great music. But at the end the majority will be some sons of some oligarchs or very rich Saudi Arabians who can afford the huge amount of money for.
Who of a sensible and advanced musician would give 90ks for a product āMade in Chinaā ?
Itās very likely MOOG will assure firmly that this is not the case, but I wonāt believe themā¦