What is your favorite feature about your Moog

The Moog Forum Moog Music General Topics Forum
1

Man last night I layd down this track with the Moog and I tell you what, this is one of the most expressive instruments that I have ever played in my life. Between the filter envelope and the Mod wheel, Jeez this instrument is crazy expressive like almost any other Ive ever played.

Now I love playing the drums but sometimes Its hard to have a drumgasm, you know? Im not that wonderful of a keyboard player, you can listen to that and figure that out pretty easily, but even without the actual keyboard chops I find this to be an expressive instrument that has few rivals.



I think right now my favorite thing has to be switching to a 1 pole filter and with a little resonance, making that cutoff scream!


Eric

2

My Little Phatties are by far the most enjoyable instruments I’ve played, although my Rhodes MK1 is high on the list too.

The best feature? I think the fact that it’s a Moog, it’s a bit like Apple computers (in my opinion): it just works like you expect it should work.


When I first heard the Linzer Stahlsinfonie by Klaus Schulze I was amazed by the sound of his 2 MiniMoogs. This subtle filtered lead sound, it was echoing in my mind.. I tried to replicate it a thousand times on different synths (VA and software) and I just couldn’t get the sound right. Untill I unpacked my first Little Phatty: shivers all over my body when I played the very first note!
I ended up buying another one so I could play leads and sequences at the same time without sampling it to my laptop. Also, if I couple them I have the most powerful monosynth on the planet with a double filter overload! :laughing:

3

Wow, we’re just full of great topics today! :mrgreen: My favorite feature of my Moog is the filter overdrive and the blue red and amber lighting scheme. (Thanks again, Amos!) I also enjoy playing with the filter poles, and recently have been getting some use out of the performance sets, which I pretty much ignored until two days ago. :laughing: I also love the customer support Moog has, though is that a feature? I guess it could be. :wink:

4

I guess it is, you pay good money for a Moog product so part of it is probably spend on proper costumer support. :slight_smile:

5

WHERE DO I START! i think my favorite thing with my moog is the fact that i can make an entire song with just one intrument and be able to create percussion, bass, leads, atmosphere, nasty distorted end of the world sounds, and soft meloncholly sounds.

and also being able to run anything that makes some sort of sound and filter it through my moog

6

The layout of the controls on the Voyager (and Phatty) make playing easy and enjoyable. Some synths require lots of menu diving and traversing all over the control panel to make tweaks. The other and most obvious feature I like is the sound.

7

Man I remember the Roland V-guitar…this huge box…it was supposed to be totally awesome but we spent hours trying to work on it and didn’t produce squat.

But the Moogs man its all right there in front of you laid out fairly easy and its like eastern philosophy…you do understand your synths on one level as a beginner but as you improve the complexities begin to show themselves until you master the thing.

Eric

8

It’s so hard to isolate ONE feature that stands out above the rest. I keep trying but keep coming back to the quality of the instrument. As far as portable keyboards go, the Moog synthesizers stand alone, specifically the Minimoog Model D and the Voyager (can’t speak for LP - don’t own one… yet). There’s a quality about them that somehow creates an aura. It’s the only way I can describe it. When a player approaches it and touches it and begins to play and tweak, it’s magic.

Inspiration, confidence, respect, humility, curiosity, satisfaction, joy, even arrogance and pride - all swell up inside you - and experience you get from no other keyboards.

I’ve said this over the years over and over, and I’ll say it again. When a guitar player takes out his 1958 Gibson SG and plugs it into an old Fender Dual Showman, even young kids respond with, “Wow… awesome!” The guitarist is inspired by this lifetime instrument… a work of art. It feels good in the hands. It inspires better playing because of the respect that the player holds for the instrument. He can pass it along to his child and with some care, it will go on inspiring for years upon years. The same can be said of violins, horns of all kinds - all of the orchestral instruments.

Synths are still young as far as world instruments go, subject to the ever changing technology they embrace and so they have a shelf life. Most plastic, stamped out synthesizers build 25 years ago are ashtrays and plastic milk bottles by now. Keyboard players have ALWAYS been required to upgrade their rig to conform to the new technology and fashion of being a keyboard player.

Until the Moog. It changed everything. For the first time, a keyboard player had something under his hand that had the same kind of relationship that the above guitar player has… an instrument that he can pass along to his child… a work of art - a direct extension of the player’s creativity. Moogs are the first instruments available to keyboard players that have this kind of permanent, lifetime quality.

FINALLY! an instrument that will ALWAYS be in my rig as long as I’m alive - and beyond.

Thanks, Bob. We miss you.

9

Well said indeed!

10

I would have the say the mixer out/filter in jack is my favorite feature on the Voyager.
I se it most of the time. (almost every time)

11

Very well said! However, I wonder to what extent our LP’s and Voyagers will be repairable. Granted, Polymoogs, Micromoogs and Minimoogs are still being serviced, but how much longer will the supply of parts continue?

At some point, one synth will have to give up its internals so another can live. So, when do the parts and technical know-how run out? Surface mount someday may become obsolete as circuits are impregnated into the boards themselves! I suppose only time will tell…I’m sure I’m thinking too far ahead, beyond my grand-children’s lifetime, anyway. :wink:

I guess what I’m trying to say here is…unlike a violin which can last 500 years when properly taken care of, or an ocarina which can last thousands of years (playable ones were found at the Pompeii site), synthesizers really can’t be compared to other instruments as far as longetivity goes, because they are completely different. They have their own limited lifeline.

12

Here’s what goes…

Chemical based electronics: electrolytic caps, batteries, some LCDs, etc
Materials with loose bonded molecules: rubber, adhesives, etc
Materials that oxidize: silver switch contacts, terminals, steel, etc
Items that move: keys, pots, switches
Items that wear due to user friction: ribbon controllers, touch pads, etc
Items that change due to light exposure: plastics, paint, etc.

Then add in environmental abuse (temperature, humidity, corrosive salts, airborne particulate matter, etc.)
… and handling abuse (shock, vibration, structural stress when transporting, etc.)

There’s a bunch more.

Want a good investment? (under idealistic circumstances)

Buy a couple present-day classics (Voyager, nice guitars, etc) and store them for 30 years in an oxygen and light free chamber.
Maybe filled with argon or some other inert gas.
Later you’ll unpack an item that’s not seen the light of day, nor the air of 30 years.
Likely worth a LOT more than what you paid. :slight_smile:

13

Yes, well, for myself, who wants to enjoy my instruments, and can’t afford an oxygen free, temperature-controlled room, I will give my synth gear the best of care, and it will bring joy to at least one other generation after I am gone. And I will be content. Just as EricK inherited his Micromoog, so shall my children inherit my Little Phatty.

And their kids will forever wonder who this Amos Gaynes person was, because my kids will tell them he was a famous keyboard player, because they’ll be too embarrased to admit their father wasn’t able to switch out the LED’s on a surface mount board. :mrgreen:

14

Never know.
One day it might be “Moog Music, Inc. A division of Gaynes Industries International”

15

That would totally rock! The complete awesomeness of such an occurrence would be off the Chuck Norris Awesomeness Scale! :open_mouth:

16

Well even the great Stradivarious (spelling) loses its value if its not played.

I don’t know anyone who wants to store their gear in a vaccum.

NOthing lasts forever.

Kevin I thought you told me that the Voyager depreciates in Value when I talked about getting a loan to buy one.

Ah hah! You lose one point for contradicting yourself.

Ill allow you to collect your thoughts and bow out respectfully.

lol

(Okay heres one for you Voltor:
Chuck Norris has been spending his time since the early 70’s gathering and submitting photos and documents of every synth ever made to interested parties and prospective website developers. He did this all under his pseudonym KEVIN LIGHTNER because he wanted to start from scratch on the publics view of what it really means to be awesome.

He got the Idea from a 60’s rock band when he recoiled in horror when he learned that “Derek is Eric.”

But Chuck still plays the part today. He shaved his chest hairs and stapled them to his head and learned how to play the keyboard and is rumored to have a shop somewhere in the mountians in California where he plays synths that are not quite as awesome as he because he wires them that way.)


I see right through you Mr. Lightner, if that IS your real name. Hmmph.


Eric

17

Well, only Chuck Norris could have supper with his family and Chuck Norris, so technically, that IS possible. :confused: Kevin DOES seem to be a bit too awesome for words. He’s ALSO the same height as Chuck Norris. Has anyone actually SEEN Kevin Lightner? I’ve seen his arm on YouTube…it’s big and hairy…like Chuck Norris’. I find it interesting that the room didn’t explode when Chuck Norris and Kevin were in it. The evidence seems pretty clear to me, EricK! :laughing:

18

Kevin I thought you told me that the Voyager depreciates in Value when I talked about getting a loan to buy one.

Ah hah! You lose one point for contradicting yourself.

Ill allow you to collect your thoughts and bow out respectfully.

You were planning on storing it for 30 years in an isolation chamber?
Sorry. My bad.
I’ll learn to ask questions next time… :wink:


Voltor.. somehow I get the impression that when Chuck Norris eventually does die, you’re going to sit on the lawn near his grave and wait for the ground to start moving.

19

No, because if and/or when Chuck Norris does get buried, there will be a massive explosion, which will mark his expulsion from the earth in which he was buried, and a fiery volcanic explosion will soon follow. That is, if they can actually get the coffin into the ground. I have a feeling it will just levitate above the hole. :laughing:

20

Chuck Norris won’t die. Death will Chuck Norris.