Been researching for a few days and I thought here would be a good place for some straightforward info.
I have an old Yamaha keyboard from the '80s and I’m looking into getting a MF-101 to start followed by either a MF-102 or FreqBox. I’m primarily concerned with being able to a) make cool bass sounds b) percussion sounds and c) change the ADSR on organs, strings, horns.
The MF-101 sounds like what I need to accomplish this, but I’m confused on the differences between the 102 and Freqbox. I like on the 102 that you can get that bell sounding effect, and I want that sawtooth kind of sound in my synth bass. It seems you can change the waveforms in both MF’s, so I was hoping for some clarity on that. Also, can you simply line in to Moogerfoogers or does it have to be XLR?
With the Freqbow, you will be able to make cool bass sounds. The Freq is an Oscillator (not a full fledged one but suitable for your purposes).
The 102 will get great bell sounds. You can’t exactly change the waveform though, that is only for the lfo. While all three units can act as oscillators with other synthesis techniques, the freqbox is the only with a continuously variable waveashape. The Ringmod is more like a triangleish wave and the Filter is a sine.
The 101 will definately make your yamaha sound different.
I don’t think that any of these will help you change the adsr of the strings you are talking about. The Ringmod MIGHT help you change onlthe A and the R, but that is with some more complex synthesis.
Using the 101 with some patches on your yamaha with fast attacks and releases might get you making some cool percussive sounds, but you might consider spending a tiny bit more money and getting a used phatty from someplace, so you can just go ahead and process your yamaha, and have some nice bass sounds. You might can find a used phatty around 900 bucks.
The MF-101 is a must for any analog sound post processing. You can process anything with it : bass, guitar, audio, other keyboards. Imagine you favorite Yamaha sounds processed by a real Moog filter. It has to be operated with an expression pedal (or two) to be really effective and it sorely lacks a LFO though.
If you see any Moog in your future, the MP-201 is a must for your forthcoming rig. It will instantly and simultaneously take 4 controls from you midi keyboard (CC’s like pitch bend, mod wheel, pressure etc) and convert them to appropriate CV’s to feed in your MF-101 and the little foogers to come next. MP-201 gives you LFO on any channel plus envelopes. The pedal will then be able to provide two kind of envelopes to the MF-101, it’s own, plus it can control MF-101’s own envelopes, and other rates as well. I have not done myself processing audio from other keyboards with MP201’s envelopes (I am processing Etherwave, basses and guitars, and the MF-101-Voyager-LP provide me with plenty of envelopes to work with), but I am sure they work well with the foogers, that’s what they were designed for. Besides that particular use, the MP-201 has midi-to-CV just about anything for me : midi notes from keyboards or sequencers , and their CC’s to be sent as CV’s to feed just about any red nutted or white labeled jacks within reach
The MF-101 is nice sounding (though it lack a bit of control). The MP-201 will make it come alive, other foogers as well. Moog has planned this one good, the MP-201 is the key element for serious CV analog rig, specially if you don’t have a Voyager or LP. Go grab it while it’s on special
