Moog Music Forum

Those Opus 3's are great instruments. More of a Herb Deutsch creation, one of my favorite poly Moogs. Another Moog that does not get the respect it deserves. There are so many sounds you can dial in with a little experimenting. I often think of the string section as missing the button presets most other manufactures had, and instead, give a variable filter section that can get most of the stringer tones you can imagine. Also I think of the organ section as a square wave oscillator with individual faders on each footage. Try a 16' and 2' for those Wakeman leads. (Missing the glide though.) And has the pitch wheel for more classic Moog styles. A well thought out machine, probably my most unique Moog.
I did add some inputs on the back of mine for audio, filter CV and S-trigger. Makes for some interesting sounds patching a sample and hold on the filter and such. Can also route back the string section audio into the VCF section, and control it all from the panel via the left/right sliders. Fun stuff!



You guys rebuild Moogs and pinball machines? Must be a connection?

CZ Rider wrote:You guys rebuild Moogs and pinball machines? Must be a connection?

CEMs and SSMs were used in arcade games back then

When I was 18 I helped a family move into a new house. They had an early 1970s pinball machine that wasn't working at all and I offered to fix it. I got it up and running 100% without spending a dime on parts.

Always loved pinball machines way better than video games.

A friend of mine wrote the machine code for a new game that was in development for a while (now shelved) called "Lost Vegas" which was to be a re-make of the absolutely horrible "Dolly Parton" game. I was to supply the sound effects for the game and had a good handful put together based on, you guessed it; Moog gear and effects.

But the maker of the Sound board flaked out, the artist disappeared and a year later it doesn't seem like anything is happening. But the code is done (runs on a classic-Stern aka ripped off Bally platform).

I've got mainly 60s to late 70's Gottlieb machines with just a few early solid state machines. 15 of them in my basement (not too heavy going down the stairs; on the rare occasion that I sell a machine in order to buy something new, getting it UP the staircase is not easy!!)

In case you are interested in how I spend the other 1/2 of my time when I'm not tweaking knobs: www.EMwhite.org and click on the 'Gameroom' link.

CZ Rider wrote:I did add some inputs on the back of mine for audio, filter CV and S-trigger.

I was wondering about adding the usual pitch and gate CV. In your case, the S-trig triggers what ? VCA for audio in?

It would be difficult to add a CV input for the pitch on an Opus in case that's what you were referring to.
It's a divide-down synth.
It is possible given some mods (The Polymoog had it), but it wouldn't be trivial.

I've added external audios through the chorus and filter before.
That's fairly easy.




On the same one, I added a clear, lit mod wheel. Looked cool.



I think of the Opus as being almost completely the opposite of a Minimoog, but as such is very complimentary.
It can do great strings and pads behind a Mini or over Mini bass.

Nice mods Kevin, thanks for posting.

Yes I am aware of the difference between the Opus and other Moogs as far as pitch cv is concerned. Whatever mods came to my mind regarding the Opus were just a quick thought. With plenty of other vintage moogs to mod and sharpen my skills, I have no plans for any mod on the Opus for now.

I have an eye on a local Prodigy that has been modded with two clear wheels similar to your Opus, with blue leds. The LED on the mod wheel also flashes at LFO rate. Nice.

But my mind is set on a much more ambitious mod project for one of the little Moogs. Although it requires A LOT of work, it is not technically very difficult. I don't want to say what is it right now, I would rather present the result when fully done. I have no deadline for it either. As much as I like electronics, I like to play the music much more than the tampering around. For now, I'll just hint that the project requires lots of good quality rotary pots

Portamental wrote:I was wondering about adding the usual pitch and gate CV. In your case, the S-trig triggers what ? VCA for audio in?

They would be the inputs to the filter section. Audio in to the ladder filter, trigger to fire the envelope generator and the CV to that same filter the envelope and LFO is controlling.
I generally have it patched with the left output looped back into the external audio input. And use the right output as the main. That way I can route the string section into the filter section simply by adjusting the output pan over to the left, or add a feedback loop from the filter section back into itself.
Here is a very small sample from a radio show where the Opus was played with a sample & hold CV signal from an Oberheim two voice mini sequencer. The Oberheim was playing a sequence that was synced to the Opus via the s&h output patched into that filter CV input on the Opus.


36 second sample of an Opus 3 with sample and hold on the filter section

A simple mod, but it really added to the versatility of the Opus 3. I tried to make the mod look like it was stock.

CZ Rider wrote:A simple mod, but it really added to the versatility of the Opus 3. I tried to make the mod look like it was stock.

Nice job you did, looks good ... Sample sounds real nice too. I'll simmer on this for a bit and see how bad I want this Seriously, I like my Opus just fine the way it is. That's another one I bought fully refurbished. I asked KK : will this work for 15 years? No problem he said. A couple of weeks in, a couple of notes went missing. Ohh no!!! I may need to disassemble the keyboard and check everything out. Luckily, the fix was simpler. One of the keyboard connectors to the PCB had faulty connection. I applied a permanent fix to this connector only and I am ready if same things happen to the others eventually. So I plan to enjoy the Opus for many years to come.

Damn it I want one !!

dan thacker wrote:Damn it I want one !!

Eh...I'd rather have an ARP Solina.