Moog Music Forum

I agree with you 100%, unfiltered37.
When I first got my Mini D, after having had an Old School, and an Electric Blue, I was a little apprehensive of loosing all those modulations possibilities. But after a while, I realized that I was making more music, and playing the Mini more often then ever! The fact that I can tweak it on-the-fly easily, as I'm playing it, and most importantly "simply" doing it, makes for a gratifying experience. The Old School came closer to that experience, but the continually variable waveforms, made it tricky to get exactly the sound I wanted on-the-fly.

The choices made, and the mistakes made, back in the early seventies in designing the Mini D, made it the success it has been with musicians ever since, and will continue to be, for many years... It's just a very gratifying instrument to play.

Just a note that there's one small difference between stock Minis with an older VCO board and a newer one.
The tuning controls for VCO 2 & 3 on early Minis used a different output resistor : 5.1K
Later Minis used a 3.3K.
This means that if one puts a later VCO board into an earlier Mini, their tuners won't have as much range as stock later Minis (SN 10175 and above.)

In one way, this is good.
It's easier to tune oscillators exactly when their pots are going through the higher (5.1K) resistors.
The flip side to this is that earlier Minis won't have as much range to their tuners and may not hit certain, wider intervals.

Just thought I'd mention this because I'm not sure it's documented anywhere.

Bob actually didn't want to remake the Model D as he said himself, since there were so many already circulating.

I know for a synth of this kind it's one of the biggest synth runs EVER but are there really that many left out there in truly good-great working condition? I haven't been into synths forever but Ive never seen one even come up locally for sale before.....ever

some more videos on youtube i made with the Mini - love this synth

as always try to watch in HD if possible everything on youtube seems to sound better in HD


Death Race 2000 Redux
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJhFPHdp3nw



Behind The Mini (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU099TIEf0Q


Behind The Mini (Part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhiyL4D8Eus


Beach Blanket / Apocalypse Now Redux
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7HTAiM2Vrk


Searching For Unison (Full End Theme From Behind the Mini Pt2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5r9UlnYJNo

TheZombieHolocaust wrote:... I haven't been into synths forever but Ive never seen one even come up locally for sale before.....ever

I've bought mine in november 2011, locally. It had been on Kijiji in my area for less than 3 hours when I saw the ad. It wasn't in good condition (electrically), so I got a good deal.
But I agree that I had been looking for one, each and every day on there for about 2 years, and that was the first ever. I got extremely lucky.

I often wonder how many, of the slightly more than 12,000 units produced, are still around in the world ? And how many of those are still is good condition ?

thealien666 wrote:

TheZombieHolocaust wrote:... I haven't been into synths forever but Ive never seen one even come up locally for sale before.....ever

I've bought mine in november 2011, locally. It had been on Kijiji in my area for less than 3 hours when I saw the ad. It wasn't in good condition (electrically), so I got a good deal.
But I agree that I had been looking for one, each and every day on there for about 2 years, and that was the first ever. I got extremely lucky.

I often wonder how many, of the slightly more than 12,000 units produced, are still around in the world ? And how many of those are still is good condition ?

yea from my experience they're very rare - i was actually about to buy a macbeth micromac by preorder and then i saw the mini on CL toronto

unbelievably good timing - i put a deposit on it immediately and then drove there and back just to pick it up and try it out

since eyeing up synths locally I've seen

2-3 jupiter 8's ,
2 TVS, 1 FVS, 1 8VS - Oberheim's of all sorts,
Sequentials of all sorts

but only 2 real minimoogs - one of which i pounced on thankfully so they do seem kind of rare for so many being made

Restart Punishment Park

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBvZ2JlJ0V8

Geez Alien, just another post sucking the joy out of those of us whom love our Voyagers. I was kind of excited for Zombie and loved the posted pics of his D, but now the pleasure of this post has faded. I LOVE my Voyager, I LOVE it's sound, it is truly a splendid, unique and beautiful instrument. But you know, you D owners keep telling us that our Voyagers are second class. Maybe Moog should give us Voyager owners a rebate for Bob's sad failure to live up to his own legacy. What was Bob thinking when he released the Voyagers, knowing how inadequate his second effort really was? I guess he was just in it for the money.

Let me be very clear about something: I do not, I repeat, I do not consider the Voyager second class, or less desirable than a Mini D !!! If I could, I'd have a Mini, an Old School, and an Electric Blue all at once !

I only sold my Old School in order to get the money to buy a Mini (because they're so damn expensive).
The Electric Blue that I had was loaned to me and I had to give it back.

The Voyager more than makes up in modulation possibilities and expressiveness, for the very slight difference in sound when next to a Mini. It is a subtle difference, akin to a Prophet 5 next to a Prophet 08.

All those instruments have something very enjoyable about them, a character all their own, and they also complement each other very well. I'm just not rich enough to own all of them, unfortunately. Because if I could, I certainly would!

There are days when I miss having two Moog filters at my disposal on the Mini...

thealien666 wrote:/snip/

There are days when I miss having two Moog filters at my disposal on the Mini...

You could always get an MF-101...

Voltor07 wrote:

thealien666 wrote:/snip/

There are days when I miss having two Moog filters at my disposal on the Mini...

You could always get an MF-101...

Ah, but it wouldn't sound exactly like the filter on a Mini...
(now, before anyone gets on their high horses, this was just a joke... )

I am very fond of my Voyager, but I also feel that I am somewhat unqualified to comment, as I have never had the opportunity to play a Mini in person, let alone even see one. Not sure if this is even something that happens, but I dream about the day when I walk into a used music shop and see a Minimoog sitting all pretty like amongst the Yamaha DX7s and microKorgs and Roland SH-201s.

Hey Kenneth, you could if you went to this store:

http://threewavemusic.com/


EDIT: Check out their photo gallery...

I met a coworker a couple weeks ago for the 1st time. Last week she overheard mention synthesizers. Then, she tells me she is classically trained in several instruments and has had a mini since back in the day. She moved into a smaller place a couple years ago and it is in storage "someplace."

Hoping to trade paying for any restoration needed for a couple months or a year with it. Have to get to know her better first.