Should I get a moog?

[NeonParadox]

Hello everyone. Relatively new producer here.

From what I've heard, moogs are amazing. I'm just warded off by the price.

Are they worth the money? What else do I need to use one (interface, etc.), can I hook up my Casio wk6500 to a slim phatty? Should I get a phatty or a voyager?

I am aiming to make house/edm/dubstep music. Just wondering on your suggestions.

TL;DR I'm a new producer who knows nothing about moogs.

[Alien8]

Nope.

Just kidding. Of course you should get a moog. Animoog for iPad is an option too, but if you want the flagship model currently in production, the Voyager is it.

Older models are awesome too. If you cruise around these forums, you will find mostly happy owners, and some not so happy want to be owners who let price block moog passion. That said, do you need a moog, no, but you want one.

Should I buy a corvette? I can't really afford one and I live in Canada where it's winter for 5 months of the year.

[Kenneth]

If you're into house music, a slim phatty I think would best suit your needs. It has no keyboard, and it seems like most house producers control synths in their DAW anyways, so there's the fact that you'll save some space there, and the phatty series has a little bit more of an aggressive edge to it, from my personal experience. If you want really gritty basslines, the phatty will trump the voyager. But, there is also the minitaur to consider. It produces the meanest bass sounds of the thee I have mentioned, but it cannot play notes above middle c. That will be limiting to say the least. I would suggest watching as many youtube demos as possible before taking our advice and making a decision based solely on that. It's not a good idea to come to the moog forum and ask if you should get a moog. Unless you've already made your decision and you're just looking for justification.

[EricK]

I always encourage people who have the money to make a decision between the two to go ahead and get the Voyager.

[thealien666]

Limited budget and big dreams= Little Phatty or Slim Phatty.
Reasonable budget = Voyager Performer Edition (before they're all gone), regular Voyager or Voyager RME.
Money is no object = Voyager XL, or Electric Blue, or even better yet a Modular system from either Synthesizers.com or Moslab, Modcan or Doepfer, or even an original Moog 55 modular (à la Hans Zimmer).

All of these interface via MIDI, either through USB or standard five pin DIN.

But I agree with Kenneth, for house music Slim Phatty will probably do nicely, and interface well with any DAW, and leave some money for other things.
Just keep in mind that all those instruments are monophonic. Don't throw away that Casio yet, because unless your willing to spend lots of time recording multi-track chords, one note at a time, you'll need it for chords.

Oh, and welcome to the Moog forum, of course !

[Voltor07]

I would recommend the Sub Phatty. Its knob per function will be more intuitive to a beginner just starting with their first analog synth. Plus, it seems capable of Minitaur-like bass, as well as LP style leads. It has super-stable oscs, and won't need as much warm up time as the SP, as well.

[kslight]

First thing before committing to any kind of purchase I think you should do some listening and preferably auditioning for yourself...asking the advice of a Moog forum is probably not productive as most likely anyone will tell you "Yes you should buy."

Plenty of folks have made great music with Moogs.

Plenty have made great music without Moogs.

Moogs are known to teeter higher on the price scale, so if budget is an issue maybe grow your setup more externally before spending so much on a very specialized instrument.

I think if I had such a limited setup a Moog probably would not be my next purchase, unless live performance is not important (for many I think especially in EDM having a multitimbral polyphonic instrument is distinctly advantageous) and you are okay with tracking one at a time, and don't expect chords from the Moog.

The obvious solution to this would be to then buy a sampler, so you can sample that mono synth and play chords/other parts at the same time....

[museslave]

It's not about whether you should get a Moog or not. And, it's not like there is one thing called "a Moog."

You should get a Moog if you play a Moog and it suits your tastes and intentions. That's all there is to it.

You can consider that many keyboard-based musicians find Moogs to have an incredible tone and really amazing functionality... but ultimately, you should purchase a device that suits your TASTE. If you buy it because it has a specific brand you're not doing yourself or your audience any favors.

I could go on and on about why Moog synthesizers are fantastic, but at the end of the day, it's what works for your intention.

Have an intention.

[droner]

Here's my take on it...Moog's pedigree is known to everyone. The college I went to had an old modular Moog, which I admittedly hated at the time because it NEVER worked properly, but there was no denying the sound of that thing when it was "on". I always wanted one after that, though a modular was out of the question, and finally last year I decided to purchase a Voyager old school. No other names were even on the table for me, and I never looked back or second guessed myself. The sound, the quality of build, the VIBE is...classic. Like a good Gibson guitar or old Winchester, once you own one and use one, you see why they have the reputation they have.

droner