Keith Emerson’s personal Model D on eBay

[CZ Rider]

I guess the only one's who could answer what the S in the TIS97S indicates, would be someone involved in assembly at the Moog factory. All the other matched TIS97 do not have that S suffix on the parts list and they are marked with a different color dot. The S could stand for selected or just screened. The colored dots would seem to indicate some type of test was done and were not just picked out randomly. Still looks like only the bottom pair of the ladder filter was matched to +/- 2mV on all but the early Mini's though.

[megavoice]

Woaooooow !
Hey guys, what you are posting here is absolutely knocking down.
I'm going to forward all this to my tech and I'm sooooo curious what he will tell about................

[thealien666]

Q26 & Q28, which are dotted red on my board, are listed as matched to +/- 3mV at 20 mA (to the right of the schematics for board #4). While the others, with the circled letter M on the schematic and dotted purple on my board, are presumably matched to +/- 2mV according to the matching procedure described in the service manual ?

[CZ Rider]

TIS97S is not a "selected" part. They were a product code from the manufacturer of some tighter spec. That convention has been used for decades and still continues today with ICs.

Actually it looks like they were "selected".
From the Sonic Six Service Manual:

Same Norlin part number as the TIS97S in the Minimoog manual but the Sonic Six manual describes these as TIS97 "selected".
They even look the same with light blue paint dots.

Only 3 sets in the later Sonic Six ladder filter as these actually had a top and bottom pair matched via the SG3821N. My early Sonic Six has the diode filter.
I did not work at the Moog factory, so have no idea how these were selected. The paint dots are consistent though, and both filter cards here made in different factories, have the same markings. Unknown if someone would measure these with a go/no-go guage or how these were selected. But it seems they were not just using any transistor as is the case with many other unmarked with color dot transistors in the Minimoog.

So it looks like most all except early Minimoog filters have the bottom ladder pair matched and the remaining four sets are somehow selected within a certain range.

[MC]

TIS97S is not a "selected" part. They were a product code from the manufacturer of some tighter spec. That convention has been used for decades and still continues today with ICs.

Actually it looks like they were "selected".
From the Sonic Six Service Manual:

Same Norlin part number as the TIS97S in the Minimoog manual but the Sonic Six manual describes these as TIS97 "selected".

Thanks... I don't have the Sonic Six manual. It's not only unusual to list a component like that, it's konphusing because service techs will try to hunt down a "TIS97S" from suppliers outside Moog. At least ARP had their own designators for selected parts, like the SL19xxx which was just a selected LM301.

Probably the only place you are going to find info on the selection procedure is the Bob Moog archives in Cornell. Maybe Roger Luther knows.

[megavoice]

....
Today's popularity of analog synthesizers is due to a worldwide revival of interest in that technology for its many advantages over sampling.

Unfortunately, not only !
There's a remarkable group of people who cannot play at all and invest their money into a piece of "old" and vintage gear like into a Ferrari from 1962 paying 25 million $ for................

[thealien666]

There's a remarkable group of people who cannot play at all and invest their money into a piece of "old" and vintage gear like into a Ferrari from 1962 paying 25 million $ for................

Well, let them pay big bucks for this massacred Mini and those über expensive Emerson Modular replicas ! It can only be good for maintaining analog alive, if not for the right reasons.

[megavoice]

I'm yawning too,heavily..........but to myself, having spent nearly the whole night mostly on the "D" and always thinking of the Filter, especially when comparing with the TONUS....................

[Vince Ascoli]

If only this instrument was paraphonic, or made of aluminum! Do we know if it has the old sticker, or the new one?

[Mitchell Chastain]

based on interviews and pics over the years, keith's original mini and supposedly the one he still has in his possession was an early musonics minimoog. this one was never chopped. makes me wonder about the one in the auction... maybe just borrowed for a tour?

[MC]

Keith owned more than one. At one time he had one propped on his L-100, another on his piano.

[megavoice]

Well, one has to note before giving certain celebrities too much "respect", there had been thrown on their stages their wanted gear in bulks for free and after the show they went off and didn't care about. The only thing they wanted after to find this gear working properly for the next show. Think of what Keith had done formerly with his organ..............

Now back to the subject and the filter board slaughtering:

As for the transistor arrays my tech has told me yesterday Bob Moog wrote in a former statement that the all upper pair and the bottom pair of differential transistors have to be matched.

But my tech says the real magic doesn't lie in these transistors, but basically in the 4 film caps you can find there nearby.
They're too roughly matched on a value about 10% and worse.
If they'll be swapped into more precise ones far below these 10% and higher quality, differences in sounding more "fat" and more "weak", or "sterile" and "warm" would be reduced or eliminated between the models with different birthdates.
Referring to the oscillators he said if THEY could be accused for causing this difference, i.ex the older ones must have a very bad "retrace" and this should be considered as unlikely.
As for the Envelopes showing different working curves or behaviors he is making also definitively their caps resposible for. Aging, unmatched and s.o.
Their original different values altered during the production by MOOG themselves can be neglected.

But note, slight differences in sounding between the models always remain............

[thealien666]

Think of what Keith had done formerly with his organ..............

What he did in his bedroom isn't really of interest to me....

[megavoice]

Think of what Keith had done formerly with his organ..............

What he did in his bedroom isn't really of interest to me....

Well, I'm thinking more about the hewing and whittling with his dagger on the stage, but must have looked fine when he did this in his bedroom too..........................

[noddyspuncture]

Hi guys,

Keith doesn't currently own a Minimoog - and hasn't for a long time either. He has his Modular and as far as I know, still has the 'Constellation'. In the early 90's, when his son was recording in the studio, I actually loaned him one of my Minimoogs for a couple of weeks and I was asked for it again more recently.

The split Mini on eBay was definitely Emo's and was 'split' for the Works tour in 1977 mainly for playing the bass lines in 'KarnEvil 9' whilst also playing the Hammond C3. That is why it lived in a drawer to the left of the Hammond.

Cheers,
Tom

based on interviews and pics over the years, keith's original mini and supposedly the one he still has in his possession was an early musonics minimoog. this one was never chopped. makes me wonder about the one in the auction... maybe just borrowed for a tour?