new moog poly synth

matt jessup · Post by **matt jessup** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:39 am

i recently heard that moog are to release a new poly synth,
would'nt it be good to bring a legend back to life and name it
POLYMOOG

MC · Post by MC » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:18 pm

Er, no.

The name "Polymoog" invokes horror in many former owners

CTRLSHFT · Post by **CTRLSHFT** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:26 pm

In continuance w/ synths named after space ships and star trek shows, (Voyager, Andromeda) Maybe they could name it Deep Space 4 or 6 or 9, whatever the polyphony count ends up being?

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:14 pm

I'd personally like to see an Enterprise 6.

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:46 pm

I think they should name it the MiniMoog Battlestar.

No seriously, I think it would be interesting to see Moog actually build a polyphonic synth, made with a recess on the top to fit both the Voyager, (and in that recess one for the Phatty) and then throw the Taurus pedals on the floor to seal the deal. Include some other pedas for swells and other types of modulation.

Eric

drogoff · Post by **drogoff** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:17 pm

EricK wrote:I think they should name it the MiniMoog Battlestar.

Wouldn't that be MiniMoog Galactica :^)

EricK wrote: No seriously, I think it would be interesting to see Moog actually build a polyphonic synth, made with a recess on the top to fit both the Voyager, (and in that recess one for the Phatty) and then throw the Taurus pedals on the floor to seal the deal. Include some other pedas for swells and other types of modulation.
Eric

Um - isn't that the Constellation? Sounds like a plan! Clavia should do that with their new pedalboard, the Stage, C2 organ, and Wave Synth. Have that on one side of your stage setup and the Constellation '09 on the other. Now just channel some Wakeman, Emerson, Moraz, etc...

HB3 · Post by **HB3** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:19 pm

The Minimoog PHAT BASTARD

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:16 pm

HB3 wrote:The Minimoog PHAT BASTARD

God, no!

I think if they include Phat in the name it should be the GigaPhatty.

Matt Friedman · Post by **Matt Friedman** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:42 pm

MoyaMoog?

Christopher Winkels · Post by **Christopher Winkels** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:07 pm

Voltor07 wrote:
HB3 wrote:The Minimoog PHAT BASTARD
God, no! I think if they include Phat in the name it should be the GigaPhatty.

Please no, no cutesy names based on the word "phat". It's always been the one shortcoming on an otherwise fine synthesizer.

I like the spacecraft idea. Even growing up the name Moog always seemed a throwback to Johnson/Nixon era of space race dash. Some suggestions:

Apollo (Done already by Moog, but almost no one remembers it)
Endeavour
Skylark (from the E.E. Smith series in the '20s and '30s. Very retro.)
Rama (I like the Arthur C. Clarke book, Rendezvous With Rama)
Discovery (another Clarke reference, though a bit wussy for me)
Thunderbird
Eagle (much love for Space: 1999)

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:35 pm

Christopher Winkels wrote: Apollo (Done already by Moog, but almost no one remembers it)
Endeavour
Skylark (from the E.E. Smith series in the '20s and '30s. Very retro.)
Rama (I like the Arthur C. Clarke book, Rendezvous With Rama)
Discovery (another Clarke reference, though a bit wussy for me)
Thunderbird
Eagle (much love for Space: 1999)

Skylark? Why name it after a Buick?
Discovery? Not so much.
Endeavour. I like that. The Moog Endeavour.
Thunderbird. There's a Ford and a Gibson with that name. Let's not and say we did.
Eagle? The Moog Eagle...Hmm...I kinda like it!
Apollo was the prototype name of the Polymoog, wasn't it? I like that the best.

matt jessup · Post by **matt jessup** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 5:09 am

MC wrote:Er, no.

The name "Polymoog" invokes horror in many former owners

was it realy that bad, I never tried one, but i love the vox humana sound, maybe that one sound fooled me into thinking it was good

Christopher Winkels · Post by **Christopher Winkels** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 5:41 am

Voltor07 wrote:
Christopher Winkels wrote: Apollo (Done already by Moog, but almost no one remembers it)
Endeavour
Skylark (from the E.E. Smith series in the '20s and '30s. Very retro.)
Rama (I like the Arthur C. Clarke book, Rendezvous With Rama)
Discovery (another Clarke reference, though a bit wussy for me)
Thunderbird
Eagle (much love for Space: 1999)
Skylark? Why name it after a Buick?
Discovery? Not so much.
Endeavour. I like that. The Moog Endeavour.
Thunderbird. There's a Ford and a Gibson with that name. Let's not and say we did.
Eagle? The Moog Eagle...Hmm...I kinda like it!
Apollo was the prototype name of the Polymoog, wasn't it? I like that the best.

"The Skylark of Space" was serialized in 1928. One could argue Buick ripped off E.E. Smith, seeing as he got there first.

I personally like Apollo best too.

matt jessup · Post by **matt jessup** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:13 am

Christopher Winkels wrote:
Voltor07 wrote:
Christopher Winkels wrote: Apollo (Done already by Moog, but almost no one remembers it)
Endeavour
Skylark (from the E.E. Smith series in the '20s and '30s. Very retro.)
Rama (I like the Arthur C. Clarke book, Rendezvous With Rama)
Discovery (another Clarke reference, though a bit wussy for me)
Thunderbird
Eagle (much love for Space: 1999)
Skylark? Why name it after a Buick?
Discovery? Not so much.
Endeavour. I like that. The Moog Endeavour.
Thunderbird. There's a Ford and a Gibson with that name. Let's not and say we did.
Eagle? The Moog Eagle...Hmm...I kinda like it!
Apollo was the prototype name of the Polymoog, wasn't it? I like that the best.
"The Skylark of Space" was serialized in 1928. One could argue Buick ripped off E.E. Smith, seeing as he got there first.

I personally like Apollo best too.

I LIKE THE SPACE 1999 REF. THAT AND UFO WERE MY FAVOURITE WHEN I WAS A KID

MC · Post by MC » Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:23 am

matt jessup wrote:
MC wrote:Er, no.

The name "Polymoog" invokes horror in many former owners
was it realy that bad, I never tried one, but i love the vox humana sound, maybe that one sound fooled me into thinking it was good

Yes they are that bad. Frankly there is too much to go wrong. All 71 keys have a little PC board that forms the waveshaping, the EG transients, and (limited, this) the filtering, These boards fit in sockets that are very unreliable and often result in dead notes or missing/deformed waveforms.

Couple that with IC sockets and interconnectors with poor quality contacts that lose their connection via oxidation or worn spring contacts, flaky power supply, early generation CMOS ICs that were prone to dying prematurely, and convoluted complex circuits that were not easy to troubleshoot. Many repair shops will not touch a Polymoog.

The Polymoog needed a couple HUNDRED engineering changes during its production. For every unit that got shipped, another one returned for repair. By the time they got the bugs ironed out (serial #3900 and higher) the Prophet-5 was in full flight and the bottom was dropping out for Polymoogs.

Vox Humana is a nice sound but the Polymoog doesn't do much other than strings and pads. For starters, only a single master VCF is available, not per key. That is a severe limitation. Oh, the aformentioned "limited" filtering per key? No resonance control, no EG, 12dB LP ladder filter, no modulation of any kind - it's strictly a brightness control.

Due to its TOS architecture, it is impossible to get voice modulation. EG or oscillator waveforms cannot be used as a modulation source to PW or VCO frequency. Hard sync is not possible (only soft sync). You can't modulate individual oscillators because the TOS system uses master high frequency VCO (one for ramp waves, one for pulse) that is divided down to create the frequencies per key - it's a fancy home organ.

The Polymoog was one of the first keyboards to feature velocity control but it could only control key level, nothing else. Its implementation was flawed - hold down the sustain pedal, press a key repeatedly using light velocity, and the key level will increase with each depression. If it worked at all. The Polymoog triggering system multiplexed a bunch of controls (velocity, attack, release, pulse width, ramp mix level) into a single control voltage (to save $$$ on the keyboard by using a single buss vs multiple busses), then the 71 PC boards had to demultiplex it into separate control signals. Yeah, like that worked reliably.

When the Prophet-5 and OB-X/Four Voice appeared they were accepted as the proper polysynth. They were capable of a far greater palette of sounds thanks to voice modulation and individual VCFs, and the Polymoog lost its appeal.

Remember that this was a keyboard that retailed for $5295 in 1976 - a LOT of $$$ back then. For the people who bought them new (one of them is a regular poster here), it was an expensive mistake.

I still own my Polymoog (bought it used) and I've been very lucky with it. It is a late production unit with all the corrections ironed out. It has seen a lot of club work and held up well - I was lucky. It has sentimental value and I'm keeping it, even though it barely sees any use.