Polyphonic Moog Feature Request

[moognase]

Single VCO Shanty

Hear ye, all ye folk at sea,
And listen to my litany.
I dream of things that are not there,
just as I have but little hair.

Of visions shall I sing to you,
of things that I deem fair and true.
I am now older, but no wiser.
I want a brand-new synthesizer:

One VCO, a sub to add,
some glide would also not be bad,
and sides of wood, a panel clean,
some sturdy knobs, a filter mean.

I wish there were a thing like this:
a smaller synth that makes a hiss.
With noise and funny bloops and bleeps -
that's something that I'd like for keeps.

It should be flexible in sound,
so that you'd want to clown around.
But when you want to make it sweet,
you'd turn some knobs and make it neat.

A keyboard that is nice to play,
a slightly slanted panel, say.
And knobs that turn without a fight,
One LED that burneth bright.

It need not have a thing inside
that stores the sounds that I'd provide.
Plain simple, humble, ergonomic -
without a product name that's comic.

And how about a MIDI jack?
I'm sure it could go on the back.
So that I also could combine
this synth with other toys of mine.

Two wheels for pitch and modulation
Would serve for extra animation.
A little knob to make a drone
would put some flesh right on the bone.

A smaller synth to take to town
that never ever lets me down.
To plug and play and tweak away,
for that, dubloons I'd freely pay.

The heroes and the bards of old
have sung with voices proud and bold,
of moonbeams, stars and galaxies,
of tuning in and hugging trees.

So hear ye, sailors out at sea!
Embark on one more dream with me.
We all get older, but no wiser.
'Tis time for a new synthesizer.

[EricK]

By the way, please understand that a flattop poly is MY desire. Im not trying to convince any of you that this is how it should be.

I made this a poll to who would buy one, why or ny not, and titled it feature request so we could get a realistic idea of the product that we want.

I hope its a flattop but if its not, Im sure Moog will make a badass synth.

Eric

[latigid on]

moognase -- epic lol, thank you!


You can get pretty creative with synth stacking. At one time I had the Rhodes Suitcase set up as normal, with the Rhodes Chroma sitting half on top and half on a bench-style 2-tier stand. I needed a 2x4 plank to get a bit of extra height. The Voyager stood half on the Chroma (which has a small flat top) and half on the upper tier by careful arrangement of the rotatable arms





A little cumbersome to setup, not impossible, but would be fine at home.


I built a new PSU for the Suitcase, so I don't need the speaker. It now sits normally on the bottom of the bench stand. The Chroma doesn't really deserve to be gigged, so there's now an Andromeda placed on the Rhodes. I'm not very good with woodwork; I asked my brother to build a wooden top for the piano so it would be closer and sit better, but no luck yet. The Voyager is on the top tier with a slight overlap with the Andy.

[latigid on]

I think it's also worth noting that the Apollo/Lyra/Minimoog setup was based on the latter two having quite "steep" panels and smaller bases than, say, the Voyager.

The Chroma is quite well balanced with its panel and flat top, however knobs rather than one slider would be better for programming.

I mentioned a while back my preference for a new poly would be for it to have an interactive (or non-interactive) routing display that danced around the user interface. E.g. routing an LFO to the filter would show an LFO waveform connecting the two sections.

And although the transport logistics might be unfeasible, there is always the possibility of having external expander modules controlled by a newly-designed master keyboard.

Expanders which would be compatible with the LP, Voyager and maybe the Taurus 3 or any master keyboard (or DAW based setup).

A full-featured master keyboard which would work with any synth, module or DAW and be capable of current and newly-implemented protocols (OSC, WIDI, MIDI-LAN etc.).

This is saying nothing about the design architecture of the synth engine (discrete, on-chip, digital) which is possibly the most important aspect of designing a polysynth.

[peterkadar]

latigid on:

AWESOME pics!

For my 2 cents, I'd be cool with either a Polymoog style enclosure - because I loved the vibe of my old one, or a Memorymoog style one, or one with a more Phatty style interface. Actually, if it was a flat top with a phatty style interface, that would look GREAT with my forthcoming T3's as well as my LPte. If that had a flat top, that wouldn't be as large as if it were for the Voyager.

Feature request: Moog: please consider doing what you've done with the Taurus with the Memorymoog. Now to go beyond that and get even more expensive, lol, I'd like to see a Memorymoog derived instrument that also had at least a HP filter to make chords sit better in the mix and for filtrational coolness, and 8 note polyphony.

The end.

[Klopfgeist]

I think it would be cool if the interface consisted of a touchscreen with eight moog knobs around it. It would allow for cool graphics, ease of editing, and help moog use modern interface designs. A poly would be too expensive with a pot for every function, so I think a touchscreen with eight knobs is the next best modern interface. http://www.euphonix.com/artist/products/mc_control/


btw, how come if you type Britney_Spears (without the underscore) it comes up as mother theresa?

[anoteoftruth]

I know I might just be in the minority here... but I really hope that if/when Moog release a polysynth, that they will release a Rack Module version of it. I'm sure this won't be right away, but a mammoth polysynth is gonna be hard to find room for in my 540 square foot apartment, along w all my other gear.. from here on out it's rack equipment whenever I can..

Anyone know how long it took for the Voyager RME to be released after the initial Voyager release? Or was it simultaneous?

[The Analog Organist]

If Moog releases a new polysynth comparable to the Voyager, the chances are it will cost perhaps $4,000, or maybe even more. That means they'll need to offer another polysynth of a more reasonable price - following the Little Phatty theme.

Regarding the flat top vs. loss of parameter space debate, remember that a five or six octave keyboard synthesizer will offer a long narrow panel for parameters. A flat top will still allow for a substantial amount of panel space. Look at the Prophet '08. Imagine tilting its panel up to nearly a right angle. Granted, this would result in a fairly tall instrument, but so be it. It's possible, therefore, to have both a flat top and a generously-sized panel. All the more if the keyboard is six octaves long. The real issue then becomes how deep the new Moog should be. Should it be able to support the entire Voyager, or just most of it?

[Subtronik]

I'm willing to pay up to $4000 for a Moog Poly, but only if it'll do pads too.

[The Analog Organist]

I know that many musicians play bass pedals while standing, but the fact is, the proper way to play pedals is while sitting. This allows you to have a smooth legato style and to play many more notes and much faster because you can use both feet. Whereas, playing long sustained bass notes - such as you're limited to doing when standing - can quickly become musically monotonous. This is something to consider in the keyboard stacking discussion. That is, if you're seated and playing pedals, you're not able to reach way back and play a keyboard that is stacked on top. This is where a flat top comes in especially handy, because it allows the entire set up to be much closer to you.

Believe me, playing a distant keyboard while seated and playing pedals can do terrible things to your back.

[EricK]

I would be satisfied if the Voyager was only partially supported.

WHen I gave the dimensions of 24 deep by 44 wide, I would be willing to have some of the Voyager hanging off the back, provided that no damage would be done to either case, and provided that it was really stable.


How do you guys feel about having or lacking an LCD display or patch memory?


Eric

[The Analog Organist]

I would be happy to have a very limited memory, or even presets like the Polymoog. Say, ten physical presets that could retain the parameter changes made to each one as you moved from one preset to the next.

I'd be thrilled to be spared an LED window with menus. I'm juct sick of them.

[superd2112]

I would be satisfied if the Voyager was only partially supported.

WHen I gave the dimensions of 24 deep by 44 wide, I would be willing to have some of the Voyager hanging off the back, provided that no damage would be done to either case, and provided that it was really stable.


How do you guys feel about having or lacking an LCD display or patch memory?


Eric

Memory is a must for me, but I wouldn't need more than about 30 writable preset slots, and I wouldn't need any factory presets. An LCD display would be handy, and I'll bet dollars to donuts its already slated to have a Phatty-style LCD display. We all know its coming - the real questions are;

1. When? When will it be offically announced, and when will it go into production?

2. Price? I'd gladly pay $5k for a knob-festooned monster, as would several others, I'm sure, but would that be a viable money-maker for Moog? I seriously doubt it, and thats why I believe we can expect a LP-style layout & a price in the $2k - $3k range - after all, its main competition will be the DSI Prophet.

3. Features? See above. It will have to have enough bells & whistles to compete with the Prophet, while its main attribute would be the Moog filter sound vs. the Curtis filter sound of the Prophet. I can't wait - I think the Moog poly and the Prophet will compliment each other very well.

[Subtronik]

LCD for me.

[EricK]

I have to have patch memory but I think I need way way more than 30.

I wouldn't be against an all analogue monster with nothing at all digital. hehe