Really Disappointed with Moog Quality Assurance
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:15 am
I have been lusting after a Moog for as long as I can remember, and recently I thought I had fulfilled my dream by buying a brand new Subsequent 37 CV at a great price.
It took 2 weeks to arrive, and I was so excited - only to discover that it had scratches all over the front fascia.
I made some phone calls, couriered it back to the distributor, and waited three weeks for the replacement to arrive. I was so so stoked and excited to finally be able to sit down and make some music with my new instrument.
It was shortly after I discovered that the second Subsequent 37 CV had an issue where the controllers would generate random changes after a while, eventually degenerating the current patch into nothing but static and noise. I contacted Moog support, who had me take it apart and check the ribbon connectors - all was fine. The distributor offered to send me new boards to install, but given it was brand new and we weren't exactly sure where the issue was, I didn't feel comfortable with performing major surgery on it.
So the second unit went back and opted instead to take a standard Subsequent 37, hoping they'd be from a different batch. Another four weeks went by, and I was so stoked to receive my new instrument.
Last night I was playing and started to find the control panel was periodically becoming unresponsive. I figured it had to be something I was doing wrong. I reset settings. I checked MIDI routings. I read the manual again. Then I discovered what the issue is.
On my third Subsequent 37, the "Mod 1 Destination" button seems to be mushy and sometimes gets stuck in the engaged position. When this happens, the control surface stops responding. I have to get a guitar pick or something similar and prise it back up to begin using it again. This one is two months old.
This isn't a cheap instrument - it's a $2000 monosynth that's supposed to be best in class. I originally ordered it in November 2018, have been through three and have yet to find one that's satisfactory condition. I wish in retrospect I had just kept the first one, scratches and all, because at least it works.
So now I'm faced with the prospect of either sending this one back and waiting four weeks for a replacement, getting a brand new instrument repaired (and hoping that doesn't do more damage than it fixes), or just living with it.
I wish I'd just kept the money in my pocket, to be honest.
Maybe I'm just a statistical anomaly, but this has been one of the worst purchases I have made from a reliability perspective. Make no mistake: it sounds fantastic and is a joy to play, but there's obviously something going wrong somewhere in the supply chain.
It took 2 weeks to arrive, and I was so excited - only to discover that it had scratches all over the front fascia.
I made some phone calls, couriered it back to the distributor, and waited three weeks for the replacement to arrive. I was so so stoked and excited to finally be able to sit down and make some music with my new instrument.
It was shortly after I discovered that the second Subsequent 37 CV had an issue where the controllers would generate random changes after a while, eventually degenerating the current patch into nothing but static and noise. I contacted Moog support, who had me take it apart and check the ribbon connectors - all was fine. The distributor offered to send me new boards to install, but given it was brand new and we weren't exactly sure where the issue was, I didn't feel comfortable with performing major surgery on it.
So the second unit went back and opted instead to take a standard Subsequent 37, hoping they'd be from a different batch. Another four weeks went by, and I was so stoked to receive my new instrument.
Last night I was playing and started to find the control panel was periodically becoming unresponsive. I figured it had to be something I was doing wrong. I reset settings. I checked MIDI routings. I read the manual again. Then I discovered what the issue is.
On my third Subsequent 37, the "Mod 1 Destination" button seems to be mushy and sometimes gets stuck in the engaged position. When this happens, the control surface stops responding. I have to get a guitar pick or something similar and prise it back up to begin using it again. This one is two months old.
This isn't a cheap instrument - it's a $2000 monosynth that's supposed to be best in class. I originally ordered it in November 2018, have been through three and have yet to find one that's satisfactory condition. I wish in retrospect I had just kept the first one, scratches and all, because at least it works.
So now I'm faced with the prospect of either sending this one back and waiting four weeks for a replacement, getting a brand new instrument repaired (and hoping that doesn't do more damage than it fixes), or just living with it.
I wish I'd just kept the money in my pocket, to be honest.
Maybe I'm just a statistical anomaly, but this has been one of the worst purchases I have made from a reliability perspective. Make no mistake: it sounds fantastic and is a joy to play, but there's obviously something going wrong somewhere in the supply chain.