Newby intro and questions

Bryan1980 · Post by **Bryan1980** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:19 am

Hi all,
I just joined the forum yesterday and my account was just activated this morning. That said I decided I'd post here to introduce myself and ask my question.
Well first off I'm 29 years old and a recent member of the Moog family, so to speak. My interest came about primarily as a result of recently taking an interest in the music of French composer Jean Michel Jarre, although I don't honestly know if he uses many Moog synthes in his work. Needless to say though, Jarre's music has led me to an intense fascination with synthesizers and how they work.
I am a musician myself, although I'm not yet particularly good with either of my chosen instruments. I play the guitar, I have one electric and one acoustic, and more recently a Moog Etherwave theremin, standard model. We can thank my brother for that, since he was the one who recommended I try my hand at the theremin.
I suppose before I go any farther I should point out the fact that I am and have been totally blind since birth. Needless to say when I learned that the theremin is played without being touched I initially thought it would be hard if not impossible for a blind person to learn to play. While I still do sound like a cat fight in a sewer pipe when I practice I can already tell that once I can get my stance right and improve my muscle memory I can actually learn to play something that actually sounds good.
But my real question has to do with the Little Phatty, hence posting in this particular section of the forum. I've heard from several people over the last year or so that Moog synthes like the LP were fairly blind friendly and was hoping that someone on these forums, this being Moog Music, might be able to shed some light on this matter. Specifically what I heard, from a few blind friends in fact, was that the LP synthes could be outfitted with software that a totally blind person could interface with. My question, or perhaps questions would be more accurate, is simply this: if what I'd heard has any truth in it, and if so, how it would work. So basically what I'm really trying to find out is if the Little Phatty would be worth a blind person saving up for.
Anyway I'll go ahead and close this for now. I'd appreciate any feedback you folks can give me. After listening to so much of Jarre's music and more recently after hearing the video tutorials by Jordan Rudess on Youtube, I'm really excited to try my hand at this business.

LeRoi · Post by **LeRoi** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:05 pm

Welcome to the forum. I'm not sure if there is an actual software geared towards that sort of thing. However, the panel layout on the Little Phatty is pretty cut and dry, a joy to program! It could be easily memorized it if you practiced with it a bit. The trick would be getting a braille copy of the manual or a way to listen to it.

Hope this helps.

Bryan1980 · Post by **Bryan1980** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:11 pm

I actually have a download of the manual already. I've spent a lot of time reading it, but since none of the music stores in the town where I live has any units to demo it's not very clear.

mysterycircuits · Post by **mysterycircuits** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:21 pm

Hi,

if you have a theremin plus then you could control a Little Phatty by CV(voltage control.) -You can also upgrade from a standard theremin.-

Combine that with some modwheelin' and key action...I think that could be interesting.

Check out Moog's channel on MySpace, Youtube..

Also, considering that Stevie Wonder learned to handle an ARP 2600, ..

LeRoi · Post by **LeRoi** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:31 pm

Bryan1980 wrote:I actually have a download of the manual already. I've spent a lot of time reading it, but since none of the music stores in the town where I live has any units to demo it's not very clear.

Fair nuff. A Guitar Center or Sam Ash (I loathe both places, but what can you do) may order one for you to try. It's one of the most "playable" synths I've ever owned. Inspiring, versatile, and pretty powerful. I'm gonna miss it when I sell it!

Bryan1980 · Post by **Bryan1980** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:48 pm

I definitely love the sound of the Little Phatty. I listened to all those vids on Youtube that Jordan Rudess did. Pretty nifty.

Bryan T · Post by **Bryan T** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:48 pm

Most of the programming of the Little Phatty is done from the front panel. I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to learn the location of the buttons that determine what each knob controls and to learn the location of the knobs. I know that I use the Little Phatty often without any visual cues and have developed a comfortable relationship with it. The learning curve wasn't very steep for me.

The downside to the Little Phatty is that some of the functionality is controlled by an LCD screen that wouldn't give you any feedback. Presets are stored/recalled via this screen, which could be an issue. The "advanced preset" options are from this screen, as well - things like arpeggiator settings.

I think that a synth like the Voyager Old School would potentially be a better fit. It has no screens and each function has its own knob/switch. Unfortunately, it lacks presets and is more expensive.

Welcome to the forum!
Bryan

Voltor07 · Post by **Voltor07** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 6:12 pm

Welcome to the forum! The Little Phatty is a wonderful instrument, but I agree with Bryan T in that the Voyager Old School would probably be a better way for a blind person to go. The front panel of the LP is intuitive enough and simple to use, but the menu of the operating system is another story.

T7 · Post by T7 » Wed Jul 15, 2009 6:40 pm

It seems to me the Little Phatty and Little Phatty Editor Librarian would be the way to go. That's under the assumption the computer will be transcribing what's on the screen to you somehow.

LeRoi · Post by **LeRoi** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:00 pm

Voltor07 wrote:I agree with Bryan T in that the Voyager Old School would probably be a better way for a blind person to go. The front panel of the LP is intuitive enough and simple to use, but the menu of the operating system is another story.

I actually think the Phatty's layout would be superior the the Voyager OS, in this instance. Much less cluttered and easier to remember than a Voyager OS too. Also, the Little Phatty can be played with complete disregard to the menus (as if there were none), just like an Old School...just my two cents tho.

r05c03 · Post by **r05c03** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:03 pm

Old School.

T7 · Post by T7 » Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:06 pm

r05c03 wrote:Old School.

No presets seems impractical.

r05c03 · Post by **r05c03** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:19 pm

Menus are too. There is a trade off. Ultimately the LP may be easier, this is true.

gazer · Post by **gazer** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:08 pm

Welcome to the forum.
I have been pondering your question all day. Here are my thoughts.
The little phatty would be an excellent synth minus the the fact that an lcd screen is used to get to a few important things like midi, the arp, calibration,changing number of filter polls, some routing and other stuff. But even if you never used the menus,(I hardly ever get into my menu accept to change the number of filter polls) You still have alot of synth left. I use the cp251 for noise and sample and hold when ever i can get by that way. The panel has basicly 30 buttons you use to assign parameters to four knobs, the nice thing im thinking about this layout, would be that there would be plenty of room to have the control functions labeled in brail and get to them quickly.

If you can afford it a voyager old school would probably be easier to use more of the synth and it would have plenty of room for marking all functions in brail. It doesnt have midi.

There is a third synth (sorry Moog) that is more in the little phattys price range made by Future Retro called the XS that is a rack mount synth with no lcd screen a knob for every function including midi. That might be easy to use all the functions.

r05c03 · Post by **r05c03** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:34 pm

I have a Future Retro XS. It is a nice unit.