Aw, yes. This was a tough choice. The quest essentially is to find something $500 or less that offers something new. The SE-02 does appear to be very "Moogish," but at the same time has some nifty features that I don't have. So, my musical aspirations are game soundtrack and effects oriented. Probably my biggest inspiration comes from 90's games like Descent. I can tell that sampling is really big there.
So option-wise, I have the Sub 37 and the Roland FA-08. The Sub 37 is amazing, never getting rid of it. It's my first monosynth and it sounds sooo good. I bought the Roland because it offered up kind of a three in one package...good piano/keys, classic ROMpler (XV5080 style), and the same supernatural synth structure from the Jupiter-80. Additionally, I have Arturia's V collection.
I'm open to suggestions in case the Voyager XL doesn't pan out...cuz I don't really know. It's 90% going to happen in my mind, but I have no idea if Moog still had remaining orders to manufacture or not. It's $4000 to spend if it doesn't. i was thinking maybe Roland's System 8 + some eurorack/rhythm machine. That would be a great discussion!
I really liked how the Moog Model D was very bright and the square wave oscillators were really bright and buzzy...something great for 8-bit sounds. The Sub 37 has a darker nature about it. So I was thinking the SE-02 would add a different sounding filter, three square wave oscillators, and white noise. It seemed that it would be a great addition for sound design. Plus, it's so small, it would make a nice travel companion on a long car ride with my teenage engineering pocket operators.
Example tracks:
* Virtual Tension (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF4WjU8ZQTo)
* Robotic Menace (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkrKJhNbq7U)
* Not that Button! (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3YMh3Yw3i0)
* Primitive Rage (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWbqA5xfdwc)
* Top Hush by Jerry Berlongieri (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-k15tgPCDc)
* Origin Zero by Jerry Berlongieri (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rGZcr_7ybE)
* Thirteen Omega by Jerry Berlongieri (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bptXW7nhJpk)
* Deep Down by Jerry Berlongieri (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4Q_-3YW66Y)
- my synths: moog voyager xl, moog sub 37, moog theremini, roland fa-08, and roland se-02