Latency, Dropped Notes, and Clocking (Update from Moog Music)

[benledwell]

Hey everyone, TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read is at the bottom)

I wanted to share some helpful info I came across thanks to the efforts of YouTuber: Getsemani Music, who reached out for help on social media regarding issues with the Moog Muse. Their video got a direct response from Moog (including from Moog's president!), and it seems like many of the problems people are facing are already being worked on.

1. Latency & Dropped Notes:
Good news: Moog is aware of the latency and dropped notes issues, especially with complex patches. It turns out this is due to how the Muse handles the modulation map, which can overload the CPU.
Better news: Moog is actively testing a firmware update that looks promising in fixing this. The update optimizes how note events are processed, so those dropped notes should be a thing of the past soon!

2. Analog Clock Mode (CV) Limitations:
Right now, the Muse only supports Analog Clock Mode, where it calculates a tempo from a steady clock signal (similar to the Grandmother and Matriarch).
However, it doesn’t yet support STEP-ADVANCE mode (like the DFAM, Subharmonicon, and Mother-32), where the sequencer or arpeggiator advances one step per clock pulse.

3. What’s Coming:
STEP-ADVANCE mode is a high priority for Moog, and once implemented, the Muse will:
Start/stop based on Clock In (CV) signals.
Respond to tempo changes via Clock In (CV).
Easily arm the sequencer/arpeggiator for better sync with modular setups.
Moog's team has been slowed down a bit due to a recent storm (Helene), but they’re making progress. If you rely on CV clocking for your setup, this feature is coming soon and should make a big difference.

TL;DR:
Latency/dropped notes: A firmware fix is on the way.
Clocking issues (CV): STEP-ADVANCE mode is coming soon and will improve Muse’s response to clock pulses.
Big thanks to Getsemani Music for pushing this issue and getting such a helpful response from Moog!
Hopefully, this info helps ease some frustrations for anyone else who’s been struggling with these issues. Moog is on it, and fixes are coming soon!

[gzencartergomi]

Thank you for this update.
Do you know the particular social media?

[Guest]

@beniedwell - Thanks so much! The latency/dropped notes issue has been worrying, but I was confident it was something that could be addressed in firmware. Still, good to know they're on the case at Moog, and hope everyone is recovering from Helene as quickly as possible!

[benledwell]

Here is a link to the youtube video https://youtu.be/vfltOe-ATz0?si=C0NICtOqK_1H2Oqy featuring the information from Moog Music

[Guest]

I've found another midi issue - it seems that "note end" messages being sent on a different channel than the one specified by the midi input channel (with multi turned off) are being accepted despite being on the wrong channel. Might this be related?

[Kwamensah]

Here's the issues I've found so far.

1. Occasionally, the delay will freak out and loop infinitely. Reboot fixes it so it seems to be a software issue, I imagine the delay crashes and then just goes on forever until you reboot. Hoping this other unrelated latency fix will also fix that.

2. Tuning. The tuning, more specifically the calibration needs a lot of work. Voices don't keep tuning for very long on 1.2, (was better in 1.1, which I can't revert to because there is no source for that firmware), sometimes drifting within minutes. I left my synth on to warm up and everything and it still can't keep tune for very long. I've had so many analog synths where I needed to run calibration once every few months. This is like several quick tunes a day.

3. The mod oscillator. This oscillator currently doesn't key track correctly, which I believe is the source of my tuning issues (using it in audio rate mostly as a third oscillator). From the top of the keyboard to the bottom of the keyboard it will drift almost a semitone when tuned at middle C. Also the tuning when displaying parameters needs to be changed to hz from percentage as there are several steps in between percentages where there is a functional change in pitch in cents but no change in how it's displayed. It makes the mod osc not very useful as a third osc since the tuning is unreliable.

4. Filters, these ALSO don't keytrack correctly, as they suffer the same problem as the mod osc, when fully resonant there is about a full semi tone in drift in either direction between the lowest and highest keys on the keyboard from middle c. This is a bummer because it makes the mod osc and the filter not very usable for more harmonic uses, as you will hear dissonant clashing as their tuning drifts wildly compared to the main oscillators. Also makes both the filter and the mod osc not useful as sources or destinations for FM.

[Strider]

I’m not sure if this is intentional (don’t know why it would be) but the mod oscillator caps at a certain pitch, making it impossible to play the highest notes with the other oscillators. Considering it’s a VCO I’m not sure what’s holding it back, or if it’s even something that can be fixed with firmware.

[Guest]

Thanks to Moog for the update. Will try it out later

[Kwamensah]

The update did not fix arpeggio latency. Still running into this issue. Even with the clock sync'd with the daw, the arpeggio clock divider is free run, not at all in sync with the daw.