IPR Synth Club Meets the Mooger Rack!

[Bryan B]

I have a friend who teaches at the Institute for Production and Recording (Minneapolis, MN). He and another instructor started a synth club to offer more real world synth experience and knowledge to the students there.

I was invited to bring some of my gear to show to their group and my first choice was my Mooger rack. It has the 12-stage Phaser, Freq box, Bass MuRF, Ring Mod, the CP-251, a Doepfer midi-CV converter (24 outs!) and a patchbay which I use for patching the audio as well as multiplying CV signals.

I could tell they were a bit sceptical to hear that I was doing an effect pedal demonstration, my friend even asked me if I needed a sound source to do the demonstration. They were quickly won over and thinking about which one they were going to buy first! Like me (before I bought my first MF), they had no idea these existed or what they were capable of as a collection. They might have known a guitar player in another band who used one, but they never considered that you could build your own modular moog out of them. Even when it was done (and people got to play it) some people stayed later just staring at it.

Judging by the reactions I got, Moog has a lot of untapped market with people like us (for MoogerFoogers). Even old school synth guys were marveling at the MuRF because they never saw a module that could do what that does.

[dave500]

I would like to hear them make some sounds for us.

[Bryan B]

The students or the Foogertron?

[Modularfan]

The students or the Foogertron?

Got a picture of the Foogertron? Sounds like a pretty cool rig!

- MF

[dave500]

let us hear the Foogertron

[Bryan B]

Here is a camera phone pic for now. I will put up some audio samples sometime next week. I am a bit busy working on material for my next live show.

[ColorForm2113]

OoOoOo thats similar to what i eventually want to make... didnt have the midi/cv in the plans but thats a good idea (24 outs?!)

And is that a Vermona DRM on the left hand side that i see?

[latigid on]

And just out of interest, what do you think of the Akai MFC42?

[Bryan B]

24 outs on the CV converter is sweet. There are different resolutions for precise control/slew/portamento to strictly gate control. It also has a DinSync out. I really enjoy it's flexibility as you can really set up each channel to fit the purpose.

That is almost a Vermona DRM-1, good eyes. It is actually a (Touched By Sound) TBS DRM-1, which was bought out and re-packaged as Vermona DRM-1. Same thing I guess. I got this for half the price of the Vermona (used). The new Vermonas have inserts on each individual output for effect sends which this one doesn't have, but for the price I can't complain. I love that thing because it is basically 8 synths dedicated to percussion sounds! It is somewhere between the TR-808 and the TR-909 type sound, but closer to the 808 I would say. There is also a "TAMA" TechStar series of electronic drums that are very similar to this concept. That is what is above the TBS in the rack and it has 2 different sounds that can both range from Bass kick all the way to hi-hat.

I really like the MFC 42 (Akai Filter Bank). It has a very rich filter sound to it (2,4 or 8 pole!) and I can also record all of the knob movements from it and replay them back to it. I don't really use it as much as I thought I would, but haven't considered getting rid of it yet.

[ColorForm2113]

[quote="Bryan B"]

That is almost a Vermona DRM-1, good eyes. It is actually a (Touched By Sound) TBS DRM-1, which was bought out and re-packaged as Vermona DRM-1. Same thing I guess. I got this for half the price of the Vermona (used). The new Vermonas have inserts on each individual output for effect sends which this one doesn't have, but for the price I can't complain. I love that thing because it is basically 8 synths dedicated to percussion sounds! It is somewhere between the TR-808 and the TR-909 type sound, but closer to the 808 I would say. quote]
HALF THE PRICE Ive been wanting a DRM-1 for awhilejust cant afford it right now...but maybe for half off i can! and its all analog too? does it have MIDI or trigger, both?

[Bryan B]

The Vermonas (new) are $800 or more with options. I found mine (used and local) for $350.

It is triggered by Midi or by the button next to each row of knobs. The midi is easily customizable, you just plug in the unit while holding the top drum trigger and then each note you play over midi will set the next trigger all the way down. I actually made a pattern in Ableton to automatically set my DRM-1 midi to match closely to my TR-909 note triggers. This way I can send 909 patterns to the DRM-1. Yep, I am a nerd.

I am sure you could get the TAMA units for decent prices as most people don't know what they are and don't even know they are analog. I got the 2 voice rack for $75. They also made something more like the DRM with multi channels of a more complete drum set. The TAMA's aren't midi though, you would need some kind of trigger out or CV converter. They were meant to be used with digital drum sets and trigger off the pads.