Just got Le Phatty - first thoughts

wooperman · Post by **wooperman** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:11 am

I just got the Phatty today. I have some mixed feelings. This is no slam of the phatty just wondering if anyone else thought this. You wait for a keyboard for months and get all sorts of expectations in your head then when it comes, it's not 100% what you expected. Also, I have a voyager OS, so my thoughts may be an inadvertant comparison.

First, I was a bit disapointed when I first turned it on and instead of being at patch 00, it was at patch 96. Making me wonder is my NEW Little Phatty was actually a return or demo model? I guess it's possible that the tester at the factory left it on patch 96 before it was boxed up. Any thoughts?

The sound - Please, don't shoot me, I'm not saying it's bad, but I really thought a basic 2 oscillator, filtered sound would sound just like my Voyager with the same settings. I was thinking of the little phatty would be the voyager I could travel with. I understand the modulations are limited, but basic sounds I thought would be almost identical. But no.
The good news is that they are two different synths for sure. I'm not going to go into phatter and all that, but I do understand why the Voyager is at a price point double a Phatty.
In the demo's I heard, like the keyboard wizard, the LP sounds bigger than I can make it sound right now, I know he has effects, I didn't think they were responsible for all that richness.
Also, mine has the volume pot thing going on, where there is no sound until about 10 o'clock on the dial, but I do get full volume after that...just odd.
Final thing. The buttons. I was expecing the rubber to be like that found on those silicon carrying cases for Ipods. Pictures look like that. But this rubber feels more like..dry rotted rubber. It's not a big deal, just weird how you get an expectation in your head and it's all wrong. I think these buttons are even sturdier than the silicon would be. But now I can only think of dry rot.
OKay..., that sounds like a bunch of complaints, but it's not really. I still have a bunch of experimenting to do with regards to amplification and patches.
Anyone experience those first impressions?

wooperman · Post by **wooperman** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:21 am

Wow that sounds bad...
So listen up, The Phatty is awesome.
The arppegiator, rules the cosmos.
The sounds are awesome.
After I posted that I dialed up a sound and latched the arpeggiator and I feel like I have just been talking $h!t about a good friend.
It's not like that. Just some questions about my Phatty compared to what other people have.
The patch thing threw me...if you work at Moog, make sure the Testers know to reset the thing before it goes to box.

Matt Friedman · Post by **Matt Friedman** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:33 am

I was disappointed with my LP for about ten minutes after I first switched it on. Once I started getting into it, I realized how deep it actually is. The arpeggiator is okay -- and it's nice to have -- but I've used better [not a complaint so much as a recognition that there are limitations to what can be done in software]. Play the synth for a couple of days and you'll see why it's so special. As for the oatch number and volume thing... I'd look into that...

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:48 am

I felt the dry rot potential as well and I thought the keyboard sucked. THey have improved the keybed though.

I was dissapointed too at first but my experience was based on comparing it to the Voyager.

I respect it a lot more now than I initially did. THe only one I played was brief and it was a Stage I.

Since then it has totally redeemed itself in my eyes.

Eric

January Jaunt · Post by **January Jaunt** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:10 am

I remember when I got my Phatty, I had the same experience of the sound as you. I felt a bit disappointed, and thought is this really it?

But after a while, it really bites on to you, and you see how deep it really is. I would say, that i first fell in love with it when I changed the presets and made my own. It´s capable of much, much more than the, in my ears, weak presets.

Just give it some time, that´s what I did and it changed.

Celluloide · Post by **Celluloide** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:37 am

Welcome to my world! I did like you did. It's a bit different feeling though.
At first I thought and expected my LP stage II would sound like or sound better than MicroMoog or Prodigy or Rogue at least. But it never happened. It sounded totally different with those Moogs. I was even envious of filters or sonic characters of MicroMoog and Rogue.
Then I learned that was from various differences of those Moogs. Finally I understand LP is just another Moog mono synthesizer and found its own charms. Now I'm hooked on LP.

Khoral · Post by **Khoral** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:20 am

I would definitely agree with Celluloide
It is a Moog, not a recreation of other more or less glorious instruments
I had played quite a bit at the shop, so I wasn't really surprised when I installed it at home
My only disappointement with the LP is that it's far from being the most versatile synth I've seen, and that's one way it suffers from comparisons with the Voyager
But what it does it does great and since I wouldn't ever have put the money for a Voyager anyway, I'll buy it again without a second thought

fidooda · Post by **fidooda** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:45 am

can't say i was dissapointed as it is my first and only synth. I would love to have the same quality keys as the voyager, but at this price point i'm really not complaining.

Everyday i play with that synth i learn more on it's versatility. It's a great tool and very exciting to play.

About the sound i never tought it sounded less good than a voyager. I have to admit that i sometimes plug it into my full stack bass amp

earsmack · Post by **earsmack** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:52 pm

I think one thing to note (that has been alluded to in previous posts) when you first get a new synth you are zipping through patches trying to hear everything all at once. It's not until you come to it with a little less spasticity and sit down and truly explore it when you realize how it speaks to you. In your case you had this realization somewhere between 12:11am and 12:21am

I also purchased my LP II after owning a Voyager but I think mentally prepared myself for the fact that it wasn't another Voyager.

Also, sit down with really good speakers or headphones and SLOWLY tweak a sound...you'll hear that the LP II holds its own and is a really nice synth.

In my case it will go where I'm afraid to take my Voyager and I think it will do just fine.

wooperman · Post by **wooperman** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:10 pm

zbd, yup, right on....

As for my original post, talked to Famous Amos. He is a helluvaguy.
He did tell me that patch 96 is the last of a series of test patches and that it was powered down in that last patch.

And the buttons are actually made of that silicon stuff but have an added texture on top to make them more grippy.

So yeah it's all good. I can stop worrying about whether yall got better ones than me, and enjoy my little Farty. eww, that gives me inspiration to make a patch, see ya!!!

Brian G · Post by **Brian G** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:38 pm

I pre ordered the Little Phatty Tribute when it was announced, sound unheard so to speak. Owning both a Voyager and a Model D and having used a MemoryMoog for many years. I was expecting it to sound “close to” the Voyager but not identical, which is one thing I wanted . When it came in I put it on a stand in the studio and started trying it out. Right away I was impressed with the sound quality of the presets I quickly tried but I wanted to dive in and start programming it. To me it was not lacking up against the Voyager or Model D, it is another great sounding voice that can stand on its own. Within the first hour I had already programmed several patches I planned to use later that week.

Many times I will go to it as a lead voice or alternate between it and something else, no complaints about it at all. Send it through a little reverb ( the Lexicon MX200 works great) and you really have a powerful instrument. Run it through some MoogerFoogers and use the MP201 or CP251 with it and you’ll have all kinds of great sound possibilities at your finger tips. As many as the Voyager, no, but that’s why you later add a Voyager . Both are great synths and work very well on their own and together. While both use pretty much the same OSC components and filter there are going to be difference in the settings, if you try and match the dials exactly between the two it will not be the same . Also, remember on the Voyager you have two filters and only one on the LP. Try just using the right out on the Voyager.

The buttons feel fine on mine . I have not experienced the volume knob “problem” several has posted about.

Everyone is going to hear things differently and have/forum their own opinion, which is fine what fun would it be if we all had the exact some stuff and did things the exact same way.

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:06 pm

I don't think the LP was supposed to be versatile, I think it was supposed to be a more accessable entry to the market for those without 3,000 for their flagship synth.

I agree completely about fumbling through the presets versus sitting down and creating one to really show you the difference.

You can't look at the phatty like you are getting a Voyager for 1300 bucks. That is why my initial impression of the Phatty wasn't so wonderful. Just like you can't look at a Micro thinking that its a poor mans Mini. You get the Moog sound but you get a different flavor of the gravy from synth to synth. I think in this respect it reflects the fact that the sound isn't generic. You might can play 10 roland synths and they have the same sound.

I think when I read a post on here I was going to mention that if your synth is not on Preset 001 that they do test them before they leave. I don't care what they have it set on when they test it, as long as it looks and smells like its a freshly opened piece of electronics.

Don't you love the new synth smell? Its the type of smell that calls to you, making you want to buy another new synth.

THe only thing they seem to lack is plenty of memory to hold infinite patches.

Eric

Tangsonghe · Post by **Tangsonghe** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:06 pm

I had a great experience the other week. You see, I haven't
been playing my Phatty much recently because I have a 2 year
old son. Whenever he's asleep, I feel too zonked to play. Whenever
he's awake and the Phatty is lit up he grabs all the dials and sends
the LP into a manic display of flashing lights (the keyboard is of no
interest to him at all).

Anyway, after half a few months in it's bag waiting, I snuck the LP out
for a little jam. I played a simple patch, a half filtered saw with
VCA and VCF gently modulating the sound. After so long not hearing
the Phatty I couldn't get over how warm and alive it sounded. It
was brilliant. I really could not believe my ears. Then, a little hand
appeared from nowhere and within moments all the knobs were at 5
O'Clock..........

DeFrag · Post by **DeFrag** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:49 pm

I was never disappointed with my LPTE.

Of course, it is my 1st synth

ColorForm2113 · Post by **ColorForm2113** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:45 pm

I remeber a couple months ago I was geared up to trade some stuff in for a LP. One of said items being my micromoog. I was at guitar center every day for like 2 weeks testing it out trying to explore every little nook and cranny. I would create some of my favorite settings on my micro at home and rush over to GC so it was fresh in my head and recreate it so I could compair the difference. And even as close as they would sound there was no way I could replace one with the other. That's when I truely realized that one day I was going own A LOT of moogs because now matter how close they may seem to one another they are all very different. And each one has its place. And that's in my room