The Analogue Bandwagon

[unfiltered37]

I don't think mono-osco-phonics were ever the rage.

[stiiiiiiive]

I saw pretty rageous soli on SH101 by General Electriks...

[Mr Arkadin]

There was this box, was the TB-something? One oscillator, became quite popular in the late '80s. The SH-101, 09 and MC-202 were pretty popular too.

[Voltor07]

Yeah, watch out Moog, the rise of the one oscillator analog synth made by a software company will likely put you out of business.

Well, maybe not that easily. But Moog will surely have to watch out for serious competitors in the "toy" analog synths market. They should concentrate on building serious professional quality instruments, not less-than-perfect Chinese made problems prone things like their LP/SP.

The LP is a wonderful instrument...not at all "toylike" when you consider the fact that when I bought mine, it's closest competitor was the microKorg. IMO, the microKorg is much cheaper and more toylike than any Moog.

[dan thacker]

I was just playing my LP,and it sounded apocalyptic and massive,definitely not a toy.

[Kevin Lightner]

I just hope Arturia didn't use the FoD under that front panel for the sliders openings !

FoD = Foam of Death?

-K

[Voltor07]

I just hope Arturia didn't use the FoD under that front panel for the sliders openings !

FoD = Foam of Death?

-K

Yes, Kevin, he means the black foam which I am certain you have seen more than enough times covering your bench after working on Liberations, MG-1's, and the like. I have encountered it in consumer electronics, as well. Especially 8 track tapes.

[thealien666]

I just hope Arturia didn't use the FoD under that front panel for the sliders openings !

FoD = Foam of Death?

-K

Yes, Kevin, he means the black foam which I am certain you have seen more than enough times covering your bench after working on Liberations, MG-1's, and the like. I have encountered it in consumer electronics, as well. Especially 8 track tapes.

Yep, and many speakers from that era had that same Foam of Death as their acoustic suspension design, that would literally disintegrate itself often behind an opaque front grill so you wouldn't know it until it was too late and the coil had rubbed against the magnet.

[Voltor07]

I still hate foam surround on speakers. I replace all foam with rubber when it comes to my speakers, after having a homebuilt driver made from NOS parts fall apart. I saved it. It's now in my keyboard amp, putting out tons of bass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm6ExPpl ... AAAAAAAUAA is the repair video, part 1/3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5d0pVig ... AAAAAAAOAA here she is in action, getting broken in.

[Synthtron]

I like the Minibrute synth and may get one. A friend has one on pre-order so I will wait to check out his first. I also would like to get the Minitaur. As far as quality control I really trust one company as much as another. They all are prone to having defects. I know from experience and it does not matter if they are expensive or not. I have had many synths, some with no problems and others with issues right out of the box, with over twenty years of using Roland's, Korg's, Yamahas, Moogs. They ALL can have issues. I can say that I have been pleased with Roland and Moog Music's Support the most.

[museslave]

"The Analogue Bandwagon?" Come on.

There have been plenty of analog synths going on.

If you want a Moog synthesizer, you should buy a Moog synthesizer. It's the best synth with a ladder filter, hands down. But not all synthesizers need to be Moog synthesizers. It's not like suddenly people have JUST started making analog synths again.

The Minibrute is an interesting synthesizer. Dismissing it as "single oscillator" is a demonstration of an excessive misunderstanding of how synthesizers work. This is the same sort of crap that people say about the Micromoog. What makes a synthesizer valuable is it's ability to generate timbral variation. While MOST single-osc monophonics ignore oscillator functionality and depend on filter to make them viable, some monophonics recognize that multiple oscillators do not necessarily corner the market on timbral variety. The features on the Moog Micromoog allow for timbral variety that exceeds a lot of dual-osc synths. The only thing you don't get is detuning... and while a lot of uninformed people think that detuning is the origin of fat, it simply isn't. The MiniBrute sounds nothing like a Moog... and while that might be a detractor if you're not looking for the legendary Moog sound, you should also keep in mind that there are other colors to put on your palette.

As a synthesist, you need a Moog in your arsenal. And while you should cover your bases, once you have a Moog there is no reason to stop there.

[EricK]

Finally soneone defends the Micromoog!

[Voltor07]

Finally soneone defends the Micromoog!

I STILL say it looks and sounds like an Atari 5200.

[unfiltered37]

"The Analogue Bandwagon?" Come on.

There have been plenty of analog synths going on.

If you want a Moog synthesizer, you should buy a Moog synthesizer. It's the best synth with a ladder filter, hands down. But not all synthesizers need to be Moog synthesizers. It's not like suddenly people have JUST started making analog synths again.

The Minibrute is an interesting synthesizer. Dismissing it as "single oscillator" is a demonstration of an excessive misunderstanding of how synthesizers work. This is the same sort of crap that people say about the Micromoog. What makes a synthesizer valuable is it's ability to generate timbral variation. While MOST single-osc monophonics ignore oscillator functionality and depend on filter to make them viable, some monophonics recognize that multiple oscillators do not necessarily corner the market on timbral variety. The features on the Moog Micromoog allow for timbral variety that exceeds a lot of dual-osc synths. The only thing you don't get is detuning... and while a lot of uninformed people think that detuning is the origin of fat, it simply isn't. The MiniBrute sounds nothing like a Moog... and while that might be a detractor if you're not looking for the legendary Moog sound, you should also keep in mind that there are other colors to put on your palette.

As a synthesist, you need a Moog in your arsenal. And while you should cover your bases, once you have a Moog there is no reason to stop there.

Granted, the micro is a great synth, but to have just a micro or any one oscillator synth as your only synth is not very desirable, to me at least. I actually don't like the common detuning unison "fat" sound, and never use it on my model D. When doing bass sounds, I really like the purity of one oscillator. But tuning octaves apart and other intervals and mixing waveforms at different intervals is crucial for multiplying the possibilities of timbral variation. But there are other ways of variation, I agree. To call it revolutionary as they do is a little ridiculous though. It's more of a gimmick synth, as you can tell by their trademarked features. I think they just wanted to create something that people would think is novel, so rather than put more oscillators, they added silly bells and whistles (the brute factor, come on, a feed back knob when you already have an ext in?). It could have been a great synth if they stuck to the basics, and made it a module instead of a toy keyboard. My guess is they wanted to keep it as cheap as possible so people would choose it over software.

[Mr Arkadin]

What's silly about ring mod, super saw and feedback? Sure they gave them cute names, but the function remains the same. You're trying so hard to find things to dislike about this, like saying the functions are trademarked, which I'm sure you haven't even researched as true. The names for those functions (Brute, Ultrasaw and Metalizer) may be trademarked (although I own a Boss Metalizer pedal, so maybe not), but you can't trademark ring mod, super saw and feedback functions - lots of synths use and will use those functions without paying Arturia a penny. Ctricising it for the "revolutionary" tag is a bit lame - come one, it's marketing spin, anyone with a couple of braincells knows that. Otherwise I'd go about believing that all films are brilliant because the poster adverts all have five star ratings - there are no bad films being made, ever!

And no-one's suggesting this would be your only synth source. A Minimoog, whilst very nice, would be dull to me as my only synth source, but I'd still like one.

I have a two octave Novation controller. It's not my main keyboard (that's an Ensoniq Fizmo - you'd hate it, it's digital), but sometimes when I don't want to fire up the main keyboard and just tweak sounds it's really handy. So a module without a keyboard could be seen as a pain in the arse in that scenario. It's just how you use things and your needs.

For many this will suit their work flow and they'll buy it. Those that want a module will not buy it (although it's quite possible they'll do a module version at some point). Either way there's no need to disparage or hate, it's a valid sound source whether you like it or not. If it had two VCOs you'd still find a way to hate on it though.