Post
by Portamental » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:55 am
Welcome to the group. Nice to have a woman join in. There are far too few women playing the Moog, it seems to me.
There is a sort-of tutorial about synthesis in every Moog's user manual, I don't know exactly what they say and how, I have not been reading them for ages. If you can, search the web for user manuals of vintage Moogs, such as the Prodigy and the MG-1. You'll find plenty of things in there. The difference is that newer Moogs rely a lot on presets, so tutorial talk less about settings and approach synthesis on a more global basis, while earlier Moogs did not have presets, so the learning is presented in a step by step approach and always include some presets examples showing all the knobs or slider positions, and what kind of sound they are trying to "emulate".
The are three factors that stand out when trying to get that Moog sound. Pay attention to those and you'll be on your way to great pleasure.
1- The settings and relationship between the Cut-off frequency and Resonance. The Filter IS the Moog, so to speak. When you turn down the Cut-off frequency and put a bit (or a lot) of resonance, things start to happen.
2- Envelopes, often referred to as EGR (envelope generator). There are two of those, one for the Filter (VCF) and one for the level of sound (VCA). Each of them has 4 parameters : Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release. While is it the filter that produces the Moog sound, the filter alone would not do all that much. It is the variation in time of the VCF EGR and VCA EGR that enables the filter to produce so many sounds and textures. Mastering the envelopes is very important. For example : lead presets have a judicious amount of attack and decay, pads have long attack, decay and release (for a fading sound when you release the note), drum kicks and thumping bass presets have rather short attack and decay and no sustain (that in turns voids the release) and often negative EGR's.
3- Modulation. A little bit more complex, here. Modulation is usually achieved with two things : a modulation source (the most common being the LFO : low frequency oscillator) and a modulation amount. The modulation amount is controlled by a "controller", and the main modulation controller (besides the amount knob) is the Mod Wheel. Since you have a Slim Phatty, you don't have a modulation wheel, but your midi controller should have one, it will send modulation signals through midi. Modulation allows you to create some tremolo or vibrato effects when applied to pitch, and a whole lot of textures when applied to the filter.
That's it, being put in so few words, although I did not mention waveforms, also responsible for different kind of sounds.
Keep you Slim Phatty close at hand, not far way in a rack and out of reach. You will want to turn lots of knobs during playing a monosynth to achieve more expression. As it happens, you usually have a free hand to do that, your instrument being able to play only one note at a time.
Have fun, girl.
Edit : too many typos and bits added for envelopes.
Last edited by
Portamental on Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
but I am reading through the manual like a madwoman!
Ok, now that that's out of my system, welcome! The SP, like my LP, is capable of some really amazing sounds. Familiarize yourself with the various waveforms from the two oscillators, and experiment with the envelopes. Of course, tweak the filter. Umm...yeah! And most importantly, have fun and make some noise! 
_DemonDan_ 
