Moog's 'Mother' synths – the unofficial term we're using for the company's five recent compact, Eurorack-compatible instruments – have all got a tasty $100 discount via Sweetwater this Cyber Weekend.

The Labyrinth, DFAM, Spectravox, Mother-32 and Subharmonicon are down to $499 a piece, which is one of the best prices we've seen, particularly for the newer machines. DFAM, Mother-32 and Subharmonic also come with a free Moog Patch & Tweak book, which is a nice little sweetener too.

You might be sold on that offer already, in which case, feel free to run off and order whichever appeals to you the most. If you're on the fence about the pros and cons of each machine, you'll find our (entirely subjective) ranking of Moog's Mother range below...

Intro: Motherlode

Moog has a deep history with modular synthesis. Bob Moog’s original pioneering synth design was a modular instrument, the patchable elements of which laid the blueprint for over 60 years of hardware synth design.

Despite a history of pioneering modular instruments, Moog was slightly slow to capitalise on the Eurorack boom that happened in the early 2010s. It took until the release of the Mother-32 in 2015 for Moog to properly wade into the modern modular waters.

That first entry into the ‘Mother’ range was a fairly straightforward instrument, a single oscillator monosynth equipped with a 32-step sequencer, 32-point patchbay and classic Moog ladder filter. But it brought the core of the classic Moog modular design to the masses.

In the decade since its release, the Mother-32 has been joined by four siblings, creating a range of Eurorack-compatible, analogue modular instruments designed to compliment one another and provide a jumping off point for modular experimentation. As this ‘Mother’ range approaches its 10th birthday, we’ve put the range head-to-head to rank them from worst to best.

Let’s start with a major caveat here – we are not ranking every one of Moog’s semi modular synths here. Even in the current line-up, the company has the likes of the keyboard-equipped Matriarch and Grandmother, plus the DIY Werkstatt and Mavis. While these are all impressive instruments, we’re excluding them here in favour of focussing on a side-by-side comparison of the five instruments that share a form-factor, design approach and similar price point.

In the video above, you can watch MusicRadar’s Reviews Editor Simon Arblaster and Managing Editor Si Truss argue about our choices.

Of course, while all synths in the range can be used standalone, these patchable instruments are designed to be in combination with each other and other modular gear. In that spirit, in our video we challenge ourselves to convince one another of the best two-synth pairing, and each put a patch together to make our case.

Honestly, we’re fans of the range as a whole, but which is the least essential and which is the cream of the crop? Let’s count them down…

5. Subhamonicon

There’s a lot we really love about Subharmonicon. Its unique sequencer design puts an emphasis on polyrhythms and subharmonic frequencies. Two sequencer lanes can be driven in a mix-and-match fashion by four rhythm generators, the combination of which can create patterns that evolve and move in hard-to-predict ways.

These sequencers can be routed to the synth’s two oscillators, each of which comes accompanied by two sub oscillators, which can be tuned to pitches quantised to either equal temperament or just intonation tuning systems. The result creates evolving chords with up to six tones, encouraging harmonic and rhythmic experimentation.

For all its experimental tendencies though, the actual sound of Subharmonicon can be a little vanilla for our tastes. The oscillators have square and saw modes, and there’s an A/D envelope and resonant ladder filter on offer to shape the sound, but compared to some of the other machines in this line-up, there’s not masses of sound design potential without patching in some external gear.

For our money, Subharmonicon comes alive when drenched in reverb and delay. Great for evolving ambience, but a little one-dimensional when it comes to sound design.

4. Spectravox

Spectravox is the least self-contained of Moog’s semi-modular range. Billed as an analogue vocoder and filter bank, while Spectravox does pack a single oscillator that allows it to be played as a simple synth, it really comes to life when fed an external input.

We’d argue that Spectravox is best when not being treated like a traditional vocoder. The Program input can be fed a variety of sources as well as the human voice, and can do some fascinating things when fed distorted drum beats or resonant acid-like synths.

This is a theme for Spectravox as a whole – the more hardware you have to pair with it, the better it becomes. Of all Moog’s semi-modulars, this is the one that makes the least sense as a standalone purchase.

The ability to use each filter band as a CV envelope follower, routed to modulate other hardware, is a highlight and has the potential to keep you entertained long after the novelty of the ‘robot voice’ vocoder sound wears off.

3. Labyrinth

The newest addition to Moog’s semi-modular lineup is one of the most experimental synthesizers we’ve seen in recent years.

Moog describes Labyrinth as a ‘parallel generative analogue synth’. In practice, the first two of these words refer to two distinctive elements of Labyrinth’s design – its unique dual-path synth engine, and its sequencer, which uses randomisation tools in order to create some unpredictable, polymetric patterns.

We love its West Coast sound and experimental design. While some of Moog’s semi-modular instruments are only likely to appeal in specific contexts or paired with other bits of modular gear, as with Spectravox or Subharmonicon, there’s a lot to recommend Labyrinth, whether it's used as a self-contained desktop synth, as a part of a wider Moog rig or installed as a synth voice-come-sequencer in a Eurorack system.

On the downside, we find the interface here fiddly – a running theme with these compact synths, but it’s particularly evident here with the cramped UI and annoying sequencer buttons. The slightly out-there design of the signal path won’t suit everybody either. For those happy to look past these factors though, there’s a lot of inspiration to be found here.

2. Mother-32

Mother-32 was Moog’s first foray into this Eurorack-friendly, semi-modular format. In many ways, Moher-32 is the most traditional instrument in the range, based around a fairly straightforward semi-modular design.

With just a single oscillator and fairly basic modulation sources, Moog’s Mother-32 might look a little under-powered compared to some of its semi-modular rivals – both from Moog and elsewhere – but its handy patch bay and excellent sounding components give it more punch than you might expect.

If nothing else, Mother-32 offers the easiest way to get that classic ‘Moog sound’ – and the audio input lets your route signals through its gorgeous-sounding ladder filter. Its sequencer and MIDI input are handy too, both for use with its internal sound engine and for acting as a base when paired with other semi-modulars.

Potentially, this is a great gateway into the world of modular synthesis for those looking to dip their toes in the water for the first time. So be warned - buying one may lead you to purchasing another two, and then shelling out on a full Eurorack rig.

1. DFAM

An initialisation of Drummer From Another Mother, DFAM sits in the space somewhere between drum machine and synthesiser. On the one hand, its monophonic signal path with dual oscillators and resonant ladder filter is classic Moog synth fodder. However, the snappy envelopes – with control over just the decay length – combined with its routable noise generator and basic eight-step sequencer, means the instrument is particularly well-suited to punchy, percussive sounds.

Core to DFAM’s character is the way its oscillators interact. The two VCOs have a particularly wide range, and can be synced as well as used for audio rate modulation. Each oscillator also has its own punchy pitch envelope, all of which makes the synth capable of excellent metallic perc tones, tuned drums and sweeping kicks that can really cut through a mix.

It’s not perfect. The sequencer can be annoyingly fiddly, and the lack of MIDI sync makes incorporating it into a wider setup a pain – although it’s arguable that both of these aspects contribute to its unique character.

When we’re out in the real world visiting artists in the studio, DFAM appears to be one of those synths almost every producer seems to own – particularly among the techno fraternity. A must-have and a modern classic.

Behringer has unveiled a new pedal for electric guitar and synthesizer with a name that pretty much says it all as to what it’s designed for, which is just as well, because with eight adjustable filters, selectable patterns and myriad ways of configuring them, the BM-15M has a lot going on.

As the demo video says, “there’s not really an easy way to describe what this thing does”. Ain't that the truth? But its full name, the BM-15M Murf Box, should ring a few bells.

The BM-15M Murf Box is an analogue filter pedal inspired by Moog’s now OOP MuRF (Multiple Resonant Filter Array) pedal, that was launched in 2004, expanded in 2009, and now is offered by the storied Moog as a guitar VST for digital creators. You can find second hand MF-105M units listed on Reverb for over a grand.

Behringer’s Murf Box shares many of the design features of the original Moog – the wooden side panels and black metal enclosure – though they have swapped the controls around, with the eight adjustable filter sliders located at the top of the pedal, the six dials (Envelope, Filter, Rate, Pattern, Drive and Output) and two slider switches (LFO, Freq) below.

It has eight individual filter bands. Adjust them, then add some movement, with 12 “dynamic patterns” to choose from, adding rhythm and motion to your filter sounds.

Users can dial in low and slow, woozy motion-sickness sounds, chewy weirdness that could work nicely with open chord guitar sequences, or funk rhythm figures, or the envelope could be set up for a super fast response, and choppy percussive sounds. It really is the kind of pedal that encourages – or demands – experimentation. Like the original, it is a pedal to create with.

The Murf Box is an analogue filter pedal but it can be digitally controlled, which is especially helpful if you are using this with a synth or drum machine, or playing to a click.

You can connect this via MIDI or USB and control settings with the accompanying Guitar Tribe software, making deeper edits with your laptop. There are also comprehensive options for controlling its parameters via an expression pedal, with all of its input/ouput jacks located on the top of the pedal.

The BM-15M Murf Box supports mono and stereo operation.

If those aforementioned secondhand prices for an original Moog unit give you the heebie-jeebies, Behringer’s £/$129 street price might make the M-15M Murf Box an attractive proposition. For more details, head over to Behringer.

Monosynths lie at the heart of Moog’s heritage. With the Minimoog Model D, Bob Moog not only brought the Moog sound to the masses, but set a template for analogue synth design that still influences designers today.

Throughout the years since the company’s revival at the turn of the millennium, it has offered a variety of mass-market monosynths that pay homage to the legacy of the Model D. From the Minimoog Voyagers of the early-’00s through to the Sub and Subsequent-tagged bass synths of 2010s.

What is it?

Although it might not immediately look like it, Messenger is the latest addition to that lineage. An all-analogue monophonic synth equipped with a 32-note keyboard, Messenger effectively replaces the recently discontinued Subsequent 25 in the company’s lineup, becoming the cheapest way to access the classic Moog sound without venturing into the realm of semi-modulars.

Visually, Messenger is a break from the Moog synths of the 2010s. Gone is the angled, Model D-inspired profile of the Voyagers and Subs, replaced by a flatter design and a matt black look closer to last year’s Muse polysynth.

I’ll be honest, the first time I saw Messenger in person I was a little underwhelmed. It’s a little smaller than it looks in pictures, and the design is more understated than we’re used to from Moog.

On paper too, there’s not much about Messenger that jumps out as truly innovative or exciting within the context of modern monosynths. It touts wavefolding capabilities and an updated Ladder filter, but beyond that it all looks a bit business-as-usual.

Pricing

• £699/$899

Performance

I’m pleased to report, however, that those first impressions were mistaken. In terms of the hardware itself, although it’s modestly-sized, Messenger’s metal chassis and sturdy controls feel robust and professional.

It also finds space on the rear panel for an impressive amount of I/O, including full sized MIDI connections, an audio input, sustain and expression ports, as well as CV/gate inputs and outputs.

As for the sound engine, although this is very much a traditional analogue monosynth at heart, the more you dig into its capabilities, the more you find creative ideas and design flourishes that lend themselves to distinctive, characteristic sound design.

At its core

The basic layout of Messenger is heavily influenced by the classic Minimoog design. It features two main oscillators joined by a simple sub oscillator, which feed into a resonant Ladder filter, with two ADSR envelopes and two LFOs providing modulation.

A feedback/ext input control at the filter stage allows Messenger to be overdriven for some classic Model D-style grit, while the pre-patched connection between LFO 2 and the synth’s mod wheel lends itself to the vibrato flourishes typical of classic Moog synth performances.

Throughout this design, however, are touches that elevate Messenger into more modern, adventurous territory.

Each of the synth’s oscillators, including the sub, has a continuous waveshape control that can be morphed and modulated to shift the shape of the output whilst playing. For the sub oscillator, this ranges from triangle through to various widths of pulse wave.

The two main oscillators span from various pulse widths through saw and triangle waves, with waveshaping at the leftmost point of the dial. This distorts the triangle waveshape by folding the peak back in on itself.

It’s a common feature of Buchla-inspired modular synths – and also present on Moog’s own Labyrinth semi-modular – and works great for creating raspy, metallic tones.

Messenger also features various oscillator modulation options. The front-panel Mod control lets users apply frequency modulation between oscillators 1 and 2, or modulate oscillator 2’s pitch or the shapes of osc 2 or the sub osc via the ADSR filter envelope. Further audio rate modulation can be set up using Messenger’s simple touch-to-assign routing (more on this shortly).

Messenger’s filter updates the capabilities of the classic ladder filter design too. Whereas traditional Moog filters were usually all 4-pole (24db), Messenger’s can also be switched into 2-pole low-pass, high-pass and band-pass modes. The key innovation here, however, is a Res Bass switch that engages a multi-pole mode to maintain bass presence as you turn up the resonance.

Classic low-pass ladder filter designs have a tendency to sound thin in the low end as you boost the resonance. By engaging the Res Bass switch here it’s possible to achieve those raspy, acidic high resonance tones without losing low-end punch.

Messenger’s filter section also comes equipped with audio-rate modulation that can be dialled in from oscillator 2. This, along with the feedback option, can help to quickly dial in gritty, harmonically complex distortion.

One of my favourite elements of Messenger’s design is its loopable envelopes. When engaged for either of the two ADSR envelopes, this will cause them to act more like an additional, multi-stage LFO, which can be great for creating pulsing, rhythmic tones.

Although the synth’s front panel has a variety of pre-routed options for its envelopes and LFOs, any one of its front panel controls can be assigned as a modulation destination using its Quick Assign functionality. With a simple button press, it’s possible to assign any of the modulators to any control you can get your hands on, with the row of sequencer buttons lighting up to indicate the depth of the modulation.

Beyond the LFOs and envelopes, modulation can be routed from the keyboard in several ways, with Quick Assign options for keyboard tracking, keyboard sample & hold, velocity, aftertouch and expression.

Speaking of the sequencer, that provides another highlight of Messenger’s design. The synth can make use of both arp and step sequencer functions, each of which offers some neat creative tricks.

The arpeggiator has a total of 13 patterns and a variety of octave range options, including various randomised modes.

The 64-step sequencer, meanwhile, inherits a variety of creative tools from the flagship Muse poly. Highlights here include note and gate probability, and the Note Pool functionality, which allows the user to assign a variety of note options to a single step, and then have the sequencer randomly select between these options each time it cycles.

Messenger’s sequencer also allows users to record automation for any of its front panel controls to each step, which allows for the creation of some wonderfully varied and characterful patterns, particularly when you start adjusting audio-rate modulation and wavefolding from step-to-step.

Verdict

At first glance Messenger appears to be a fairly straightforward monosynth, and to an extent this is true. Its Model D inspired signal flow is more than capable of classic, simple bass and lead patches that nail the vintage sound many are looking for from a Moog-branded monosynth.

The largely knob-per-function UI makes Messenger one of the most immediately approachable instruments in Moog’s current line-up too. This immediacy is aided significantly by its crop of well-designed, highly usable presets too.

Dig a little deeper though, and the synth’s modulation, sequencing and sound-shaping tools offer a multitude of inspiring options allowing for adventurous and characterful sound design.

On its own terms then, Messenger is a definite success, and a worthy addition to Moog’s long history of analogue synths. Where it potentially stumbles, however, is when placed in the wider context of the contemporary monosynth market.

We’ve seen a lot of analogue monosynths hit the market in the past decade or so, and particularly in the sub-£1000 bracket where Messenger finds itself, things are very competitive.

While the £699/$899 price tag of Messenger is far from the most expensive monosynth on the market (or even in Moog’s own lineup), it's also a significant step up from the likes of the Korg Monologue, Arturia MiniBrute or PWM Mantis, each of which can be had for under £400/$500 – and none of which are a huge step down in terms of features.

Bass off

To my mind, Messenger’s closest comparison is the Novation Bass Station II, which is an excellent analogue monosynth that currently retails for almost exactly half the price of Messenger, at least in the UK.

To be fair, this isn’t entirely surprising. The Bass Station II is over 10 years old, and Messenger does boast some premium features that warrant a bump in price, including an aftertouch-equipped keyboard and a more comprehensive sequencer.

Sonically the two machines have their own distinct personalities too – the BS II is a touch grittier and noisier, while the Messenger is punchier and better at tight, rounded basses.

Given the company’s legacy, Moog gear tends to be priced with a bit of a ‘Moog premium’, which places it a little above the competition. Whether this is still warranted in the days of inMusic ownership and overseas production is debatable, but Messenger is undoubtedly a quality, professional-level monosynth.

I feel like, at this price point, it's a shame Messenger packs no onboard effects, which could have set it apart from the competition a little more.

Whether you think it’s worth taking the plunge now, waiting a while for the price to come down or opting for a more affordable competitor is up to you.

Hands-on demos

Moog

Alternatives

Specifications

In 1964, Bob Moog didn’t just create a new instrument—he ignited a revolution in music. Working at first from his father’s basement in Queens, New York, Moog created the world’s first voltage-controlled modular synthesizer modules.

He worked closely with experimental composer Herbert Deutsch, and this partnership—a direct collaboration between engineer and musician—would help define how Moog and his company would approach instrument design far into the future. “I’m an engineer,” Moog once said. “I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers. They use my tools.”

The Moog modular represented a fundamental shift: its network of voltage-controlled oscillators, filters and amplifiers expanded and redefined the ways in which humans think about and generate sound. Sandwiched chronologically between the development of advanced acoustic instruments and the oncoming emergence of digital music-making, Moog’s analogue circuits allowed for an extraordinary and unprecedented level of control over the shaping of sounds. The Moog ladder filter, which he introduced during this period of creative output, would go on to become one of the most influential and imitated circuit designs in the history of electronic music.

The company's early years were marked by rapid innovation and growing cultural impact. The release of Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach in 1968 demonstrated the Moog synthesizer's potential for both technical precision and emotional expression. The groundbreaking album sold over a million copies, and helped legitimize the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument in the eyes of the mainstream music world.

1970 marked another hugely significant moment for Moog, with the introduction of the Minimoog Model D. The instrument took the discreet elements of Moog’s modular system and tailored them into a portable, plug-and-play synthesizer. The Minimoog's influence can’t be overstated: it’s all over countless recordings from the 1970s onward, from progressive rock to funk, jazz, and early electronic music.

Recounting the artists that embraced it effectively becomes a list of those that defined the music and sounds of the era: Stevie Wonder, Keith Emerson, Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, Sun Ra, Pink Floyd, and Herbie Hancock (to name a few) helped bring the Moog sound into the popular consciousness. Wonder, who would become a lifelong Moog enthusiast, once described the synth as "a way to directly express what comes from your mind." It’s a sentiment that captures the transformative power of Moog’s instruments.

The company's history hasn't been without its challenges, however. Musical tastes started to shift later in the 1970s, and increased competition ramped up from other synthesizer manufacturers. The acquisition by Norlin Music in 1973 led to a period of corporate oversight that many viewed as a challenge to the company's creative freedom. Bob himself clearly agreed, leaving the company in 1977 and going on to found Big Briar (which would later be renamed Moog Music) in North Carolina.

The 1980s were a turbulent period for analog synthesis in general, and coincided with Moog’s absence from the company he founded. Digital synthesizers, particularly those from Japanese companies like Yamaha and Roland, began to dominate the market. These instruments offered dramatically different, more high-tech sounds; they were also easier to mass produce, and therefore could be sold for more affordable prices. Under Norlin’s ownership, Moog struggled to compete, and by 1987, the company ceased operations entirely.

Bob remained active in the industry, however, developing instruments through Big Briar, including his own theremin designs, as well as the legendary line of Moogerfooger analog effects pedals. (Moog’s lifelong passion for the theremin began at age 14, when he first discovered it in an issue of Electronics World; he built one based on plans published in the magazine, and five years later he and his father were building and selling theremins out of their home.) Meanwhile, during this period in the 1980s, a growing admiration for Moog’s classic analog synthesizer designs continued to emerge from a dedicated and active community of synthesizer enthusiasts.

This paved the way for a Moog renaissance in the 1990s and early 2000s, as interest in analog synthesizers surged among a new generation of musicians and producers. Now based in Asheville, North Carolina, the company began reissuing classic Moog designs while also developing its own original circuits and instruments. The 2002 Minimoog Voyager, Bob’s modern reimagining of the Model D, demonstrated that there was still a strong interest in (and vigorous market for) high-end analog synthesis—even in what had quickly become the digital age. The Voyager became an instant classic.

The period following Bob Moog's passing in 2005 has seen the company continue to evolve. The introduction of the Mother-32 semi-modular synthesizer in 2015 marked a significant moment, embracing the nascent Eurorack format and offering a more accessible entry point into modular synthesis, while maintaining the company's reputation for quality and innovation.

This was followed by a series of complementary instruments including the venerated DFAM (Drummer From Another Mother) and Subharmonicon, each exploring exciting, idiosyncratic approaches to synthesis and sound design. Subsequent releases like the Grandmother and Matriarch synthesizers successfully merged vintage Moog circuits with modern patchability and features, while maintaining a connection to the company's classic sound.

The Moog Labyrinth, developed just before another existential moment for the storied company, represents one of the clearest examples of how the company has continued to evolve. Among other things, its generative sequencer, sinewave oscillator, morphable low/bandpass filter, and wavefolder all represent clear deviations from the norm for Moog. Max Ravitz, who was deeply involved in the instrument's development, which began in early 2022, explains that it was conceived as a deliberate departure for the company.

“I really wanted to make an instrument that was going to subvert expectations and be a big surprise for most people who are familiar with Moog,” Ravitz explains. “I pay attention to what people are saying in the marketplace, and I just noticed a lot of people when talking about Moog would point out a reiteration of ideas that we'd been using for a while.” This push for innovation manifested in a host of unique features and ideas, including parallel processing paths and a sophisticated wave folder. Moog’s Rick Carl, who was the main engineer on the project, notes that “every part of the signal path on Labyrinth is a new design for Moog.”

The instrument took inspiration from various sources, including West Coast synthesis, a number of Eurorack modules, and vintage percussion synthesizers, all while charting its own course. “This was definitely an attempt to appeal to some younger music producers who are maybe into Elektron gear, or stuff that’s more aimed at techno, house, IDM and these more forward-thinking electronic music genres.” (Lorre Mill’s Double Knot, Music Thing Modular’s Turing Machine, Winter Modular’s Eloquencer and Pearl’s classic Syncussion all get name-checked as inspirations.)

Labyrinth actually started its life as “Davis”, in the same form factor as Moog’s smaller Mavis synthesizer, and was meant to be an adjunct to DFAM that offered alternative approaches to percussion synthesis. But once Carl started actually messing with some designs, the team realized that the concept had more potential than the small footprint could accommodate.

Ravitz says that there were definitely some risk-averse headwinds within the company in getting the idea off the ground; still, the development process reflected a period of creative freedom. It seems safe to say it’s been a success: “It’s definitely paid off, and I think a lot of people are happy and surprised with how it’s landed,” Ravitz says. “But we will see if we keep getting to be this kind of unbridled and weird.”

While the Labyrinth is part of Moog’s semi-modular line—where most of the company’s more experimental designs have lived for the past decade—iterations of some of its ideas were integrated into Muse, which is very much in Moog’s “main line” of instruments. “Some of the generative nature of Labyrinth definitely found its way into Muse, but implemented in quite a different way,” Ravitz notes. “Once we can get the weird concept in, then it’s nice because we can at least get some kind of echo of it happening in later products.” The two expect that this won’t be the end of the line for Moog’s integration of generative sequencing ideas into its instruments.

In June of 2023, a year after development on Labyrinth began, Moog was acquired by inMusic, a conglomerate that owns brands including Akai, Alesis, and Numark. The announcement sent shockwaves through both the music technology industry and the synthesizer community. The subsequent closure of the factory store in Asheville, North Carolina—a destination that had become something of a pilgrimage site for synthesizer enthusiasts—and the layoffs that followed only intensified these reactions.

The acquisition sparked discussions about the future of American manufacturing, the preservation of Moog's unique company culture, and concerns about whether the brand's commitment to innovation would survive under corporate ownership. (It also marked the end of Moog's employee ownership structure, which had been in place since 2015. The company has said that as part of the transition, all past and present employees participating in the Employee Stock Ownership Program received a payout.)

But not all were surprised by the news. In the years leading up to Moog’s acquisition, the synthesizer market had become increasingly competitive, with companies like Behringer aggressively undercutting premium brands by producing affordable analog clones of classic synthesizers, including Moog’s own Minimoog Model D. Behringer’s ability to mass-produce these instruments at a fraction of the cost put significant financial pressure on Moog, which continued to manufacture its products in the U.S. with higher production costs. (Behringer has publicly stated that Moog’s then-CEO Mike Adams reached out to them regarding a potential acquisition; Moog has neither officially confirmed or denied this claim.)

The broader synth market was also shifting toward hybrid and digital technologies, with brands like Arturia and Sequential offering innovative digital-analog hybrid instruments at competitive prices. Moog, known for its premium, hand-crafted analog instruments, found itself struggling to compete in an industry increasingly driven by affordability, accessibility, and technological advancement. Economic factors such as rising material costs, Covid-induced supply chain disruptions, and fluctuating demand further complicated Moog’s position, and economies of scale necessary to survive in the evolving market.

“Definitely we lost a lot of people that Rick and I were close to, and we’re getting used to the changes involved,” Ravitz says, speaking to the human cost of the transition. But he also offers a more nuanced perspective on the current state of things: “For the most part, it has been feeling positive and the good momentum is encouraging us to work on more instruments.”

One of the most contentious aspects of the inMusic acquisition has been the shift in manufacturing practices. It now seems clear that more of the process has indeed been shifted overseas, primarily to Taiwan; Moog does continue to produce instruments in Asheville, NC, but now at a new facility with the “required infrastructure and resources to help it thrive,” according to Richardson.

Engineering and product development will also remain in Asheville, but are moving to a new location in Asheville’s historic Citizen Times building in early 2025. (It’s worth noting that the local newspaper of the same name recently vacated the building’s second floor, which it had been in since 1939, though renting after its parent company Gannett sold the building to local investors in 2018—another sign of the times, to be sure.)

The reality for Moog, however, is likely more complex than the initial narrative of American manufacturing being replaced by overseas production might suggest. “People are talking about the manufacturing that we're doing that occurs in Taiwan and kind of speaking of it negatively,” Ravitz explains. “But to be totally fair, before inMusic acquired us, we would still get PCBs manufactured in China, and then do a lot of mechanical assembly in Asheville.”

This highlights a crucial point often overlooked in discussions about manufacturing; modern electronics production has long been a global endeavor, even for companies strongly associated with domestic manufacturing. “I think that people's perception of what US manufacturing in Asheville means now and what it meant before is a little bit skewed by a lack of understanding of manufacturing,” Ravitz notes. “I would say that our new contract manufacturers that we’re working with in Taiwan seem like a step up from those we were working with in China.”

Carl also reiterates that domestic production hasn't been abandoned entirely: “We're still manufacturing instruments in Asheville. We still have a factory, we still have lines running. None of that has changed. In fact, there's been a little bit of reinvestment in keeping manufacturing there.”

Carl also says the manufacturing changes have even led to certain improvements, both in terms of quality and scale. “The manufacturing, just the scale that we're able to achieve is remarkably improved,” he explains. “And the quality of what we're getting ... the prototype I'm looking at right now, they nailed it on the first try. I’m super optimistic about the future of manufacturing at scale, and our ability to pump stuff out faster because we have all these resources behind us.”

This improvement in manufacturing capabilities has been accompanied by enhanced engineering resources. “We've gotten a lot more efficient just from the resources that inMusic afforded us,” Carl notes. While the romantic notion of all-American manufacturing may have shifted, the result of the acquisition on actual quality and capability of Moog's production operation still remains to be seen.

Moog president Joe Richardson emphasizes the acquisition’s ability to improve Moog’s ability to remain agile in a market that demands it. “Without divulging too much, I can share that the strengths of inMusic go far to shore up constraints that challenged Moog Music for many years,” he says.

“inMusic has a well-exercised focus on technology development and the practical application of that technology. Formerly, Moog resource constraints required a choice: leverage existing know-how or develop and integrate modern technologies. The lifted constraints and access to innovative technologies expands the choices our instrument designers and engineers have at their disposal. Moog’s instruments will come from the freedom inMusic provides.”

Richardson reiterates the point that the company’s decision to expand production internationally reflects a desire to achieve lower price points for its products. “As demand for Moog products continues to grow, this shift allows us to deliver the same level of exceptional sound and build quality while ensuring availability across markets,” he says, insisting that the decision was not taken lightly. “We remain deeply committed to honouring Moog’s heritage in Asheville, where the innovation and creative vision behind every product originate. Expanding production has allowed us to focus more heavily on advancing R&D efforts and introducing new product categories, while continuing to deliver the high standards expected of Moog instruments.”

Of course, the same unknowns apply to the company’s willingness to take chances on innovative instruments. It seems clear that the acquisition has brought about significant changes in terms of how products are developed at Moog; what’s less clear is whether these changes are entirely for the worse.

Where once the process involved numerous stakeholders and what Carl describes as “a lot of cooks in the kitchen,” the approach has become more streamlined. The development of the Labyrinth, which occurred just before the acquisition, offers an interesting point of comparison. “The reason that we were able to develop it so quickly, I think, was partially just because Rick and I were allowed to kind of run with it,” Ravitz explains, noting that other projects with more stakeholders, like the Muse, took “a good five or six years.” It’s unclear whether this instance was a relic of the past, or a sign of things to come.

The new, more structured approach certainly has its advocates. “Our engineering group has remained, we've continued to operate the same as we always did,” Carl notes. "We've also improved our process quite a bit. We've gotten a lot more efficient just from the resources that inMusic afforded us.” As Moog moves forward under inMusic's ownership, the challenge remains to balance its storied heritage with the demands of the modern synth market and globalized capitalism.

Though Moog appears to be maintaining its commitment to innovation while adapting to new organizational structures, it’s difficult to predict the future. The release of fantastic instruments like the Labyrinth and Muse suggest a company willing to explore new territory. But given that their development was largely finished before the acquisition, one can only guess as to whether those designs would have been greenlit or executed as well had their development been entirely under the supervision of its parent brand.

As Moog looks toward its next 60 years, the company appears to be finding its footing in a new era. While the creative process has become “a little more streamlined” post-acquisition, according to Carl, the company maintains its ability to innovate and push boundaries. The engineering group has remained intact and has even seen improvements in their process. “We've gotten a lot more efficient just from the resources that inMusic afforded us,” Carl explains. This efficiency, combined with improved manufacturing capabilities, suggests a company better positioned to bring new ideas to market quickly.

These changes haven't come without cost—the loss of some long-time employees and changes in internal structure have altered the company's creative dynamic. Where once there were “a lot of cooks in the kitchen” bringing different viewpoints and experiences to the table, the process has become more linear.

Richardson, however, unsurprisingly remains bullish on the subject. “Over the next decade, we intend to lead the charge in synthesizer innovation while expanding into new frontiers and enhanced connectivity for music production,” he says. “We’re particularly excited about introducing products that cater to both the seasoned artist and the new wave of creators exploring synthesis for the first time. The next generation of Moog products will push boundaries while remaining deeply rooted in the craftsmanship and legendary creativity that defines the brand.”

As Moog celebrates its 60th anniversary, it stands as a company in transition but not in retreat. It certainly seems possible that the spirit of innovation Bob Moog instilled will continue to manifest in new and unexpected ways, even as the company adapts to modern business realities and changing market demands.

The next chapter in Moog's story will likely look different from its past, but the core elements that have made the company a crucial part of electronic music's development—innovation, quality, and a top-tier talent pool to draw from—appear to remain mostly intact. As Moog enters its seventh decade, the question remains: Can a brand so deeply rooted in analog tradition thrive in an increasingly digital world? If the Labyrinth and Muse are any indication, the answer may lie in Moog’s ability to honour its past while exploring new sonic frontiers.

They're among the most hallowed sounds in the history of synthesis… hell, in the history of music. And, over at Plugin Boutique, you can currently get access to a jam-packed bundle of plugin versions of some titanic Moog effects with over $155 knocked-off the asking price. As a fan of said effects, I think this is a real steal, up there with our favourite Cyber Monday offers.

The bundle spans the plugin re-inventions of a series of 90s and 00s analogue effects pedals - the Moogerfooger series - which cribbed their sonic cues from the original Moog modular synths.

This line was tailor-made to work with a wider range of inputs such as guitar, voice, synth and… well, anything you wanted to throw their way. They were an invitation to take those authentic Moog sounds and get even more creative with them. In software, the playing field expands even further.

This software bundle includes the following plugin effects:

MF-101 Lowpass Filter
MF-102 Ring Modulator
MF-103 12-Stage Phaser
MF-104 Analog Delay
MF-105 MuRF
MF-107 Freqbox
MF-108 Cluster Flux
MF-109S Saturator

The Moogerfooger effects pedals have become a staple for a wide array of musicians, and these software versions allow you to work with their analogue-based, characterful sounds right in your DAW, without any faff.

What's cool about the Moogerfooger plugin range is that it's easy to re-model the original interconnectivity that the old-school devices had, meaning you can merge and contort effects to find new textures.

It's nigh-on impossible to tell the difference between the original pedals and these software versions in our opinion, and with this stonking great discount you should certainly seize up on a massive reduction in getting this analogue selection box this side of Christmas!

Moog Muse: What is it?

Back in 2018, Moog released its first proper analogue polysynth in decades – the Moog One. Available in both 8 and 16-voice iterations, the One was a beast of a synth that combined classic Moog analogue elements with digital processing and copious modulation tools. For all that was impressive about the One though, with a price that started at upwards of £5,000 for the 8-voice version, it was out of reach of many musicians – which possibly influenced Moog’s decision to discontinue it.

In its place, we now have Muse – a new flagship at the top of Moog’s synth line. While Muse maintains much of what the Moog One had to offer, including eight analogue voices, a multi-timbral design – reduced from three to two timbral layers – and a similarly flexible approach to modulation, it does dial back the all-bells-and-whistles approach somewhat. Crucially, it also comes in with a price point over £2k lower than the cheapest Moog One; hardly a budget synth, but more competitive in relation to today’s polysynth market.

Visually, Muse has a slightly different style to most Moog synths of recent decades. Where the likes of the Sub-37, One and Minimoog Voyager all share an obvious design lineage with the original 1970s Minimoog, Muse’s chunky plastic buttons and sliders give it a touch of Roland influence, perhaps via Behringer’s Deepmind. To our eye, there’s something a little uncanny about Muse’s aesthetic; it could pass for an unofficial Moog ‘tribute’ as opposed to a genuine Moog poly.

This, utterly subjective, point aside, Muse feels reassuringly solid with sturdy front-panel controls and a semi-weighted Fatar keybed. On this latter point, it’s worth noting that Muse offers channel, not polyphonic, aftertouch. This could either be a dealbreaker or an irrelevance depending on the type of synthesist you are, but it does put Muse at a notable disadvantage compared to some similarly-priced polys. For us, the only real letdowns in terms of Muse’s build are its thin plastic pitch and mod wheels.

Moog Muse: Performance and verdict

Muse’s sound engine makes use of three voltage-controlled oscillators. Two of these are standard audio-rate VCOs, while the third – much like on Moog’s recent Labyrinth – is labelled as a Modulation Oscillator, and is capable of operating in both audible and LFO ranges. 

Even the more conventional VCOs offer plenty of flexibility. Each of these has a Wave Mix slider used for blending between triangle/saw and variable pulse outputs, with individual dials for adjusting the shape and width of each. Between these, there’s a nice amount of waveshape control on offer, even before you factor in the ability to modulate those parameters. 

It’s worth saying that even at their most ‘vanilla’ – with the mix and dial controls far over to triangle mode – Muse’s oscillators still have a touch of harmonic edge to them. This lack of a pure sine output (although this can be achieved with the mod osc) gives the synth a welcome gritty character from the off. Further heft can be created using the two oscillators’ cross-modulation capabilities, which allow for either oscillator to modulate the frequency of the other, as well as offering a separate ring-modulated output at the mixer stage.

The modulation oscillator takes these capabilities further still. Whether used at audible or LFO rates – selectable via a switch – the modulation oscillator can be routed simultaneously to the pitch of both/either of the oscillators, the cutoff of Muse’s dual filters, provide pulse-width modulation or modulate the VCA level. Using a phase inversion switch, it can also be used to provide stereo width. This oscillator has a choice of five fixed wave shapes, including noise, and options to track and/or be retriggered by the keyboard.

These various oscillator sources, along with a white noise generator, can be combined using Muse’s slider-controlled mixer section. This also includes an additional Overload slider, which overdrives the overall mix in order to create lovely clipping using a circuit inspired by Moog’s 1960s CP-3 module, which emphasises even harmonics.

Muse’s filter section makes use of two resonant ladder filters, the first of which can function in either low- or high-pass modes, the second fixed as a low-pass filter. These filters can be arranged in serial, parallel or stereo modes. When we first read the specs for Muse, we initially thought that having two near-identical filters seemed like a missed opportunity compared to, for example, Arturia’s PolyBrute, which has both Ladder and Steiner-Parker filters with their own distinct character. The stereo mode makes this decision more sensible though, as it allows the synth to create patches with interesting stereo characteristics via variations in the left and right filters.

It’s arguably still a shame not to have a little more filter variation, such as additional options to alter the mode and slope of each filter. A link button does mean that, in serial mode, the two filters can be combined to create a single band-pass, but separate band-pass, band-reject or shelving modes for each filter would have added flexibility. That being said, in typical Moog fashion, the filters sound great, particularly with a slight resonance boost used to add punch and bite to basses and leads.

There are a couple of interesting features in the VCA section that further enhance Muse’s stereo capabilities. The first is a simple Pan control; basic on its own, but when layering two sounds in bi-timbral mode, it effectively allows the user to design binaural patches using two panned layers. The second is a Pan Spread function, which can be used to distribute the synth’s voices across the left and right channels.

Possibly our favourite element of Muse’s design is its Diffusion Delay. This is a digital effect module, inspired by vintage rack delays. It’s capable of creating long delay lines with washed-out, reverb-like density that don’t change in pitch as you alter the delay rate. Individual front panel controls allow for hands-on adjustment of both its left and right channel separately, along with the feedback length, while a Character control applies filtering to shape the frequency of the effect. It uses adjustable bit rates to create lo-fi, gritty tones that sound absolutely fantastic, and it’s endless fun for hands-on tweaking. While having just this single effect module puts Muse at a disadvantage compared to some similarly-priced polys, the sheer character of the effect – and how well it suits the overall sound – makes up for some lack of versatility.

The hands-on approach of the design is one of Muse’s strengths across the board. Most elements of the synth come equipped with chunky rotaries to control the core elements, and where menus are involved, they’re easily accessed using neat buttons appended to the corner of each module. Modulation routing is easy to access too, with the main mod sources all offering simple ‘assign’ buttons that let them be routed to any front panel control. Aside from the modulation oscillator, these sources include two loopable ADSR envelopes, a designated pitch LFO, and two additional, user-customisable LFOs. Modulation can also be routed from aftertouch, velocity, pedal inputs, two CV inputs, the synth’s mod wheel and a dedicated front panel macro knob.

Sequencer tricks

Muse’s sequencer is pleasingly deep. Patterns can be recorded live or step sequenced, with each step capable of recording polyphonic pitch data, velocity, gate length, micro timings and timbre assignment. Each step can also contain automation data for the front panel controls. What’s more, as the sequencer and patch banks exist separately, it's possible for sequence patch changes. The sequencer also offers several varieties of probability. It’s possible to give each step a probability amount, either in uni- or bi-polar ranges above/below the sequenced pitch, which can be fixed to a defined scale. Most interesting though is the Coin Toss lane, which allows the user to program alternative notes or parameters for each step, and then allows Muse to ‘toss a coin’ over which of the versions will be played with each repetition. 

Verdict

With its price point just shy of £3k, Muse invites inevitable comparison with a number of other polys. Within a few hundred pounds either way, you have Arturia’s PolyBrute 12, UDO’s Super Gemini, Novation’s Summit, and Sequential’s Prophet-5 and 6, among others. 

For Muse’s part, it’s neither the outright biggest-sounding nor the most versatile of the bunch. Several of the synths named above outstrip Muse in terms of voice count, and we’d argue that those that embrace more of a hybrid analogue-digital design offer a wider spectrum of potential sounds. This is particularly evident when layering patches – for all that Muse is capable of, it can’t match the textural intricacies of some rivals. Muse’s stereo capabilities are very impressive, although it must be said, they’re obviously heavily influenced by what UDO has been doing in recent years.

To find where Muse really shines, use its layers to create a split patch with a rich mono bass in the low ranges and a gritty stereo pad playing chords in the octaves above. This might be the purest form of what one hopes to hear when imagining a ‘Moog poly’; rich, characterful and full of life. Unlike the all-guns-blazing One, Muse nails the balance between modern depth and approachable, hands-on design. It’s not perfect, but this could be the source of inspiration you’ve been waiting for. 

MusicRadar verdict: Muse has its weak points, but it’s also the purest, most characterful poly that Moog has made in recent memory.

Moog Muse: The web says

"With its considered feature set, tactile control surfaces, and an oh-so-premium analogue sound, Muse has an addictive quality that keeps you coming back for more, and more, and more."
MusicTech

Moog Muse: Hands-on demos

Moog Music

Sanjay C

ANDREW HUANG

loopop

Moog Muse: Specifications

• KEY FEATURES: 8-voice analogue polysynth with stereo signal path, arp, sequencer, chord mode, diffusion delay effect. i/0: 2x 1/4-inch TRS main out, headphone out, sustain and pedal inputs, 2x CV in, 2x CV out, MIDI in, out and thru, analogue clock in and out, 2x USB.
• CONTACT: Moog

Moog has officially announced the Muse, the long-rumoured analogue synthesizer that the manufacturer has been teasing all year: we got a full list of specs from a leak earlier this month which have now been confirmed.

Muse is an eight-voice, bi-timbral synthesizer with a 61-key semi-weighted keybed, equipped with velocity and channel aftertouch. Its two analogue oscillators per voice are derived from the Moog Voyager and are capable of both FM, PWM and hard sync. These are joined by a mod oscillator with selectable waveforms that can be used to modulate the filters, pitch, PWM and VCA, along with three LFOs, one of which is dedicated to pitch modulation.

Muse's oscillators run through dual per-voice ADSR envelopes and dual analogue transistor ladder filters (one low-pass, one low and high-pass) that can be routed in series, parallel or even stereo configurations. The stereo VCAs are based on Moog Modular circuits, and offer control over volume, pan position and pan spread per voice. 

That's not all; we've got a saturating mixer section with ring modulation and a digital stereo delay inspired by "vintage digital rack delays". You'll also find a 16-slot modulation matrix, a powerful arpeggiator and an even more powerful 64-step sequencer, which, much like the the recently-announced Labyrinth, offers generative and probablistic sequencing.

Muse is priced at $3499, a competitive price point that makes the instrument more affordable than analogue polysynths like the Arturia Polybrute 12, Oberheim OB-X8 and UDO Super Gemini. 

Find out more on Moog's website.

Moog Muse specs

• Keybed: 61 full-size semi-weighted keys with velocity and channel aftertouch
• Controllers: Pitch Wheel, Modulation Wheel, Macro Knob, Keyboard Octave switch, Hold switch, Sustain Pedal input, Expression Pedal input – all pedal functions are assignable
• Panel Controls: 44 knobs, 16 sliders, 129 buttons – OLED screen
• Analog Voltage-Controlled Oscillators: (x2) Selectable Triangle/Sawtooth mix, variable width Pulse wave, Octave (16’, 8’, 4’, 2’), Frequency (+/- 7 Semitones), Wave Mix (blends Triangle/Sawtooth with variable Pulse wave), FM routing and amount, Hard sync
• Analog Voltage-Controlled Modulation Oscillator: Selectable waveform (Sine, Sawtooth, Reverse Sawtooth, Square, Noise), Audio range toggle switch, Keyboard tracking, Keyboard reset, Unipolar switch, Pitch Modulation routing and amount, Filter Modulation routing and amount, Pulse Width Modulation routing and amount, VCA Modulation amount, Panning switch
• Analog Voltage-Controlled Filters: (x2) Moog transistor ladder filters (1 with highpass/lowpass modes), Cutoff Frequency, Resonance, KB Tracking Amount, Envelope Amount, Linked Operation, Routing (Series, Parallel, Stereo)
• Analog Voltage-Controlled Amplifier: Volume per Timbre, Pan position per Timbre, Pan Spread per timbre
• Arpeggiator: Per-timbre with Clock Division, Octave range, Pattern, Direction, Gate time, Rhythmic programming
• Sequencer: 64 step sequencer with Clock Division, Transport controls, Sequence chaining, Step editing, Modulation capabilities, and memory capacity of 16 banks of 16 sequences
• Outputs: Main Left/Right, Headphones, CV In/Out, Clock In/Out, MIDI In/Out/Thru, USB
• Dimensions and Weight: 99 x 42 x 11 cm, 14.55 kg

Moog Spectravox: What is it?

Moog’s latest rackable semi-modular first appeared back in 2019 as a DIY project built by attendees of the company’s Moogfest event. Previous Moogfests had seen synths including the DFAM and Subharmonicon make their public debut in the same way, before going on to re-emerge as fully-fledged, non-DIY products a few months later. At the time, it was fairly safe to assume that Spectravox would follow in their footsteps.

A lot has happened since 2019 though, including a global pandemic, disrupted supply chains and on a more specific level, Moog’s sale to InMusic and the significant downsizing of its US operation. When a mass market Spectravox failed to appear, it looked likely it would end-up as an oddball rarity among the wider history of Moog products.

But now Spectravox is back – in a slightly redesigned form – labelled a ‘semi-modular analog spectral processor’. We'll get to exactly what that means in a moment, but first, let’s address the elephant in the room. Spectravox is the first hardware Moog product released since the company was taken over by InMusic, and the first not to be assembled in the company’s North Carolina HQ.

Placing Spectravox next to its sibling products, there’s no obvious drop in quality. Significantly though, a small label on the rear of Spectravox notes that it’s ‘made in Taiwan’. The wood panelling on the ends of the unit is a slightly different tone to that of the DFAM and Subharmonicon we have to hand too, although not noticeably worse quality. Ultimately, it’s difficult to judge any difference in build in the short amount of time available for a review – the real test will be to see how each unit holds up to heavy use over a period of months or years. First impressions are positive though. Also, whereas previous instruments came packaged with a full A4-sized manual/patch sheet, Spectravox has just a fold-out quick start guide, although Moog does also throw in a poster and five cardboard overlays for the synth’s interface that act as basic patch templates.

Moog Spectravox: Performance and verdict

So what actually is Spectravox? It’s a combination of a filter bank, vocoder and simple monosynth. The main attraction here is the bank of 10 individual filters, which break the audio signal down into discrete frequency bands. That audio can be provided either by the internal oscillator and noise generator, or an external signal patched into the carrier input on the patchbay. Each band has its own level control, along with a CV input to modulate the band’s amplitude and a CV output that, in vocoder mode, transforms that frequency into a modulation envelope signal based on the Program (aka modulator) analysis.

All 10 filters share a single resonance control. What sets Spectravox apart from most other filter banks is its ability to shift the frequency range of all these filters simultaneously. This can be done manually, using the Spectral Shift control, or modulated via the internal triangle LFO or patchbay input.

The output of all filter bands is then summed and fed into a VCA, controlled by a basic envelope with a decay control. This envelope can be triggered using the patchbay, a front panel button or respond to the Program input.

Spectravox functions in two modes – Filterbank and Vocoder. In the former it works like a simple monosynth, albeit with a filter bank in the middle of its signal patch and the ability to swap the oscillator for an audio input. It’s worth noting that as Spectravox lacks a keyboard, sequencer or MIDI input; in order to ‘play’ it as a synthesizer, you’ll need something to patch into the 1v/Oct and Trigger inputs in the patchbay.

Switched to Vocoder mode, the Program input comes into play, acting as the modulator signal in a classic vocoder setup. Note that, likely as a result of its all-analogue design, Spectravox is quite noisy as vocoders go, and doesn’t exactly excel at clear, intelligible vocal lines. It is wonderfully characterful though, and by adjusting the relative levels of the frequency bands, as well engaging the resonance and spectral modulation, you can create some lovely odd synthesized tones.

In fact, we’d argue that Spectravox is best when not being treated like a traditional vocoder. The Program input can be fed a variety of sources as well as the human voice, and can do some fascinating things when fed distorted drum beats or resonant acid-like synths. As one would hope, it pairs particularly well with Moog’s own DFAM.

This is a theme for Spectravox as a whole – the more hardware you have to pair with it, the better it becomes. Of all Moog’s semi-modulars, this is the one that makes the least sense as a standalone purchase. Yes, it can function as a monosynth or vocoder – although the lack of MIDI feels like a needless hindrance on this front – but it comes to life when integrated into a wider rig and pushed into more unconventional use cases. The good crop of front panel CV offers a wide array of creative options. The ability to use each filter band as a CV envelope follower, routed to modulate other hardware, is a highlight and has the potential to keep you entertained long after the novelty of the ‘robot voice’ vocoder sound wears off.

MusicRadar verdict: There are better vocoders out there, but Spectravox is at its best when integrated into a wider setup and pushed to its creative limits.

Moog Spectravox: Hands-on demos

Moog Music

Sarah Belle Reid

loopop

Reverb

Moog Spectravox: Specifications

• KEY FEATURES: 10-band filter bank and vocoder, with internal oscillator (triangle/square wave), noise generator, plus resonance and spectral modulation with triangle wave LFO.
• I/O: 1⁄4” TRS headphone or 1⁄4” TS Instrument output, Combi XLR/TS input, patchbay: 19 inputs, 17 outputs.
• CONTACT: Moog

Moog Labyrinth: What is it?

Just a few weeks after its last release, Spectravox, Moog’s latest instrument is another semi-modular addition to the US brand’s range that also includes the Mother-32, DFAM and Subharmonicon.

Moog describes Labyrinth as a ‘parallel generative analogue synth’, a set of words that excites my inner Autechre fan, even if it’s not instantly obvious what they might mean combined. In practice, the first two words refer to two distinctive elements of Labyrinth’s design – its unique dual-path synth engine, and its sequencer, which uses randomisation tools in order to create some unpredictable, polymetric patterns.

Let’s set those generative tools aside for a moment. While they’re undoubtedly an important part of its character, even divorced from these sequencing tools, Labyrinth is a fascinating and capable monosynth in its own right.

The design here is based around two oscillators. The first is a simple sine wave VCO, while the second is a triangle wave generator labelled as a Mod VCO. The reason for this distinction is that the latter oscillator has an unusually broad operating range, from an audible 1.3kHz at the top end down to slow LFO speeds in its lower ranges. As a result it can function as both a sound and a modulation source.

These oscillators feed into the mixer section in different ways. Each has its own level control, but there’s also a level control for the combined ring modulated output of the two. Further modulation options come from an FM dial, which modulates the frequency of the sine wave osc by the output of the Mod VCO. 

Each oscillator can also be modulated by the first of Labyrinth’s two envelopes or by one of the sequencer channels. The mixer itself is designed to be overdriven, resulting in a pleasant analogue saturation that nicely rounds off the harsh upper frequencies of more extreme cross-modulation tones.

The key ‘parallel’ element to Labyrinth’s design lies in what happens after the mixer. Here the sound feeds into two distinct processors – one multimode 2-pole filter, one voltage-controlled wavefolder. A switch dictates if these are arranged in serial or parallel configurations. 

By default, the summed mixer output is sent into whichever of these elements is first in the chain, although by making use of the individual inputs and outputs in the patchbay, you can route the oscillators separately for a truly parallel signal path.

The inclusion of the diode-transistor wavefolder adds a nice touch of Buchla-esque, West Coast character to Labyrinth, complementing the audio-rate modulation of the oscillators. This wavefolder creates distortion by folding the incoming waveform back in on itself when driven over a certain threshold.

The VCW Fold control adjusts the level of this effect, which can be modulated using EG1, a CV input or Labyrinth’s sequencer. This is joined by a Bias control, which alters the symmetry of the wavefolding and the harmonics created.

While the 2-pole resonant filter is more straightforward Moog fare, it’s notable for the fact that it can be seamlessly morphed between low- and band-pass configurations. The wavefolder and filter are each given their own voltage-controlled amplifiers, which can be shaped using a shared decay control or individual CV inputs in the patch bay.

The balance of these two outputs is altered using a front panel Blend dial – which also gets a patchbay CV input – allowing users to mix the direct outputs of the wavefolder and filter VCAs whether in parallel or serial configuration.

Backup generator

Labyrinth’s sequencer puts a heavy emphasis on randomisation, albeit in a fairly controllable manner. The sequencer makes use of two lanes – labelled Seq 1 and Seq 2 – that can each be up to eight steps in length. These are primarily designed to be used in parallel, though you can chain the two together to create a single 16-step sequencer.

Rather than contain specific note or parameter information, each sequencer step – referred to here as a ‘Bit’ – is assigned a simple on or off state. When set to on, that step will generate a trigger and a random voltage.

These voltages can have a range between +5 volts and -5 volts, which equates to 10 octaves for Labyrinth’s 1v/oct configuration. This range can be narrowed down, however, using each sequencer’s CV range control. More useful still is the ability to quantise these randomised outputs to one of 16 defined scales.

Further randomisation can be introduced using each sequencer’s Corrupt controls. When set to zero, each sequence will repeat in a predictable, stable manner. Dialling in the Corrupt control up to the 50% mark will introduce changes to the pitches triggered by each Bit. Above 50%, Corrupt begins to alter the rhythm of sequences too, by introducing the possibility that each Bit will flip between off and on with each cycle.

As already alluded to, there are various pre-routed places where these sequenced voltages can be applied to the signal path, including the pitch of each oscillator and the levels of the wavefolder and filter cutoff. The patchbay inputs add further possibilities too.

Particularly interesting is the EG Trig Mix control, which adjusts the level to which each sequencer triggers the synth’s internal envelopes. At either extreme this means that Labyrinth only registers triggers from Seq 1 or Seq 2, while the central position gives equal emphasis to the two.

Any position between these, however, will mean that triggers from one sequencer are registered at a lower velocity than the other, which can be a great tool for introducing an element of variation into sequences, particularly when the two sequencers are set to different lengths or levels of randomisation.

In terms of sound creation tools then, these synth and sequencer elements combine to make one of the most interesting new instruments of recent times. In its self-contained state, the combo of audio-rate modulation, wavefolding and randomisation give Labyrinth a wonderfully experimental feel, making it an ideal gateway into the more esoteric concepts of modular electronic music.

If there’s one criticism I have of its self-contained workflow, it’s that the basic decay-only envelopes necessitate a fairly percussive sound palette, which arguably undersells what the synth engine itself is capable of. This, to be fair, is one area where the semi-modular patchbay pays dividends. The CV inputs for each of the VCAs allow for control via any more complex envelope shapers you have available from external Eurorack gear or another semi-modular synth.

The MIDI input – included on some Moog semi-modulars, but disappointingly absent from others – is another welcome inclusion. This allows for Labyrinth to be played in a more traditional monosynth manner via a keyboard controller or DAW, but also means that the generative sequencers can be synced to an external MIDI clock, enhancing their capabilities as a versatile source of randomisation in the studio.

Moog Labyrinth: Performance and verdict

There’s a lot to like about the overall design of Labyrinth, although I have a few misgivings about the hardware itself. When I reviewed Moog’s Spectravox last issue, I noted that it was the first of Moog’s hardware products to be released since the brand was acquired by InMusic, and since the closure of Moog’s longtime Asheville HQ. While Spectravox notably featured a ‘made in Taiwan’ label on its underside (as does Labyrinth), there was little in the way of an obvious drop in quality compared to previous Moog releases, aside from the lack of a fully printed manual.

This isn’t necessarily the case with Labyrinth, sadly. For one thing, the control surface here makes considerable use of fiddly, uncapped rotaries. These have been a feature of most recent Moog semi-modulars – used for the sequencers of DFAM and Subharmonicon – but they play a more prominent role here, used for adjusting modulation levels, envelope decay and sequencer ranges. The result is an interface that feels unpleasantly fiddly in use.

Worse still are the tiny, loose-feeling buttons used for programming the sequencers, which are both uncomfortable to use and feel like they’re lacking durability. Many deeper sequencer functions rely on awkward, unlabelled combos of button presses. It has to be said too that, at least for our review unit, the Run/Stop button is somewhat unresponsive, often not registering anything other than a firm press.

It’s unclear if any of these things are a direct result of Moog’s new ownership, but it results in Labyrinth feeling somewhat lower quality than some of its stablemates.

To be fair though, none of this detracts too much from the high points of Labyrinth’s design, namely its sound and versatility. While some of Moog’s semi-modular instruments are only likely to appeal in specific contexts or paired with other bits of modular gear, as with Spectravox or Subharmonicon, there’s a lot to recommend Labyrinth, whether it's used as a self-contained desktop synth, as a part of a wider Moog rig or installed as a synth voice-come-sequencer in a Eurorack system.

If you can look past the fiddly interface, there’s a lot to find inspiring here.

MusicRadar verdict: Let down by fiddly rotaries and a cheap-feeling sequencer, but we love its West Coast sound and experimental design

Earlier this year, several forthcoming Moog products were leaked, including the Muse synthesizer and the Labyrinth, a semi-modular desktop synth in the same Eurorack-compatible format as the Mother-32, Subharmonicon and DFAM.

This weekend, the first videos of the Labyrinth were uploaded to YouTube; several videos featuring the instrument have been shared by user VM, who has 33 subscribers and only one previous video uploaded 14 years ago. (How VM got his hands on a Labyrinth remains a mystery.) 

Another video has been shared by user Doug Llewellyn, who claims he stumbled on a vendor on eBay who had listed the as-yet-unannounced synthesizer for sale. In the video above, you can watch VM unboxing the Labyrinth, and the video below shows a 10-minute walkthrough and sound demo. 

Described as a "parallel generative analogue synthesizer", Labyrinth is an unconventional instrument for Moog, making use of West Coast-style synthesis and a generative sequencer.

Labyrinth's architecture is based on two oscillators, a sine wave oscillator and a triangle wave LFO that can be used to modulate the first to achieve FM synthesis. Both of these can be run through a ring modulator, low-pass filter and a voltage-controlled wavefolder, another distinctly West Coast touch.

The synth is equipped with a rather unusual sequencer, which makes use of probability-based generative sequencing to create unpredictable and evolving patterns. Elsewhere, there's a 32-point patchbay that can be used to experiment with routing, modulate Labyrinth's parameters via the LFO, or hook it up with external gear.

We've no word yet on pricing or availability; when we know more, so will you.

Having previously announced that it would be leaving its manufacturing headquarters on Broadway Street in Asheville, Moog Music has now confirmed that its factory store at the same location is to close.

In a statement, the company says: “Since opening in 2011, the Moog Store has served as a public portal to the Moog factory, inviting passionate synthesists to come inside and experience the sonic capabilities of Moog first-hand, as well as have access to new electronic instruments and devices in person. Containing 60 years of revolutionary synthesizer technology, the Moog Store has been a destination for those who wish to create, explore, and be inspired.  

“As we prepare for the next chapter of Moog Music, the Moog Store will be closing its doors. Our factory will remain open, and our talented engineers will still be in there, hand-crafting the instruments that define us. Our shift away from brick-and-mortar sales allows us greater bandwidth to focus on researching and developing the next generation of synthesizers and support more classic Moog releases.”

That “next chapter” involves a move to new premises in Asheville, on the the second floor of the building at 14 O’Henry Avenue. Moog Music’s statement goes on to thank those who’ve visited the store, and to recommend that those wishing to celebrate all things Moog visit the Bob Moog Foundation’s Moogseum, which is also located on Broadway Street.

Moog Music was acquired by InMusic in June 2023. In September 2023, it was reported that a number of staff were to be laid off.

Against this backdrop, the company has continued to announce and release new products. The Mariana soft synth dropped at the end of 2023, and the Spectravox was launched earlier this year. Another synth, the Moog Muse, has also been teased.

The end could be near for the Moog One, according to a social media post from Belgian musical instrument retailer Turnlab.

"Moog One is now discontinued (EOL)!! Still want one of these beauties? We still have a very limited stock," reads the post, shared late last week. 

Launched in 2018, Moog One is the flagship synth from the legendary Asheville-based manufacturer, a 16-voice analogue instrument that was the first hardware polysynth released by Moog in more than three decades. The One was also available in an 8-voice version, which has already been discontinued.

A heavily feature-packed synth, the One has a tri-timbral architecture, meaning it can layer three independent synth patches together or split these across its 61-note keyboard. Priced at $7999, it's the most expensive instrument in Moog's current line-up.

In our review of the Moog One, we described it as a "beast of an instrument" and praised its versatile sound, observing that "it caters to every need, from deep but well-rounded basslines to sparkling chimelike tones; from lush, warm electric piano sounds to otherworldly crystalline soundscapes."

Retiring the synth would make sense for Moog, as the manufacturer is reportedly planning to launch a new polysynth later this year. Teased in a post from producer Mike Dean back in April, Moog Muse is an analogue, bi-timbral synth with a 5-octave keyboard.

If you've been considering purchasing the Moog One, now could be the time, as prices will likely rise if the synth is discontinued. 

We've reached out to Moog's representatives for comment.

Its raison d'etre might be teaching people to play the piano, but Pianote is now offering you an introduction to the big wide world of synthesizers with the help of Snarky Puppy’s Justin Stanton.

The piano and the synth share a keyboard layout, of course, but they look and sound very different, and some pianists tend to fear the complexity and learning curve associated with electronic instruments. Stanton, though, is here to provide reassurance: “There really are no mistakes. Turn knobs until it sounds good,” he says in his ‘101’ level video. 

However sharp your sound design skills are, though, it’s an entertaining watch. Using a Moog Little Phatty, Sequential Prophet Rev 2 and Nord Stage 4, Stanton begins by explaining what a synthesizer actually is, before moving on to discuss presets, modulation, oscillators, envelopes, filters and more. He also touches on the differences between analogue/digital and monophonic/polyphonic instruments.

There are a few treats for Snarky Puppy fans, too: snatches of Thing Of Gold, Whitecap, Sleeper, Lingus and a final blast of What About Me?

Check out the video above. You can sign up for a 30-day trial of Pianote, exclusive to MusicRadar readers, here.

Mike Parker’s deep, hypnotic techno bubbled up through a slew of celebrated singles as the millennium approached. But, as work turned to a full-length debut, he’d let his music spill a little looser, away from the restraints of traditional club arrangements. 

“I just wanted that statement of an artist album,” he says. “And to reach an audience that went beyond just DJs…”

Diving headfirst into his machine-driven, spontaneous approach to production, he’d jam out on his raft of Roland and Korg equipment, never glued to a computer screen, preferring to let the runway lights of his blinking analogue sequencers lead the way. 

“Every single track is a live take,” he says. “It’s just the way it’s always been.”

There would be no edits and no overdubs on Dispatches. And none of his synths had patch memory.

“A big part of my creative processes was to approach them with a new sound every time,” he says. “That does make it difficult to reproduce, live. But, it adds vital improvisation within the way the track evolves.”

The resulting album is full of icy moods, playful time signatures, complex metallic tones, and overwhelming, evocative sound-sculpting. All hinting at a direction the deeper strains of techno would pick up and run with in the following years.

“I never knew at the time I was influencing anyone,” says Parker. “I was just playing in New York and making this music and sending it out. 

“I was exporting records to Europe. This is before SoundCloud. I would ship 300. So, I figured someone was buying them.”

Although a favourite of connoisseurs like Nina Kravitz, Ben Klock, and Richie Hawtin, the album sadly never outgrew cult status.

“It was just after 9/11. People were depressed and angry,” says Parker. “I don’t think anyone wanted to hear about a minimal techno album, so it was quietly released.”

23 years later, Dispatches finally receives a vinyl release, with an all-new remaster and reissue.

This definitive edition dropped on Field Records, and will undoubtedly cement this seminal album’s classic status, gaining it the wider recognition it’s always deserved.

“The title of the album refers to my isolation. But, when I started to play in Europe, people said it’s probably good I wasn’t living in Berlin, getting caught up in the whole scene. Because, that way I was very independent. I just did my own thing. Unaffected by what was going on, elsewhere else.

“I’m not criticising the Berlin scene. It’s really amazing. If I’d moved there, I would have really enjoyed it, I’m sure. But, the side benefit of being isolated like that is that you end up finding your own way.”

In the studio with Mike Parker

“I was using a lot of the stuff you’d expect. I mean, Roland gear like the 303, 606, 808, and the TR-909. Oh, and the VP-330, for the vocoder. And an old sequencer called the Roland MC-50.

“A big part of the sound on Dispatches comes from Korg, though, especially the MS-20, which is all over that record. Then the MS-10 and 50. And the Korg Mono/Poly, which is a synth I’ve owned for all of my adult life. I bought it as a teenager, back in the ’80s. I’ve kept it, and had it restored a few times. It’s a synth I just can’t part with. 

“Then, one rarity on that record, was the EML Electrocomp 101, with its 6dB filter, for that kind of harsh sound. What else? I also used an Akai S-950 sampler. A Jomox XBase 09 drum machine. A Sequential Circuits Pro-One. A Moog Micromoog. And a lot of the other sequences that you hear come from Future Retro’s 777 and Mobius.”

Track by track with Mike Parker

Triceratops

“A lot of the tracks on Dispatches have patterns that are divided into threes, not fours. They cycle, just with a slightly different timing.

“There had been other techno producers that did tracks divided in threes that I really liked. And I always thought that was an interesting way to conceive of a techno track. And, perhaps something more challenging for the audience. Like, ‘how do you dance to that?’. I remember a few times I would play this track out. And, sometimes the audience would be like, ‘What is this?’.

“The way I make tracks is often to have in mind that the DJ really needs to layer them. They’re meant to be played with other tracks, you know? Instead of me bringing in the hi-hat after a certain number of measures, let the DJ do that by mixing in just the right selection of another track.”

Amalgamated (Synchronous Mix)

“The title refers to the mixing of elements. And I was interested in pushing a limited number of sounds. Like, every sound counts. 

“There’s the main synth line, which is the [Korg] MS-20. It has a hardwired ring modulator that has a unique character. And it shows up a lot on the album.

“It’s a semi-modular, which I really liked. You can approach it. And, without plugging in any extra patch cables, you can immediately get a sound from the portions that are hardwired. Then you expand it.

“I like that immediacy. You turn it on, change a few parameters on the knobs with the architecture of it as it’s set up, and you get an interesting sound. Then you can connect it to other things.

“It’s good for people who are starting out. A semi-modular, such as that, is a good way to really learn about modular synthesis.”

Copper Variations: CV1 (Alternate Take)

“This is the first of the ‘Copper Variations’. And it has a colder, metallic sound to it. I guess I was thinking in terms of metallic colours, at that time. 

“Again, it’s another one divided in threes. I think most of them are. It’s driven by the [Roland] 808. And it has this sort of acid line that’s sort of creeping in the background. And that’s actually the Future Retro 777 [monophonic analogue synth].  

“I really liked that. And, not just for the sound. But, because the sequencer is sort of identical to the [Future Retro] Mobius, which I also used on this album, because it’s got that 16 step feel to it.

“I got the 777 in the late ’90s, and it would have been about $900. The Mobius was not as expensive.

“My Mobius has developed some issues. It ran for 23 years, and then it sort of died. I loved that sequencer. I contacted Future Retro and I’m like, ‘You know, I love the sequencer. Can you fix it for me? I’ll pay you whatever you want!’ And they haven’t yet got back to me.”

Reduction

“This got a bit of a revival, a few years ago, when I released a [2021, 20th Anniversary Remaster] version remastered by Neel [Giuseppe Tillieci]. I released it as a 12”, with a B-side that I had discovered during the pandemic. It was sitting on DAT. And, I thought, now’s the time.

“Again, we’re on this division of threes, in the sequence. And you’ll hear some vocoded sounds. They might remind you of a human voice, but they’re not exactly identifiable as words. They’re more like syllables. So, in a sense, they’re more like notes.

“I tried to introduce sounds that are, at least partially, organic – unlike Copper Variation, as it doesn’t have the cold metallic to it. It’s got more of an otherworldly feel to it. 

“I’m a big fan of the soundtrack to Forbidden Planet [1956]. [The composers] used ring modulators a lot. I have a huge interest in mid-century science fiction.

“I like to bring that up a lot. Because, that’s just a game-changing accomplishment and inspiration. And they had to build their own equipment to do it.”

Copper Variations: CV3

“I think this one is even more based on vocoded sounds, and it’s divided in fives. I like the breakdown, too. I think, sometimes, I wanted them to last even longer. But, I was always conscious of the fact that these are being played in venues.

“‘How far can you push it?’ I’ve tried to push it as far as I can. Of course, the DJ can always just throw something on top, if they have to. These are just tools.

“I think this is the most interesting of the ‘Copper Variations’. It ends with the beat really dropping out, and it goes on for a while. Maybe that’s what I wanted to do, all along.

“I was interested in working within this genre and seeing what I could push, and get away with. And test the limits of what you can do, especially in time signatures.”

Drain Hum (Original Mix)

“This was based off an old sample I’d created years ago by scraping a piece of metallic light fixture.

“I sampled that into the Akai [S950] and looped it, and it made an interesting tone. But that sample was lost. So, I had that sound in mind when I made this track. I tried to recreate it. But, it wasn’t exactly the same, but it was close.

“There’s an extreme low frequency bass sound in Drain Hum. I wanted to push that. I wanted to make a sound that would make the speakers move.

“I mean, in a really weird way, it was influenced by hip-hop. Because, the cars driving by my apartment were playing very loud hip-hop. And you’d feel the vibrations of the bass frequency. I wanted to do something like that.

“And then, the [Roland] 303 is really just sort of in the background of that track.”

Amalgamated (Extension Mix)

“OK, so this one is sort of a dance between the MS-20 and the Sequential Circuits Pro-One.

“I love the MS-20. It’s great that Korg reissued that recently. I think it’s fantastic. I still have the original one. But, they make it now with, like, different colours. And I was tempted to get one, just because.

“With Amalgamated, again, we have this thing divided into threes. Or, six, whatever [laughs]. It keeps it interesting, to me. 

“This is still a really great genre to work in. I think that the limitations of it, after all these years – I still like them. 

“And that lead sound in here is just a bent note. I think I was trying to humanise it. Or, maybe, it sounds like an animal, or something. That’s kind of typical of me to do.”

Blue Equals Black

“This is an ambient track. But, I wanted it to be very brief. And, it was very much improvised. 

“That one, I probably did in one take. And, it was just as it was captured. The digital audio tape was running, and it was on record. And, looking back on it, I thought it worked. It wasn’t overdone. And, it really is like an interlude. I think it helped with the pacing.

“I spent a lot of time agonising over the running order of this album. That was my summer of 2001. 

“I was actually worried that the album was going to be too long. The first version, of course, is that CD format.

“In those days, albums would push the limit of whatever it was, like 79 minutes that you can get on a CD. And, I was a little worried that if I did that, then it would just be too long.”

Voiceprint: Voice One

“This one is based on a voice, and it’s through a vocoder.

“But, again, it’s not meant to be a word. It’s meant to be a sound. And it’s meant to be evocative of a voice, but not a specific piece of dialogue or a lyric. It’s the voice as an instrument.

“So, it’s a vocoded sound, but I filtered it through the Moog Micromoog, because that has an external input. And it has that classic Moog 24dB ladder filter in.

“It’s all about that filter that Bob Moog patented all those years ago. It has a natural, naturalistic sound to it. I mean, I can’t live without it, this thing, you know? I bought the external one.

“So, that’s where the changes come through. That’s the filtering of it. The changes you hear are in the low-pass filter.”

Voiceprint: Voice Three

“This was the improvisational take of running sounds, through a vocoder. Roland made a keyboard that was also a vocoder. Kind of a 2-in-1 deal, called the VP-330. That’s the vocoder on this. In fact, it’s all the vocoded sounds on the album.

“I think it gives… You know, I’m trying to think of the right metaphor here. I mean, it kind of sounds like someone trying to communicate from a distance, I think. That’s, you know, the theme of Dispatches.

“I never thought all those years ago that there would be a re-release, 23 years later.”

Mike Parker's Dispatches is out now on Field Records.

When you think of an album which centres synthesis, electronics and its makers as a core theme, you probably conjure a sonic image of aloof, difficult music, summoned by an automaton humanoid in a natty silver jacket. 

But rarely do you find an album where those references are so dextrously integrated into commentary about human existence as they are on Phasor, the ninth LP by acclaimed American producer-songwriter Roberto Carlos Lange, aka Helado Negro. And the work has earned critical acclaim aplenty to show for it. 

We caught up with the busy artist – at the time midway through a tour – and found out more about the sprawling history behind this impressive record.

Frankenstein's synth

At the heart of Phasor is a brick shithouse of a synth. The contraption in question, the Sal-Mar Construction, holds pride of place at the University of Illinois, and is a Frankenstein of sorts, forged in 1969 from parts of an ageing super-computer by its ‘father’ Salvatore Martirano. With 291 touch-sensitive switches, and sound output through a network of 24 satellite loudspeakers and four main speakers, its face is tattooed with handwritten scribbles where the usual labels go, below a spaghetti-like tangle of cables. 

But look closer and its genesis was less like the big-buck, circuitry-first visions of more famous pioneers, and more familiar to the thought process of some of the more reflective creators and developers you’ll read about on MusicRadar today. Lange takes a stab at explaining Martirano’s proposition: “He was like, ‘oh, I have an idea to make this really weird machine that makes sounds. It’s going to be a self-generating compositional machine controlling analogue oscillators with this digital supercomputer brain’. And then somebody said yes, and they built it.“

“Obviously that kind of thing is really common now. But I think it was just so brilliant that it was actually done, and it was thought of and it was supported, and that he was able to create this very unique instrument to perform with and to record with. So there’s that essence and that history of it.” 

Corresponding with the archivist who takes care of the Sal-Mar from 2015 to 2019, Lange finally arranged to visit it. “And then when I did,” he explains, “it was such an enlightening experience. It is a one-of-a-kind synthesiser.” 

How was his experience, after so much buildup and such a long journey across the US to see it, of actually using the instrument? Not to mention given that he only had one day to master what looks like an incredibly complex workflow! “So the archivist has a good understanding of getting you going and getting you started and getting you restarted,” Lange explains. “If things get messed up and then you’re on your own and then you’re like, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing’.

“You can read the words and understand what those words mean on the panels, meaning like clock or sequence or oscillation or whatever dividers, stuff like that. I’m like, ‘oh, I guess this does this’. But it was like walking in the dark and slivers of light would pop in and you’d be like, ‘okay, I’m going to keep going this way’. That was exciting as there’s no expectation, and everything was a surprise.”

When asked if it lived up to his expectations, Lange said: “When I was recording with it, it was just so disorienting because it’s so idiosyncratic to someone’s process and work style. This wasn’t parallel to developments from the likes of Moog and ARP and people or companies like that making these synths that were more commercial; more for studios or more for musicians, specifically, to create musical formats or themes or ideas that were already kind of existing. But this was just, like, so much in its own world. So falling into someone’s process like that was really fun.”

Job done, you might think: historic synth, rich backstory, concept album in the bag. But it was not as simple as that, explains Lange. The initial joy at the sounds he produced during his day with the Sal-Mar soon, became complicated as he contemplated how to ultimately do them justice on record.

“I was kind of a little headstrong about what I wanted to do with them. I was being very special with them and protective of them. I was like, ‘no, they have to exist in some kind of very specific format of creation’ or whatever, something that was like… It was starting to become more about the idea than it was about the sounds. And I was kind of removing the intention. And so then I said, let’s just use these sounds. I had some song ideas, and I started inserting some of the Sal-Mar idea sounds in there. It was inspiring, for sure. And whether you hear it a lot or you hear it not at all, it’s still part of the process.”

Lange meets Oliveros

It was in that lull period that a coinciding thread of inspiration – along those lines of celebrating the faces behind the musical machinery – formed, albeit unwittingly. The first track on the album is entitled LFO (Lupe Finds Oliveros); the parentheses are useful, given that, even with the help of Google Translate, the Spanish-language lyrics aren’t going to hand you the meaning of this sunny, psychedelic, icicle-defroster of a song on a plate, but nonetheless, it’s worth the deep dive. “I always try to think of the best way to describe this without taking up too much time,” laughs Lange.

We start with Oliveros: that is Pauline Oliveros, founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the 1960s and a pioneering experimentalist whose legacy is only just beginning to be unveiled. “Pauline is obviously somebody who a lot of people know. Her work as an educator, as a musician, as a philosopher, and her practice in deep listening, which is like this philosophy of connecting with yourself and the world through listening to it, listening with your ears, but also with your mind and connecting.

“Not necessarily like listening to music, but kind of like hearing what the world feels like and sounds like. And I didn’t really come to understand or learn a lot about Pauline’s work until I really got into it over the past few years. It was in my peripheral world, seeing or hearing her name, some tracks here and there. Something just resonated with me. This idea of deep listening, but just the work itself. I thought that was really beautiful.”

Lange meets Lupe

And then (“on one of these deep, nerdy nights of me looking for this Fender Vibrachamp amplifier, kind of just doing this whole 55 tabs open thing”) Lupe Lopez came into the inspiration mix.

“I stumbled upon this little mini forum that had this black and white photo of her sitting at a bench at the Fender manufacturing shop. And it says in the caption that she was building Fender Champs. And it was really striking to me in a lot of respects. There was a mystery to it immediately.

“I think what clicked was sometimes you don’t think about the people who are making the things that you’re using as a musician, but also as a human in general. There’s such a disconnection to that part of the process of what you’re doing. So in a music world, you just go and get something and you start making something. There’s no real connection to the people who put their hands inside those parts.” 

Lange started to learn about the following and market for these Lupe-built amps; it turned out he wasn’t the only person drawn to this mysterious figure. “On the inside, there’s an inscription on a piece of masking tape that says ‘Lupe’. And I’m guessing they did that for quality control, to kind of help keep track of who was doing what. From what I gather, it’s like, through her care and talent and touch, she was able to harness a specific sound that wasn’t [there].

“I’m sure there were a few other amp builders there using the same design, same component, same stutter, same everything. But something she did with the amps that she made really seemed to resonate with people a lot. 

“I don’t think anyone’s ever thinking about the things that they’re doing when they’re making things just out of necessity, as we’re all trying to work and pay bills. I’m sure she was in the same boat. She was like, ‘oh, I got this job. It’s stable, and I’m making amps’. I’m sure she wasn’t thinking, like, ‘my legacy of building these amps, it’s going to be long’. And I love that. I love that there’s just, like, a care that went into that.

“I think there are kind of these three points that I was referencing, this idea of how her intention and talent and care resonated over time, that it affected these people who were listening to these amps over time and using these amps that were getting inspired by the tone and the way to use them kind of touched back to this idea of deep listening. They were listening, and they could hear this feeling of what she was doing, and she was listening to herself by creating these in a very specific way. And I thought that was kind of like the big loop around with Lupe and Pauline and these people.”

Lee “Scratch” Perry and sine-wave poetry

Putting all of it together, the album title refers to “a numerical vector for oscillation in physics and engineering”. The backstory for that choice is reassuringly down to earth: “I remember there was like some Lee “Scratch” Perry video and I was watching him use a Mu-Tron Phasor that’s spelled with an ‘or’ (as opposed to ‘er’). And I was like, dope! [Laughs]”

The word got stuck in his head in a way that will be familiar to any of us who’ve stared at a Word doc for that bit too long. “I was like, what does phas-or actually mean? And then when I was looking up phas-or, I came to understand that the definition was a way to measure when two sine waves are essentially intersecting and understanding at what points they intersect in terms of either amplitude or frequency. 

“I found it to be kind of poetic. I like this idea of a unit of measurement when things intersect. And I kind of thought about humans and people and our day-to-day of how we measure ourselves. When was the last time you hung out with your mom or your best friend? What was that like? And it’s kind of like we overlap and come in phase and out of phase with these things. And there’s just ways that we experience life. I really enjoyed taking that away.”

Everything going upwards: using software

Being as plugged into the analogue world as he is, you might think that Lange might be a card-carrying member of the computer-avoiding pack, but coming from a computer arts and animation background in his early career, the picture is not so straightforward.

He is a long-time Pro Tools user since getting a free copy in (“I think”) Future Music magazine in 1997. “Version 2.2, or something like that. It was like a four track recorder, and it had like a MIDI track as well. I made my first beats using that.”

Then came a cracked copy of Ableton Live at college, and like many, considered it a game-changer for the storytelling it could do. “The plugins were so amazing. They were just so different and distinct from the stuff you could get in Pro Tools. I would use the things that friends would build, but use SuperCollider or like Max MSP as ways to process. And then Reaktor was kind of a big one.

“I would use Reaktor with my MPC and kind of build a lot of synths and control it via MIDI. And that was a huge part of my life, and it still is. If anything, I compose and create music with computers. When people ask me, ‘what’s your instrument?’, I’m like, I play whatever I can to make what I can, but when I make my music, at the end of the day, however I get there, it ends up on the computer, and I’m creating and building and structuring it like that.” 

He continues: “I think that for a lot of people, or at least people who compose on computers, it’s like you’re building vertically, you’re building in time that’s in place, as opposed to a lot of singer-songwriters, who build in a linear sense. They’re like verse, chorus, here it comes. But when you’re thinking about music that’s composed on a computer, everything is just going upwards, and then you’re peeling back the layers and then restructuring them over time, but not necessarily moving through time in respect to telling a story. That’s the way I look at it.”

Helado Negro's Phasor is out now on 4AD.

By this, his third album, Mr. Scruff was on a roll. After coming out swinging with his first few LPs and signing to Ninja Tune, he’d cemented his reputation as a beat-maker extraordinaire. 

His calling card? His silly sausage sense of humour, and seriously eclectic taste in music. Both of which are found in spades across Ninja Tuna. From the trademark fishiness of the title, and self-penned cartoon cover, to the broadest beats and glorious grooves he tucks inside. 

Musically, the album takes cues from his all-night DJ shows, where devoted dancefloors regularly lost themselves to impeccably mixed jazz, breaks, funk, disco, hip-hop and house. He covers all those bases (with added bass) and more, across the album’s tracks. “It’s like a DJ set,” he explains. “But, in the studio. Trying to find those different shades and moods, to make a cohesive body of work.”

The studio, fittingly located in Manchester’s former textile industry, was where Mr. Scruff stitched together his rich tapestry of tracks. Assisted by long-time engineer, Phil Kirby. And multi-instrumentalist and studio ally, Andy Kingslow. Scruff worked quickly, fleshing out ideas and running in ideas off vinyl, seeing what stuck.

“I was still sampling, but also working with a lot of musicians,” says Scruff. “But, the two seem to sit really well on this album. “And, because I’ve worked with Phil since the early ’90s. And with Andy being so great to bounce off. It just gave the whole process a lot of momentum.”

It was happy time, and it shows, with guest rappers, singers and producers including Roots Manuva, Alice Russell and Quantic never failing to meet Scruff’s super jolly levels of fun and funkiness.

“I was just having lots of fun with all the collaborators,” says Scruff. “And it really helped, working in a studio that wasn’t mine. I’d tram down and do a proper nine-to-five, making sure I was well-prepared. It’s not like making music in your own house. And then getting distracted by the washing up.”

Ninja Tuna has just been reissued for the first time on triple-vinyl, and is available from Mr. Scruff’s Bandcamp page.

“With albums, I just get into the role of going in the studio. I don’t really think about what kind of music I’m going to make. I just do as much as I can. Throwing myself in, and being as free as possible…

“I do loads of tunes as quickly as I can, and finish them. Then, when I’ve got about 10, just stand by what I’ve got. 

“It’s then that you end up with a direction, as well as adding a bit of a surprise. Because, you’re like, ‘Oh, wow – I never even realised that was happening!’”

Track by track with Mr. Scruff

Test The Sound

“It’s an intro. Almost like off an old hip-hop album or something. It was also a statement of intent, because, from the late ’90s, I’d been getting into what Phil [Kirby] called a kind of macho bass thing. And this was just a little bit of a very rolling, heavy little taster, you know? But, with a bit of a childhood vocal, some heavy drums, and a daft Moog bass.

“I always like to start this way. I think I just got myself into a little thing, you know? Same with all the fish tunes. Like, ‘I’ll just do one of those every album’, you know what I mean?”

Music Takes Me Up

“This track features Alice Russell on vocals. I’ve had a very long working and friendly social relationship with her through Tru Thoughts. She’s really funny, and she obviously has got an amazing voice.  

“For this, we decided to do a song about music – just an uplifting, jolly thing. But the music was also kind of tough and rolling. I played some one-finger keyboard stuff. Andy [Kingslow] played some nice Hammond organ. He’s a virtuoso in so many styles of music.

“Then he went back and forth with Alice on the vocal harmonies, and took her a little bit outside her normal range and normal tonality. What makes this such an intriguing tune is that harmonic depth.”

Donkey Ride

“This is with Quantic. He’s amazing. We’d done a few tunes together, by then. He came up to Manchester, brought his bass, and played guitar. 

“Him and Andy were jamming, and I was chucking samples in and getting involved. Kind of directing. I liked that, because I had Andy, who was this very talented session musician, on tap. It was nice to step back from the process as things were being tried out and say, ‘Yeah, that!’ 

“Andy played that montuno-style piano in the middle, which gave it a really nice flavour. We’d do a maximum of two takes. I like to capture everything quickly, as it’s being figured out. It adds a very human feeling.”

Hairy Bumpercress

“The live bass here is from Jon Thorne, who’s best known for his work with Lamb. He’s completely on it, all the time. He’s crazy about music. I love working with people who are, yeah, just a bit crazy. It’s about capturing some of that energy on the track. 

“We were stamping around on the floorboards and recording that. It worked with the double bass – that wooden sort of resonance. Then Andy’s on the keys and the Wurlitzer, which is beautiful on this. 

“There’s also a fruity middle bit, where the loops go off, like a kind of primary school Steve Reich. Then it suddenly snaps back in. It’s like being dragged backwards through a forest for a minute.”

Whiplash

“This is one of the tracks on the album where I did most of it. For the drums, I got very ‘scientific’, as Danny Breaks calls it. But keeping the momentum and keeping it rolling. You don’t want to be tricky for the sake of it.

“With this tune it’s all ‘on/off’. You know what I mean? So, you’ve got, like, two bars of something happening, musically. And then there’s something a bit complicated, answering it. You know? 

“It gives it this established structure, in terms of a little bit of a call and response.

“Then there’s the [Roland] SH-5 on top, which was mad. That was me, just properly making friends with that, over the beats.”

Nice Up The Function

“Roots Manuva is on this. I just wanted to do something really sparse for him, especially after the previous tune, which was just like [makes hectic noises]. 

“All the tunes up to this point in the album have been quite dense. Not necessarily complex, but quite full, in terms of fat sample breaks, room noise, and that rolling style. 

“Here, I wanted to pull it apart, and have more of a skeletal thing going. And, because of how Rodney [Manuva] is… He’s mega off-the-cuff. And he’s got such a rich, round voice. His whole swing, and his way with language, and all this kind of thing. I just wanted to give it a lot of space.”

Bang The Floor

“I did this one with Danny Breaks. He’s great – obviously with his drum ’n’ bass stuff, but, also, that formula of proper fat hip-hop drums with the bass that you just couldn’t mess with. 

“There was a recognition of, like, ‘Alright, we’re both spending quite a lot of time in this musical territory’. So, he came up to Manchester and we got jamming. 

“Danny would be playing stuff. Andy would be playing. And we’d be tweaking all the filters on the SH-5. You can’t automate. And the whole front panel is quite complicated.

“Andy had a funky bassline going and both Danny and I would be all over the filters going [makes squelchy noise]. It was a lot of fun.”

Get On Down

“This uses a version of a tune called A Star In The Ghetto. It’s a Prince Phillip Mitchell tune, but this is a Johnny Adams version. He’s an amazing vocalist. 

“I was listening to an obscure modern soul CD in the kitchen when it came on. That little ‘Get on down’ bit just jumped out. The whole tune’s amazing, but it was like, ‘Ooh, that’s nice’.

“I just started chopping it up. And, you know, with a sample, it’s just how you bounce off it. 

“Obviously, my general first thing is to get some drums going, and then start to jam. Then get a couple of matching sounds. Because, sonically, the sample sets the tone."

Hold On

“Andreya Triana sings on this. She’s got such a distinct, smoky voice, I’d describe it as. And she’s able to reach a lot of different emotions and moods, which I admire. 

“I looped up a Claudja Barry tune. This slow, European, chunky disco thing. I built up the beat, added bass, and kept it simple. 

“Then there’s a little horn line running through it that I chopped up. There are a few different sections. When I’m working with a sample, I’ll have two or three options to choose from. Sometimes, you let it roll. And, other times, I’m going to switch it up, halfway through.

“Andy plays Wurlitzer. And there’s amazing trombone from Nichol Thompson, augmenting the horns that were there already.”

Give Up To Get

“What I did here, was something I often do in the studio. I just get a nice loop going, then play something quite floaty over the top that doesn’t have a lot of percussive elements.

“The turntable in the studio was a belt-drive hi-fi deck, so you couldn’t pitch it to match. You just play stuff, and it drifts over the beats.

“It might be a little bit behind, or a bit slinky and rubbery. But, that feel and how it interacts with the other things around it, gives it that slight mismatch. And, that’s the groove, isn’t it?

“Obviously, you’re hoping for some kind of serendipity. So, I always record it, as it’s playing.”

Kalimba

“I got a nice beat together, and Andy played a lot on it. There’s lots of me and him, jamming and communicating a lot. It came together quite quickly.

“Then, Andy had the idea to add some strings, and got his friend Pete Whitfield in. He brought in a violin and stood in different positions in the room with one mic. He’d obviously done this before. And it got that full string section sound. He’s a great arranger. 

“It’s quite catchy and jolly. But, there’s lots of complexity in there as well. 

“For this album, that’s the recurring motif. The arrangements are quite involved. And there’s a lot of progression. But, it’s still very danceable and listenable.”

This Way

“Pete Simpson – what an amazing, amazing vocalist. Same again, dead easy-going and lovely person. 

“I think he was living in Austria. I sent him all the parts. And the beat was quite simple. And he was just crazy with the harmonies.

“And then Andy and I really sort of fleshed out what he’d done, because harmonically he knows exactly what he was doing. 

“I just smile when I remember working on that track, just because of the richness and the soulfulness of his voice.”

Stockport Carnival

“This is another one where Andy played a lot of stuff on it. He played the piano. And I suppose it ended up as this weird, vaguely Latin, hip-hop thing. He played that nice little rolling piano riff. And I built a beat around that. And then we just got some musicians in. 

“So, Ricky Weedon is on percussion, and there’s Paul Farr, who’s a ridiculous guitarist. He came in and played on that, and a lot of his amazing solos were one take.

“Then, Bernard Moss is on flute, who I’ve known since his days in Pork Recordings. Neil Yates is on trumpet. And an amazing trumpet and flugelhorn player, James Knight, who’s another ridiculous, very fiery, very funny chap.

“It was all fluid and beautiful, and everyone really helped to pull the whole track together.”

In the studio with Mr. Scruff

“The main synths were the Juno, Moog Voyager and the Roland SH-5, which was used for a lot of the squelchy bottom-end on the album. Yeah, it’s like a spaceship, you know? It’s amazing bit of kit. And, the other keyboards were the Wurlitzer, Rhodes, and Hammond.

“And then lots of nice outboard [effects], as well. So, Distressors and Avalon EQs. A Manley VOXBOX. And those big Manley Massive Passives, and summing mixers.

“The software was Logic. The main thing, for me, working in Logic is we weren’t really using MIDI, or anything like that. It was more just recording audio, you know? 

“Most of the keyboards in there were MIDI’d up anyway. So, it’s more just jamming, and then recording the bass, guitar, trombone, strings, whatever. And then just hacking and chopping. 

“And the same went for all the samples. I was recording audio in from a deck, and then just sort of chopping it up. Yeah, audio rather than triggering – kind of old-school MIDI sampler-style.”

Mr. Scruff has just given his classic album Ninja Tuna a fancy reissue makeover. Originally released as a CD in 2008, it’s now available for the very first time in a deluxe triple-vinyl package. It comes with six bonus tracks from the era, and an “infinity peelable” sticker of a cartoon fish on the cover. Head to his Bandcamp to bag a copy, where we’re jokingly informed each pressing contains “sprout trimmings, hair, pastry flakes and biscuits”.

Earlier this year, a new synth from Moog featured in Usher's Super Bowl half-time show and subsequently revealed by YouTuber and musician Andrew Huang in a Facebook post.

That synth, then thought to be named Moog Mirror, has now been confirmed as Moog Muse, in a glimpse shared by producer Mike Dean to his Instagram page. Last week, Dean shared an image of the synth's mixer section to his Instagram story, before posting a demo video to his account yesterday that shows off some of the Muse's sounds. 

In the post, embedded below, Dean describes the Muse as "that new synth you all been waiting on" and confirms that the instrument features on the new album from Metro Boomin and Future, WE STILL DON'T TRUST YOU. The video shows Dean dialling in sounds and shredding synth solos over hip-hop instrumentals. 

Moog has not shared any official specs on the Muse, but we know from Huang's original post that it's a polyphonic instrument with two analogue oscillators and a 5-octave, 61-key keyboard. The Muse is bi-timbral and offers ring modulation, an overload circuit, an arpeggiator and a chord memory function.

While it doesn't tell us much more than we already know, Dean's demo is an opportunity to hear the Muse in action for the first time. When we know more, so will you. 

Moog Music has announced that it’s set to leave its current manufacturing headquarters on Broadway St, Asheville, and move to another building in the city.

The current Moog Music building has become one of the most recognisable in the hi-tech music industry, hosting artist performances in the 'Sound Lab' and being opened up for factory tours. The list of artists who've played there includes Chvrches, Toro Y Moi, Jack Antonoff, Little Dragon and Sylvan Esso.

In a statement shared to local news outlets, Moog says that the move will involve the relocation of product design, development and engineering staff. They will be moving into the second floor of the building at 14 O’Henry Avenue, which is set to be vacated by the Citizen Times newsroom.

The Citizen Times itself reports that Moog Music President Joe Richardson said that the move places the company closer to the city centre, “where so much creativity and musical expression lives.” He also shared his hope that Moog Music will be able to collaborate with Citizen Vinyl, which has the first floor offices in the O’Henry Avenue building.

The move follows the acquisition of Moog Music by InMusic - home to brands such as Akai Pro, Alesis, M-Audio, Denon, Numark and Rane - in June 2023. In September 2023, it was reported that a number of Moog Music staff were laid off.

Discussing these changes, Richardson told News 13 in an interview on 15 March 2024: "With any transition like this, where there is an acquisition, there's a number of roles that become redundant or roles that already existed in the organisation. The workforce had to be rationalised to reflect this new consolidation business model.”

Of the company’s location change, Richardson added: "There was a period of time where we had to rationalise our assortment of products, identify where the most appropriate place to built those [sic] and where the expertise is most required.”

Richardson also says that Moog Music will be expanding its manufacturing facility in Weaverville, a town that sits around nine miles north of Asheville, and that it hopes to take on more staff there. The current Broadway St headquarters are now available for lease.

Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now is rippling with groove, particularly in the bassline, but would Snarky Puppy keyboard player Justin Stanton be able to capture any of that - or add some special sauce of his own - when he was asked to jam along to just the vocals and drums of the song, having never heard the finished version before?

This was the question posed by Pianote and, perhaps unsurprisingly, given his jazz predilections, Stanton’s version ended up sounding rather different to the original, particularly in terms of harmonic structure. The pre-chorus, in particular, is taken to another place entirely.

That said, on hearing the stripped-back version of the song for the first time, Stanton does immediately recognise that a funky low end is a no-brainer. “This definitely needs Moog bass,” he says, as he jumps on his Little Phatty to provide it.

There’s some hefty Prophet-5 and Nord Stage work here, too, particularly when Stanton is asked to solo over the entire track.

When the big reveal comes, and he’s played the full arrangement of the original, the decidedly un-snarky and actually very friendly pup and laughs as he realises that it’s rather different to what he’s come up with. “I got the bass slide!” he chuckles, celebrating one of the two versions’ similarities.

Interestingly, although it sounds like it was recorded on a bass guitar, the bassline on the original was actually created 'synthetically', too. “It’s MIDI, don’t get mad at me!” producer Ian Kirkpatrick explained in 2020. “But it’s programmed responsibly, so people can actually play it. It’s meant to sound real and it might as well be. If I could play bass like that, I would!”

“In certain ways it was sort of close,” Stanton concludes when discussing his take on the song, but “not even close, harmonically," which is possibly an understatement.

“I like the track as is but I also like what we did with it, too,” he adds, and we’d go along with that.

The Bob Moog Foundation is planning the first complete public broadcast of the Abominatron Tape, a recording made by Bob Moog that captures the synth pioneer explaining the controls, parameters and capabilities of an early Moog Modular prototype for the very first time. 

Bob Moog made the 84-minute recording to send to friend and collaborator Herb Deutsch in 1964, who later donated it to the Bob Moog Foundation Archives in 2009. The tape has since been restored and transferred to a digital format. 

The Abominatron was the name given by Moog to his first prototype of the Moog Modular, the first commercially available synthesizer and a historic instrument that established the foundations of analogue synthesis as we know it. 

The instrument was based around a modular design made up of two voltage-controlled oscillators, a voltage-controlled amplifier, an envelope generator and a keyboard. In the recording, Moog jokingly refers to his invention as the "Abominatron", telling Deutsch, "Before I begin to show you the modular components that I’m gonna send you, Herb, I thought I’d play a little bit on the Abominatron here. 

"Doesn’t sound like much when I play it," he continues. "Maybe someone with more musicianship and imagination can get some good things out of it."

The tape will be aired during The Sounds of Innovation, an event taking place at the Moogseum in Asheville, North Carolina, on March 29th. There are only 20 tickets available. 

The event will also feature an introductory reading by Executive Director Michelle Moog-Koussa from Bob’s biography Switched On: Bob Moog and the Synthesizer Revolution.

Find out more on the Bob Moog Foundation's website.

Moog Mariana: What is it?

Whether you know it or not, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that you’ll have heard a Moog synth playing a bass sound somewhere on a recording at some stage in your listening life. From modulars to Sub Phatty, via the Minimoog and the legendary Taurus bass pedals, it’s clear Moog has synth-bass form. 

Moog’s latest release stays in the software domain, while also encouraging us to stay in a bass register. Mariana is capable of providing that legendary Moog sound at a sensible price, but we’re intrigued to know how it differs from its previous softsynth outings. 

Moog Mariana: Performance and verdict

At first sight, the control panel is unmistakably Moog; the pots glisten, appearing three dimensional on a flat screen. It’s also uncluttered, which is largely because the synth’s panel is laid out across five pages. These pages break down sensibly, forming two synth layers.

We’ll begin with the layer called Synth 1; our sound starts with a dual oscillator, through five traditional subtractive waveforms. Once you select a waveform, this is shared across both elements of the dual oscillator, with independent tuning control for each. Oscillator 2 can be set at the same pitch, or one/two octaves above, but with hard tuning up to a perfect 5th above or below your triggered note, you can pretty much set the oscillator pitch wherever you want. The shared nature of the waveform might feel restricting, but the Duty Cycle control provides a form of pulse width modulation, across all chosen wave types.

It doesn’t end there though, because a further sub oscillator is also onboard, switchable in octave range only, but offering a sine, saw or square wave, along with a phase pot, to alleviate phase cancellation issues.

All of these source components are blended at the Synth 1 layer level, using the mixer, which also provides a level pot for noise. This occurs before moving on to the incredibly comprehensive filter section, which is comprised of three independent sections; low-pass, high-pass and sub filter. All three have resonance and envelope modulation control, while the sub filter is switchable between high, low and band-pass modes. Unsurprisingly, the filters sound exceptionally good, with true Moog colour. The band-pass is a particular favourite, with its wispy quality, which is ideal for those classic reduced band-width bass parts.

Alongside the Synth 1 layer, the Control 1 Layer has plenty of modulation sources, which include three individual LFOs, each syncable and with a phase control, and three envelopes. Two of these ADSR envelopes are hooked directly to the amplifier and filter sections, while the third envelope offers five stages, with an additional delay trigger. You’ll also find two random generators, with sync and slew.

This compendium is pretty complete, but as Mariana offers a second Synth and Control layer, you do have to double the capacity for sonic creation, with two of everything. This means that there’s a ton of tonal options for a monophonic synth (which can also be switched to a duophonic mode) but also that there are several layers to compete with when editing.

Modulation and more

The undeniable Moog sound presented by Mariana is pretty exceptional, but providing a fixed timbre is only half the story. Alongside the traditional modulation control, within each control layer,  there are a host of other options. The Modulation page opens to reveal assignable sources from all over the synth, with full detailing at each level, as a pop-up window gives access to the modulation settings for each source and destination. It’s beautifully engineered onscreen, and a useful method for controlling elements such as the filter cutoff controls, from a single source such as the modulation wheel. 

Meanwhile, MIDI CC Mapping can also be applied as required. One of the more exciting prospects is its ability to apply virtual CV (control voltage) connections. If you have any of the Moogerfooger software effects pedals, you can instantly engage this element, as the Moogerfoogers can trigger elements such as LFO or envelopes, and vice versa.

Verdict

The final page which ties everything together is the Output page. The central Summing mixer blends the signals, applying compression and effects too, with the effects added at the synth layer level.

Finish all of this off with an Animoog-style keyboard and you have the most fantastic-sounding Moog package, which can provide a ton of synth bass detail, and a lot of other synth lines too, if you play that little bit higher.

MusicRadar verdict: This is Moog and far more, thanks to its substantial subtractive hierarchy and modulation options.

Moog Mariana: The web says

"Mariana might not be exactly what you expect from Moog… There are plenty of authentic sounding Minimoog emulations already out there, so it’s nice that Moog has built a synth with that desirable Moog flavour with a slightly different, contemporary sound."
MusicTech

Moog Mariana: Hands-on demos

Moog Music Inc

Molten Music Technology

Starsky Carr

Plugin Boutique

Moog Mariana: Specifications

• macOS 11.7 Intel Core i7 2.5GHz or Apple Silicon or newer, standalone and plugin formats VST3, AudioUnits, and Pro Tools AAX.
• Windows 10 64-bit Intel Core i7 2.5GHz systems or newer, standalone and plugin formats VST3, and Pro Tools AAX.
• CONTACT: Moog

The whole Blue Monday thing - as in the third Monday of January being scientifically the most dismal day of the year - may be hokum cooked up by an ingenious travel company's PR arm, but let's face it, it rings depressingly true. That must be at least partly thanks to the catchy name - a label with traction only because of one of the most important and influential tracks ever produced.

It seems the track was a practical solution to a gigging problem. "We didn't play encores," recalled New Order's Bernard Sumner in 2012, "and we were getting into a lot of trouble over it. 

"Rather naively, we thought we'd write a song that could be played by machines and all we'd have to do was press the button. They'd get what they wanted and we'd get what we wanted. 

"It was an exploration into pure electronic music, so we took the machines to the limit to see what we could do with them. What we could do with them was very basic at the time, so it was making the most out of what little gear we had.

While we respectfully disagree, Sumner puts the track's longevity down to subsonic, rather than songwriting: "It's not really a song. It's more of a machine that sounds good on club systems. 

"I was doing some work with 52nd Street, a Manchester group on Factory Records, kind of funk music, and I was doing some keyboard effects with them. I was going to a lot of clubs with them, clubs I wouldn't normally go to and listening to the sound systems in clubs, the sub-bass frequencies.

"It never occurred to me to listen to that frequency when I was in Joy Division. We never used bass bass really, because Hooky's bass was all middle. We never used bottom end. 

"So we went to a club that had a fantastic sound system with all this sub-bass, and we used that knowledge on Blue Monday. There was a lot of trickery going on that you don't realise. It's not just the bass, there's quite a lot of subsonic."

Below, you can check out an unusually chipper Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner giving a chirpy briefing on the machines behind Blue Monday, including the pivotal Oberheim DMX - "imagine a little fella with eight arms in there, playing all these things" - and Bernard's Prophet 5 - "a very old-fashioned type of synthesizer" - before performing the track on Dutch pop show countdown in 1983.

As most of you will surely know, New Order were created by the surviving members of Joy Division after that band’s frontman, Ian Curtis, took his own life in 1980.

Bassist Peter Hook, guitarist Bernard Sumner, and drummer Stephen Morris had - along with Curtis - vowed not to use the name Joy Division should any member of that band depart, so the remaining trio assumed a new moniker and added a new member, Morris’ girlfriend Gillian Gilbert, on keys and second guitar.

Sumner was assigned vocal duties on the basis that he could comfortably alternate between singing and playing his guitar.

The band’s first single, Ceremony, was composed during the final days of Joy Division and carries on that band’s post-punk style, as did the band’s first album of newly-penned songs.

However, a trip to New York introduced the band to new dance music, including Italian disco. Electronics and dance elements began to play increasingly prominent roles with each successive release.

Blue Monday itself quite literally originated in the club scene. The band’s label opened the now-legendary Haçienda in 1982. The opening night saw New Order play a lengthy number that included elements that would later be recycled in their biggest hit.

Recorded in 1982, Blue Monday was propelled by a stomping kick drum from an Oberheim DMX drum machine, an out-of-sync sequencer line, and choirs (allegedly) sampled from a Kraftwerk album. A distinctive Moog Source bass snakes through the disparate elements. Sumner’s purposely pallid croon drapes it all in a sepulchral shroud.

Not that the listeners were paying attention to the lyrics - they were too busy dancing. It sold like mad, going on to become the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time. 

In something of an ironic twist, the expense of producing Peter Saville’s artful packaging meant that it actually lost money each time a copy was sold. Needless to say, Blue Monday was eventually re-issued with a slightly more conservative sleeve...

Build the bassline

Step 1: It’s fitting that a single that would shape the future of music would be made with an instrument that could charitably be referred to as “space age” in appearance! Moog’s The Source was a garish delight in silver, orange and blue. Luckily, it sounded better than it looked. We’ll be using u-he’s BazilleCM to recreate this legendary bass sound.

Step 2: First, we’ll disconnect Osc 1’s Output cable from Out 1, and insert it instead into the top-left Filter Input. We’ll patch Osc 2’s Output to the other Filter Input. The Filter’s LP24 Output will now go to the Out 1 jack previously occupied by Osc 1. Next, we’ll route a cable from Env 2’s Output to the Filter’s lower-left Input.

Step 3: Go to the FX: Delay section and deactivate the delay effect. Let’s start shaping the sound. Set Osc 1’s Modify knob to -2.00 and Osc 1’s Modify knob to 2.00. Find Osc 2’s Waveform menu (it says Saw) and turn the knob above it fully clockwise. Now, nudge Osc 1’s Phase knob up to around 9.00.

Step 4: Our sound is pretty burly at this point, but lacks any sort of shape. Go to Env 1 (it controls the amplitude). Set the Decay and Sustain sliders fully up. Set Release to about 23.00. Now let’s go to the Filter. We’ll set the Cutoff knob to around 42.00. Our sound is now all but inaudible. Don’t panic! That’s where Env 2 comes in.

Step 5: To get Env 2 in on the action, we’ll need to shove the Filter’s lower-left knob up to a value of around 96. This is the knob controlling the amount of modulation coming from Env 2. While we’re in the Filter, we’ll nudge the Res knob up to about 26.00 for some of the ‘squelch’ we hear in the original patch.

Step 6: The sound still isn’t quite there – we need to see to Env 2. The Attack is OK at nil. The Decay should be pushed up to about 22.00. The Sustain slider should be set to around 33.00, and the Release should be at around 29.00. This gives us a close approximation of New Order’s Moog patch, but feel free to tweak it further!

Ever thought you could unbox a Theremin and be able to get anything resembling music out of it straight away? Turns out merely flailing your hands around isn't a pleasant listening experience for those around you.

Luckily, the new Theremin Etherwave from Moog features CV outputs, so you can put this expressive instrument to work with your modular set-up. However, should you also have the new Mavis, a DFAM and a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone knocking around, then you could be in for some rudimentary techno.

In this set up we have the Pitch CV hooked up to the 1-2 FM Amount on DFAM, but throughout the course of the demo we switch things up by experimenting with controlling the VCF Decay, VCO Decay and VCO 1 CV.

With Mavis, we kept things even simpler by hooking up the Volume CV from the Theremin to the little monosynth's Cutoff input.

As for the cactus, well it's mandatory to have a succulent present within any synth jam, as you well know, but in this instance we needed some extra conductive material to act as a Hold function on our Volume antenna.

No where have I seen that before?

Using a Theremin to control other synths is nothing new, with the likes of French musician, Mezerg, making it a mainstay of his setup for a few years now. We'll let him show you how it's really done.

While the Theremin is the undisputed king in capacitive sensor control, expressive gesticular control in music gear is nothing new... D-Beam anyone? 

Roland first added the infrared-controlled D-Beam to its MC-505 groovebox and JX-305 keyboard in 1998 and can still be spotted on the FA workstations and V-Combo keyboards today.

But if you prefer your light controllers a little more visible then lest we forget Beamz by Flo Rida...

"Why bother with all this hands-free control when a good ol' fashioned rotary can do just as well?" We hear you say. Surely we can all agree that throwing shapes whilst performing is only natural (we've all been there) and why not put those pumping techno-fists to good use by dancing in front of a Theremin?

Mavis is Moog Inc.'s latest addition to the Werkstatt family and as such comes as a DIY kit. Now, the idea of assembling a synth before being able to play the thing might be a turn-off for some, but fear not, no previous experience of electronics is necessary here.

In fact, for the DIY-savvy synth-lovers among you, building Mavis may feel a little beneath you – it's that easy.

On unboxing its various parts, it is just a case of assembling the pre-soldered PCB with the chassis and fiddling about with some very small screws.

In the video above, we manage to do the job in a little over 12 minutes and if you take away the bit where we're babbling away to the camera, you could probably get it done in more like 10 minutes. Which, we think it's fair to say, isn't too unreasonable a task.

Let's werk

It all began with the Werkstatt-01 – actually, it started a little while earlier with Bob Moog's first product being a Theremin supplied as a kit – but the Werkstatt-01 carried on Bob's original DIY ethos as it first made an appearance Moogfest '14 as the star of the Engineering VIP workshop, where attendees could build their Werkstatt from scratch. 

The production model, however, was a little easier to assemble and laid down the blueprints which Mavis has followed.

Quick jam

Of course, you'll want to hear what it sounds like. Now, as we mention in the following video, it would be rude of us not to have Mavis play with some of its stablemates in the form of the new Etherwave Theremin, alongside DFAM and with a little help from the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone.

This is by no means an exhaustive demonstration of Mavis's capabilities, but a bit of fun that can be had using the Theremin as an expressive controller.

We don't blame you for wanting to buy one of the best beginner synthesizers. After all, is there any musical genre the synth hasn't touched in the past 60 years? It's hard to imagine life without their punchy basslines, ethereal pads and soaring leads.

After all, where's the fun in life without a chugging sequencer? Indeed, what is life without a Hi-NRG disco song or a hypnotic techno track enriching our evenings? And, how would we chill without some soft, calming ambient tones? Synths cover all the basses, not least, ahem, the bass.

The problem is they look so, well, complicated, particularly if you're a total beginner. All those buttons, dials, knobs, switches and flashing coloured lights – what if I don't speak nerd?

But you don't need to be intimidated by the apparent complexity to get started. It's actually very easy to learn the basics of synthesis, so whatever your chosen genre you'll be producing musical sounds within no time. It'll only take you about 15 minutes or less to sculpt your very own first patch, and you can always rely on the presets.

Secondly, you'll learn to love all those knobs and dials. Playing a synth is all about making constant adjustments to your sound, weaving in changes to make it evolve over time. It's one of the most expressive instruments you can get your hands on, so what's stopping you?

Ready to get started? Take you pick from our list of the best beginner synths and get knob twisting! We've got some useful buying advice further down the page if you want to learn more, too.

Best beginner synthesizers: Our top picks

If this were an awards ceremony, right about now as we break open the big gold envelope we'd be waffling on about the quality of the entries, how difficult it has been to decide on a winner and so on.

So, first some honourable mentions. The brand-new Sequential Take 5 is perfect if you're set on that iconic Dave Smith sound and the prestigious brand name. It's a similar story for the Moog Grandmother. Yamaha's Reface CS is a serious contender too, a fantastic beginner-friendly synth that's big enough to get your fingers around but small enough to take anywhere.

But there can only be one winner (OK, two). Korg's Volca Keys is a real blast for next to no outlay, and that's its true USP. What it lacks in features, it makes up for in character and the opportunities it gives you to have fun. Which is the whole point of making music. Want even more fun? Then link it up with other Volca models and really get your groove on. It's the biggest bang for your buck here.

At the other end of the price scale there's serious competition from the big brands, not least those mentioned above. Roland's venerable System 8 wins the day though. Its plugouts – Jupiter-8, Juno-106, JX-3P, SH-101 etc – let you bask in the warm glow of '80s nostalgia, yet its astounding internal sound engine is a modern classic. Nothing here matches it for versatility.

More than that, it's just so well designed and so intuitive to use, especially for beginners. We just hope you like the colour green.

Best beginner synthesizers: Product guide

It may be greener than a seasick Kermit on a cross-channel ferry in a Force 10 gale, and as plasticky as inflight cutlery, but the System 8 is one of the best synthesizers around. In fact, thanks to Roland's 'Plug-out' architecture, it's actually four synths in one.

There's the System 8 engine, plus three additional expansion 'slots' to host models of Roland classics such as the included Jupiter-8, Juno-106 and JX-3P. A growing library of other models are waiting to be downloaded from Roland Cloud too, such as the manic PROMARS and basstastic SH-101, and all have matching plugins for your DAW.

When Roland, ahem, greenlighted the System 8 back in 2016, internet forums lit up with dull posts bemoaning the fact it wasn't analog and endless debates arguing over how accurate the modelled sounds were. The truth is the plug-outs sound uncannily like the originals, almost exactly the same but in tune (there's even a condition setting that, if you so wish, remedies this by making it sound old and flaky).

Since then, musicians have begun to appreciate that there's much more to this synth than excellent recreations from Roland's back catalogue. The System 8 engine is an absolute stonker, a future classic in the making. It can do dark and menacing, it can be a brash bass demon, it can excite with soaring leads or calm with tender ambient textures.

All this is possible because the System 8 boasts multiple flavours of analog-style and digital oscillators, including FM. Then there's cross-modulation, side-band filters, a vocoder, an arpeggiator, a powerful sequencer and a handful of very useable effects.

As a newbie, you're probably thinking all this sounds a bit complicated for a beginner synth. You may also be looking at the front panel and, once your eyes have become accustomed to the green glow, thinking 'that's rather a lot of knobs and sliders'. Well, don't worry, this is an amazing synth to learn on.

The top panel may look crowded, but it is an absolute joy. The signal flow – the steps needed to build your sound – is laid out in a super-intuitive manner. You just have to follow the panel from left to right, knob-twiddling and slider sliding as you go. Why are there so many knobs and sliders? Well, there's no awkward menu diving with the System 8, everything's there in front of you. Which means it's fun to use and quick to learn.

Read the full Roland System 8 review

Korg's Volca series has been around for almost a decade now, and in that time has been responsible for introducing thousands to the delights of unbridled knob twiddling. If you're looking for battery-operated bliss, in the privacy of your own home or in public with other like-minded souls, then a Volca should jump to the top of your beginner synthesizer shopping list.

It's as much an ecosystem as it is a series. Currently seven little units – Volca Keys, Volca FM, Volca Bass, Volca Beats, Volca Kick, Volca Modular, Volca Nubass, Volca Sample, Volca Mix – that sound great on their own but are on another level when chained together. Here, we're concerned with the Volca Keys, but all are worthy of your attention.

The Volca Keys is a tiny, polyphonic analog synth with 27 ribbon keys and a loop sequencer. Not surprisingly, it's not the most fully-featured synth out there, nor is it the most comprehensive sound design instrument available today. Instead, it's an incredibly entertaining, inexpensive way to get into synthesis.

If it was a one-trick preset box, we'd probably discard it as a toy but fortunately the Volca keys follows standard subtractive synthesis convention and allows for plenty of hands-on control.

Getting to grips with the basics is simplicity itself. Twist the large voicing dial to choose how you want the Volca's three oscillators to be combined: Poly, Unison, Fifth, Unison Ring or Poly Ring. This will establish whether they are played in unison, de-tuned by a certain interval, have ring modulation applied and so on. It's a neat way of benignly limiting your options without curtailing your creativity.

You can then fine-tune other parameters with the smaller VCO (oscillator), VCF (filter), LFO and EG (amp envelope) knobs. Sprinkle on a dash of delay to taste and your sound design recipe is complete. It's that simple.

Just sixteen steps can be recorded to the sequencer, which doesn't sound a lot until you begin to use the overdub and active step functions. Overdub does what it says on the tin, while active step enables you to skip steps during playback for surprise rhythmic changes so that your performance can be more dynamic, less stale.

The Volca Keys sounds quite magnificent too, much bigger than its tiny form factor and insignificant price could ever suggest. Will you soon tire of it? On its own, it has its limitations, so the answer should be yes. But sync it up with a few of its siblings from the rest of the Volca family – Vocal Beats and Volca Bass for starters – and you've got a music making system that'll keep you fulfilled for years.

Read the full Korg Volca Keys review

Behringer often gets a bad rap for being unimaginative at best and at worst, well, ripping off other brand's ideas and repackaging them as its own at bargain basement prices. The DeepMind 12 goes a long way to dispel the first criticism, while still retaining its reputation for good value.

This is an all-original synth (OK, with Juno 106 leanings) that boasts a vast feature set. For well-under $1,000/£1,000/€1,000 you get an analog 12-voice polyphonic synthesizer with four effects engines, two oscillators and LFOs per voice, a 32-step sequencer, tablet remote control and built-in WiFi. It promises a lot and delivers on most of it.

The polyphony is the headline feature here. Voices can be stacked in a variety of ways from simple doubling to building a 12-voice monophonic monster, but it is a shame that the Deepmind isn't multi-timbral. Still, it's capable of some lush multi-voice sounds that most other synths in this price range just can't get near.

Then there's the dedicated Mod Matrix, where 22 modulation sources can be routed to more than 100 destinations, an arpeggiator with configurable pattern modes, the all-singing, all-dancing sequencer and very deep MIDI implementation.

What's not to like? Adjusting either oscillator is a little fussy, due to their slightly quirky operation but it's something that you'll quickly get used to. More troubling for beginners is that many of the DeepMind's features and parameters can only be adjusted by menu-diving. The front panel is easy enough to follow, but it's far from comprehensive and the central mono screen is just too small for the amount of information that Behringer crams in.

Still, if you consider the sheer breadth and quality of sounds that the Deepmind 12 can deliver, Behringer has done a great job here. Build quality is surprisingly solid for the money and there's a 3-year warranty for peace of mind.

Read the full Behringer Deepmind review

And now for something completely different. In many ways the OP1 isn't really the ideal instrument to learn synthesis on. There are just too many synth engines and too few immediate, hands-on controls. But a machine on which to learn to write and play synth and sample-based music? It's just fabulous.

The OP-1 is a portable synthesizer, sampler, 4-track recorder and controller. In short, it's a creative tour-de-force. Thirteen synth engines, seven quality effects and numerous routable LFOs are ready and waiting for lively experimentation. Chuck in a bucket load of samples, sequence the lot on the six – yes, count 'em – sequencers then record your masterpiece on the four-track virtual tape recorder. Overdub to your heart's content.

By limiting the OP-1's primary controls to just four brightly coloured encoders, the Swedish boffins at Teenage Engineering have developed a product that's fun, intuitive and non-technical to use. It's the old guiding principle of restricting complexity to maximise creativity.

You know what? That's selling the OP-1 a bit short because there're plenty of possibilities to explore here, it's just that the clever, if rather infantile-looking, interface never gets in the way. It looks like a toy but sounds like a pro-studio – one you can stuff in your back pocket.

Inspiring it may be, cheap it's not. Frustratingly, the OP-1 has almost doubled in price since its launch a decade ago, putting it beyond the reach of many. Teenage Engineering also has its pocket calculator inspired Pocket Operator series, which sells for pretty much pocket money. But unless you're just looking to dip your toe into the deep, warm waters of synthesis, they're a bit limited.

Another option is its inexpensive Pocket Operator Modular kits, which are a great way to learn modular, but potentially perplexing for complete beginners.

Read the full Teenage Engineering OP-1 review

The Reface series plucks Yamaha keyboards from the past and re-imagines them as inexpensive, portable slabs fit for today's budget-conscious musicians on the move. They're a favourite with music students – they're a perfect fit in the lecture hall as well as halls of residence – and home-studio enthusiasts looking for a slice of yesterday flavoured Yamaha.

The Reface CS is inspired by Yamaha's famous Control Series that first popped up in the 1970s and was a favourite of artists as diverse as Vangelis, Michael Jackson and Brian Eno.

What made the original CS unusual was polyphony, the ability to play multiple notes, voices really, at the same time. Most synths in the 70s, such as Moog's ground-breaking Model D, were monophonic, which meant you couldn't play true chords on them and smooth, expressive legato runs were limited.

True to the original, the Reface CS boasts eight voices, which is, ahem, noteworthy because although polyphony is now commonplace, at this price point most of its competition are still monophonic. Decades on, it's still a standout feature that elevates the CS to the next level.

Another lovely feature for beginners is the clear, easy-to-navigate panel, that's essentially a long row of sliders. You can select one of five oscillator types – Multi-saw, Pulse, Oscillator Sync, Ring Modulation and Frequency Modulation – before adjusting other parameters such as amp and filter envelopes, LFO and effects. The sliders are easy to adjust and give immediate visual feedback as to how your sound is shaping up, which is invaluable for noobs.

There's no menu diving and the feature-set is limited to what's needed to make musical sounds and little more, making sound design both fast and fun. Consequently, it's hard to conjure up anything but delicious, usable patches, which saves a lot of fruitless messing about for beginners. Sadly, there's no way to save patches directly to the Reface CS, which is an annoyance but at least you can save them to Yamaha's Soundmondo app even if it is a bit of a faff.

Like all Reface models, the keyboard is short at just three octaves. On the flipside, this is a synth you can take anywhere, play on your lap and stash away in a corner when not in use. Perfect, for tentative beginners with limited space but unlimited ambitions.

Read the full Yamaha Reface CS review

The SE-02 is part of Roland's Boutique range of diminutive synths that are, in the main, digitally modelled recreations of the brand's finest moments from the 1980s and 1990s.

This one's different though because it's analog and, somewhat bizarrely for Roland, based on a tweaked Moog Model D. Who saw that coming?

This tiny machine sounds enormous – a sonic whopper that properly surprises us every time we switch it on. It's monophonic but it has everything else you could want in a beginner synth package.

The front panel is fairly faithful to the original Model D, which is a good thing because Dr Moog got the ergonomics pretty much spot on back in the early 70s. Working from left to right you'll set up your oscillators before moving across to the mixer, filter and amp envelopes, LFO and delay. The obvious additions are the cross-modulation controls and the sequencer, which is an absolute gem.

It only stores 16 steps in a pattern, but it has a song mode which enables you to chain 16 of your patterns together. Composing a bass part, made up of several patterns, for an entire song is not only fabulously entertaining, it's a very worthwhile learning experience. Hit the start button and you and your mates can jam along, and/or you can trigger and advance the SE-02's sequencer with connected drum machines or other synths.

There's enough memory to store 16 songs, 128 patterns and 128 patches (plus 384 preset patches).

The SE-02 lends itself to basslines but it's no one-trick pony. Judicious detuning of the oscillators to thicken up the sound will take you into pad territory, and its various sawtooth waveforms are a fast shortcut to searing leads – a quick search on YouTube will reveal just how versatile this little machine is.

And, it is little. Very little, which means that the knobs can be hard to access if your parents cursed you with big, chubby fingers. Fine-tuning some of the settings can be problematic because twisting a small dial can provoke a big change, and it's easy to knock other settings while you're there.

Still, it's a very portable little beast, and we'd recommend buying the K-25m mini keys as a bundle. Like all mini keys they can be frustrating to use, but they do complete a minimalist portable setup.

If you can't stretch to the Roland SE-02 then consider Behringer's very similar Model D. It's quite a bit cheaper but its feature set is more limited – we think the SE-02's sequencer alone is worth the premium.

Read the full Roland Boutique SE-02 review

No doubt the Moog name (mooog, mogue, moch?) will be familiar to every beginner synth explorer, it's one of the most famous brands in music and many musicians still dream of owning a vintage 70s model, which have now reached stratospheric prices.

The company has gone through many changes over the years, and sadly its visionary founder Dr Bob Moog is no longer with us, but its products can still claim direct lineage with those classics from the 70s.

This is significant, because arguably Moog developed the first beginner synth. Before that, the company was producing a modular behemoth that cost an arm and a leg and was so complex few people other than Wendy Carlos really understood how to get anything musical from it.

Moog engineer Bill Hemsath noticed that despite the vast sonic choices that the company's modular synth offered, most musicians kept coming back to the same few simple components and routings – essentially a couple of oscillators, an LFO, a mixer plus amp and filter envelopes.

So, he built a much-simplified small wooden box that featured everything a non-technically minded musician would need and nothing else, its front panel laid out in a super-intuitive way. Moog named it the Model D, and it sold like hotcakes for the rest of the decade. It's no exaggeration to claim that it influenced the design of pretty much every non-modular synth since, including the Grandmother.

The curious name? It follows the Moog's recent maternal naming convention that tips a hat to the brand's vintage monosynths being the 'mother of all synths'. Current lines include the less expensive Mother-32 module and the feature-rich Matriarch.

Appropriately enough, this little synth retains the enduring Moog sound that we've all come to love. That character is largely defined by the oscillators and filter, which are based on the same circuits found in vintage Moog gear. It also preserves a similar, logical top panel layout, which makes it easy to navigate through the initially bewildering process of sound creation.

Where it differs is that the Grandmother is semi-modular, which means that the front panel can be reconfigured by patching the inputs of one section into the outputs of another and vice-versa. You can even patch external modules too, and build a system that rivals Moog's original modular synth for sonic complexity.

Yikes! Isn't that overkill for a beginner? Well, in some ways it goes against the elegant simplicity that was a of the hallmark of the Model D. But really it just augments that simplicity with choice.

Thankfully, you can learn and play the Grandmother without touching a patch cable, but that extra versatility will always be there when you're ready. This makes the Grandmother an ideal starting point to learn basic synthesis, before going on to master modular synthesis too.

In an effort to make learning even more accessible, Moog has colour-coded the various sections in bright yellow, blue, green and pink. After initial reservations (horror, tbh), this colour combination has grown on us, and we now think it looks rather cool in a retro Fisher-Price way. If you remain unconvinced, the Grandmother is also available in an all-black Dark Series version.

Read the full Moog Grandmother review

The Korg Minilogue XD has everything a beginner could need in a compact synth and then some. Essentially, Korg has taken the original Minilogue, which is also a fantastic starter synth, and shoehorned in a lot of the features from its flagship analog synth the Prologue.

Build quality is reassuringly robust. The metal case feels sturdy enough, as do the metal-shafted pots, and the classy wooden rear panel is a lovely touch. Like many Korg synths, the Minilogue XD features a SlimKey keybed, which doesn't get us leaping up and down with excitement, but it plays well enough and keeps the unit's size manageable.

All the usual controls can be found on the smart top panel. Two VCOs (oscillators), mixer, filter, an amp envelope generator, a second assignable envelope generator, LFO and a range of digital effects. There's a dedicated portamento control and a step sequencer that supports step recording, real time recording and motion recording.

Korg has done a great job with the top panel ergonomics on the Minilogue XD. It's a synth that's a joy to play fluidly without having to menu-dive every few seconds, always a creativity killer.

Like the original Minilogue the XD has four analog voices, which is half the number of the Prologue but then its less than half the cost. These can be voiced as standard poly, unison for stacked detuned notes, chord mode and arpeggiator mode, which includes 13 different types from manual to random.

So far, so good, but it gets better, much better. The XD has inherited the Prologue's Multi-engine, which is used in place of a third standard oscillator. This expands the XD's sound almost infinitely, adding a noise generator and custom engines including wavetable and FM. You can even develop and load your own custom oscillators into 16 user slots. Incredibly, the Multi-engine can be combined with the two analog oscillators for adventurous sound design possibilities that respect no boundaries.

OK, perhaps this is overkill for a beginner synth, but you won't remain a noob forever. The Minilogue XD is a synth that has the power to stoke your ambition for years to come.

Read the full Korg Minilogue XD review

Like Moog, Sequential is a legendary brand famous for making very desirable analog synths that deservedly command premium prices. Since the 1970s, it too has enjoyed, and at times endured, a very convoluted history, including the recent acquisition by Focusrite, but thanks to the genius of founder Dave Smith it's still flourishing.

With many of its synths typically commanding prices of $1,700/£1,700/€1,700 and up, Dave wasn't known for making beginners' instruments. Until now.

The brand-new Take 5 has been specially developed for novices and gigging musicians who want that iconic Sequential sound in a compact, relatively affordable package. As Dave put's it: "Whether it’s your first synth, your gigging synth, or just the right synth to fit your studio space, we think you’re going to love it. Yes, it’s compact, but it’s pure Sequential and it sounds huge."

Dave's only partly right. At 25 inches (63.5cm) wide, it's not that compact. Manageable, yes but it's not compact like a Roland SE-02, an OP-1 or a Korg Volca. That's no bad thing though, because it leaves plenty of space for a 3.5 octave keyboard and a generous control panel.

It's not that cheap either. At $1,100/£1,100/€1,100 we imagine it's still at the top end of most beginners' budgets.

The control panel is beautifully thought out, with dials and buttons for almost everything, including a huge filter knob that takes pride of place just off centre. There's no call for menu-diving, everything's to hand.

As the name suggests, the Take 5 is a five-voice synth that gets its Sequential character from two analog oscillators and a sub oscillator passing through a Prophet-5 style four pole analog filter. A vintage knob adds further character by introducing parameter variations from one voice to the next – essentially it mimics the tuning instability inherent in 70s analog gear that provided additional depth and warmth. Modern circuitry can sound a bit sterile, so here you can dial some flaws back in!

You get two LFOs, one global and one per voice, two assignable envelopes, a quiver of digital effects, a gorgeously gritty overdrive plus continuously variable wave shaping and basic FM behaviour.

The 64-step sequencer is fairly basic, but it's very easy to use and provided you've left yourself with enough voices you can jam along with it.

There's nothing to dislike about the Take 5, quite the contrary. It's a beautifully thought-out synth at a price point rarely visited by Sequential. There are other synths out there that give you more features for less money, but none will have that characterful Sequential sound. If that's important to you then the Take 5 is a bit of a bargain.

Hmm, is the Minibrute 2 really a synth suitable for beginners? If you look at the price, then we believe the Minibrute 2 qualifies. If you look at the features and the complexity of the top panel, that 48 CV patchbay in particular, then there has to be a caveat. The Minibrute 2 is an excellent synth for those looking for a gateway into the world of modular synthesis.

If you already know the basics, but modular is still an intriguing mystery to you, then the MiniBrute 2 could just be your first-class ticket to a new sonic universe worthy of exploration.

This is an unusual synth. Forgetting the patchbay for a minute, initially the top panel looks unremarkable enough. There are sections for two oscillators, mixer, filter, amp, envelopes and so on. But almost immediately it gets interesting because the primary oscillator's waveforms can be output simultaneously and blended via the mixer. The wave types also have a modifier control for more intricate shaping, there's the mayhem-inducing 'Brute Factor' drive knob and so it goes on.

Apparently, Arturia's goal with the Minibrute 2 is to enhance the sonic possibilities available to musicians, 'to sweep aside conventions and preconceptions in terms of what a synth should be'. Nobody can accuse them of pursuing this in a half-hearted manner!

Back to the patchbay and with skill, judgement and experience, or just good old-fashioned potluck, you can start to re-route this little synth's default signal flow for almost endless sound design opportunities. Once you've exhausted these possibilities you can connect it to other modular gear and continue to tinker, dabble and finesse.

It was always Arturia's intention that the Minibrute 2 would be the creative glue that bridged the gap between the traditional synth world and the modular scene. It sees this strange little synth as the catalyst that quite literally sits at the heart of your modular setup. Only you'll know when you're ready…

Read the full Arturia Minibrute 2 review

Best beginner synthesizers: Buying advice

What to look for in the best beginner synthesizer

Let's make some basic assumptions. First, you probably don't want to spend more than $1,500/£1,500/€1,500, hopefully significantly less. You do want to learn synthesis – the art of sculpting sound – but you'd like this process to be as fast, rewarding and as simple as possible.

You may be in a band that regularly gigs, but equally you may just want a synth for your home studio. Finally, you'd like your relationship with it to last well after you've lost your synth virginity – it's unlikely you'll stay loyal to your first synthetic love, but it should still excite you for years to come.

Synthesis can be very straightforward, but it can also get very complicated very quickly. You've probably heard of the various types of synthesis that exist including subtractive, additive, wavetable and FM. For example, some synths, such as the Korg opsix, are labelled as FM synths while others such as the Roland SE-02 are subtractive.

Ultimately, it's your choice, but we strongly recommend you start your learning experience on a subtractive synth. The process is very intuitive and knowing the basics will serve you well should you move on to the other types. The most complex one to learn is FM, but it does yield some gorgeous bell-like and metallic tones.

Analog vs digital synths

You may also have heard or read discussions about analog vs digital. In a nutshell, most subtractive synths are analog, or imitate analog behaviour, while wavetable, FM and additive tend to be digital. Very broadly speaking, analog synths ruled the 70s and early 80s before a digital wave swept them away in the mid-80s. In the past couple of decades there has been a resurgence of interest in analog synths that borders snobbery – just like valve amps vs digital in the guitar world. Some regard analog as warm and organic sounding, while digital is clean and clinical. In our opinion a decent synth – digital or analog – can cover the same ground equally well, but may be weighted one way or the other.

To complicate matters further, digital modelling is now so good that it can accurately imitate analog behaviour, giving rise to marketing phrases such as virtual analogue (Yamaha) and Analog Circuit Behaviour (Roland).

So, which is better? FM and analog sound so different it just boils down to your intention. Analog vs modelled analog? In our opinion it's almost impossible to tell the difference without looking at the price tag, which is usually higher for true analog. All of the synths in this guide are subtractive, but there's a mix of analog and digital analog modelling. They all sound good.

Subtractive explained 

Subtractive synthesis works on the principle of a harmonically rich sound source being sculpted into a target sound by skilfully removing some of its harmonics. It's a bit like a statue hewn from a solid block of marble. Every chip of stone that's removed brings the sculptor closer to revealing a piece of art.

The harmonically rich sound source is generated by an oscillator, which in the analog world is often referred to as a voltage controlled oscillator or VCO because its frequency is controlled by a voltage input.

Oscillators produce simple waveforms such as square waves, triangles and sawtooths, each with different sonic characteristics. For example, a pure sine wave has no harmonics, which makes it sound smooth and mellow. A sawtooth has a large number of harmonics, so it's buzzy and aggressive, while a triangle wave falls somewhere between the two.

Many sounds can be made with a single oscillator, but most synths will combine two or more in a mixer to provide an even richer sound source. The more the merrier.

After the source has been mixed, filters are employed to remove some of those harmonics to sculpt a sound's timbre – its tonal colour/quality. A lowpass filter can remove the high end and a high pass filter can remove the low end, while a resonance filter can be used to add emphasis or boost a narrow frequency range.

Filters can be modulated – changed over time – with an ADSR envelope. This controls the filter's attack, decay, sustain and release or, in other words, how quickly the filter opens, remains open and then closes.

Similarly, the sound's amplitude or volume is commonly modulated with an ADSR envelope too. Consider a plucked string. The onset of the note – the attack – is very sudden but the decay, sustain and release – the way in which the note dies off – happens more slowly. A bowed string also has a relatively long decay, sustain and release but it also has a much slower attack. The sound builds up more gradually as the bow is drawn across the string. These characteristics can be shaped with envelopes.

Most synths also feature at least one Low Frequency Oscillator or LFO as a modulator. This is an oscillator that operates very slowly, usually below the range of human hearing, but its wave shape can be used to modulate other parameters. For example, modulating the pitch of a sound by applying an LFO to an oscillator will produce a vibrato effect. Modulating the amplitude will produce a tremolo effect.

Lastly, many synths will have at least one effect, such as reverb, delay or chorus that can be applied to your sound to thicken it and give it more character. Of course, you can rely on outboard effects boxes to do this for you but that means more expense, more cables and more setup. Onboard effects are more convenient.

Ideally, you'll want to be able to access your synth's oscillators, mixer, filter, amp, envelopes, LFO and effects from the top panel, otherwise sound design quickly becomes a very long-winded, frustrating affair that involves lots of menu diving.

Synths are a hands-on instrument 

Watch any good pianist and they'll be shaping sound by damping the notes with the pedals and striking the keys harder or more softly to reveal different dynamics throughout the piece. There's more to it than just hitting the right notes, but they're limited with the controls they have to hand and foot.

Synth players don't face such restrictions because they have a wealth of controls at their disposal, or at least they should have. When choosing a beginner synth don't be deterred by a top panel full of knobs, dials, sliders and buttons. In fact, seek out a synth with as many physical controls as possible, provided they're laid out in a logical order. When performing, the last thing you want to be thinking about is which hidden menu you need to access in order to change a simple parameter.

Just like the pianist, or any other musician for that matter, a good synth player will constantly be updating and adjusting parameters to bring movement and dynamics to a performance.

But how do you do this when your hands are busy tapping out a complex bassline? You use your synth's arpeggiator and sequencer, invaluable tools for the beginner and great fun to use.

An arpeggiator will play a series of notes, usually a chord, in a pre-determined sequence. A key hold button will continue to trigger the arpeggiator when you release the key. Sequencers have a similar role but can play more complex patterns and those patterns can sometimes be chained together to form a complete song.

Both enable you to remove your hands from the keyboard to play with the parameters on the top panel. Clearly, this is useful for performance, but it's also really handy when you're trying to design a new sound from scratch. Instead of hitting a key, altering a parameter, then hitting the key again to hear the effect, you can program the sequencer to play a pattern for you so that you can hear the changes in real time.

To recap, to make your life easier choose a synth with a comprehensive top panel, an arpeggiator and a sequencer.

Voices and timbrality 

Polyphony governs the number of notes, or voices, that a synth can play at any one time. Monophonic synths can only play one note at a time, while polyphonic synths can play two or more. Traditionally, monophonic synths, like the Moog Model D, were expensive but polyphonic synths were ruinously expensive. Today, this still holds true in that an eight-voice synth will generally be more costly to buy than a four-voice synth.

Naturally, monophonic synths are a good choice for basslines and polyphonic synths are a better choice for legato runs and chords. However, multiple oscillator monophonic synths can still sound absolutely huge if their oscillators are detuned either slightly or in fifths and thirds to make chords. If your budget will stretch to it buy a synth with as many voices as possible, but if not you can still develop some incredible sounds with a single voice.

A multi-timbral synth will not only have multiple voices but it will be able to play more than one type of sound or timbre at the same time. So, a bass line and a lead line can be played simultaneously on a split keyboard. It's even possible to play a drum part, a bass line, a pad and a lead on a multi-timbral synth paired with a powerful sequencer.

What connections can I expect my beginner synth to have?

Peer around the back of a synth and you should find a healthy number of connection ports. The critical ones for modern synths are power, headphone out, sound out (synths rarely have speakers), MIDI in/out and USB. Nice ones to have include CV/Gate, expression pedal input, trigger, and audio input.

USB will obviously enable you to connect a synth to your computer, perhaps just for updates but hopefully it will carry MIDI information and audio too. Some synths, such as the Roland System 8, have a partner software plugin that behaves exactly like the hardware but in your DAW. Once the synth is connected over USB it acts as a control surface and patches can be exchanged and backed-up between hardware and software versions. This is a marvellous learning environment for beginners.

MIDI will enable your synth to communicate with drum machines, sequencers and a whole plethora of other kit.

Why not just use VST/AU? 

Why spend all this money on a piece of hardware when surely a software plugin is so much more convenient?

Hardware synths fell sharply out of fashion when musicians started making music on their computers, only to bounce back just a few years later. Today, hardware couldn't be more popular, despite the high quality and obvious advantages of softsynths.

Why? Playing a hardware synth is an immediate, tactile experience that demands you get stuck in with those knobs and dials. They're just more fun! We go into more depth on the hardware synth vs software synth debate here.

Find out more about how we test music gear and services at MusicRadar.

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What is it?

Bundle reviews are rare for us, but Moog’s new Sound Studio sets are a little different. Each kit packs two instruments from the company’s semi-modular Mother range with everything you need to start, from a stand and cables to guides and games. In Moog’s words, “just add headphones”.

The Sound Studio bundles come in two varieties, both contain a DFAM percussion synth, paired with either a Mother-32 or the more recent Subharmonicon. The Mother-32 is the more straightforward monosynth, while the Subharmonicon is geared to non-traditional harmonics and polyrhythmics, so is naturally more leftfield. Both bundles offer plenty of scope for experimentation and adventurous patching though.

The synths themselves come with the usual manuals and power supplies, but the bundles include a variety of accessories to help them work together. There are a pair of rack ends to create an angled two-tier stand, which comes with an attachable patch lead holder – a nice addition. There’s even a small phillips screwdriver included, to help you put it all together. 

The kits also come with a compact summing mixer, which doubles as a power hub for the two synths meaning they can be run from a single wall socket. The mixer actually has three power outputs, handy should you want to add a third ‘Mother’ to your setup in the future. Audio-wise there are four jack inputs, switchable between mono or stereo pair operation, and a mini-jack headphone out with volume control. It’s a shame not to have a master output separate from the headphone, but it’s hardly a dealbreaker.

Beyond this, each package comes with an assortment of extras ranging from aesthetically pleasing to educational. There are a pair of lovely illustrated posters, one of which doubles as instructions for building and connecting the kits as well as several colourful pop-out characters (with two under-fives at home, these disappeared from our desk within minutes).

Performance and verdict

Each kit comes with an excellent patch guide highlighting techniques for connecting and combining the two instruments. There’s also a neat dice game, housed in a fold-out cardboard recreation of the Moog factory, designed to get you experimenting with patch point connections. 

We tried these exercises with the DFAM/Subharmonicon bundle. While we were familiar with the former instrument, this was our first time using a Subharmonicon. The guided patches and games provided an excellent introduction, making it easy and fun to get up to speed with the workflow of the two instruments. While you could hardly describe these as ‘entry-level’ packages given the price and complexity, they would make an excellent step-up into the hardware or modular realms. 

The price is roughly in line with what you’d spend on instruments and accessories separately – and if you were to hunt for deals you might pick up the core elements cheaper. Considering the quality of the packages though, from the lovely art style to, more significantly, the excellent guides and exercises, these bundles are easy to recommend. 

MusicRadar verdict: Combining useful accessories and inspirational resources, this is a great showcase for the power and fun of Moog’s Mother range.

What the web says

"If the Moog vibe resonates with you then, of course, it’s worth it and because it’s been put together with such competence it’s unlikely anyone would be disappointed on opening the box. However, the premium feel and the more artsy and crafty creative elements won’t appeal to everyone and there are more cost-effective alternatives."
Gearnews

Hands-on demos

Moog Music

Molten Music Technology

Sweetwater

Specifications

• KEY FEATURES: Synthesizer bundles including two instruments, racks stand, summing mixer, cables and patch lead organiser, art print and patch guides. 
• PRICING: Mother 32 plus DFAM: $1,399, Subharmonicon plus DFAM: $1,449
• CONTACT: Moog Music

What is it?

Although this is a brand new synth from Moog, the name might be familiar to you. The Subharmonicon was available for a very short time at Moogfest 2018 and you had to build it yourself as part of the VIP engineering pass. The following two years have seen many call for a production run of this synth but no news has been released until now.

The Subharmonicon (or SubH as we shall now refer to it for the purposes of this review) is clearly designed as part of the Mother family of products, as it shares the same dimensions, aesthetics and even case design, so no surprises there, as a similar look was followed by the popular DFAM percussion synth.

There are some differences however as this is the first in the family to use a new button style. In this application, they are used in place of toggle switches for sequence-related options, where the previously seen toggles are in place elsewhere. The tiny rotary knobs that appeared on the DFAM are back, here to allow for control of sequence pitch and polyrhythm (more of which later) and while they are usable we can imagine some users will change these for a larger style, to ease precision setting. Other controls use familiar Moog knobs, with clear indicators for position.

Other similarities to the Mother family are the black faceplate and wooden end cheeks, as well as the expected 32-point 3.5mm patch bay. The big difference here is that the midi in is also a 3.5mm socket necessitating a jack to DIN converter. This was probably to provide space for other elements of the interface and Moog supplies the adapter, along with a number of patch cables.

Before we explore the actual synth it’s worth noting that if you are a packaging enthusiast you will not be disappointed. In typical Moog style, both box and manual are presented in brown cardboard/paper with a nice weight to it. Likewise are the ‘preset’ overlays that help you navigate the first few sounds, which are clearly marked with settings and locations for patch cables and these are to be appreciated, as this synthesiser is a little different to most others.

Euclidean Sequencing

The majority of people think of a sequence as running at equal step lengths, with any interest in rhythm being added with swing but there are a growing number of euclidean options. These divide the incoming clock/beat over time and often have multiple tracks or channels, which can run at different tempos and subdivisions of the master clock, making it a simple task to set up varied but controllable and precise polyrhythms. In Eurorack land using these different tracks as gates opens up a whole world for generative music. Already popular in trance and other electronic genres it looks set to make headway into more mainstream music as the tools become more intuitive. We can probably thank the steady rise of Eurorack popularity for this.

Performance and verdict

On to the important stuff then. What makes this a useful addition to the Mother family, indeed the Moog family? Well, it’s based on the work of electronic synthesist Friedrich Trautwein who was working in the 1920s. It’s all about the subharmonics of a waveform and it takes a little readjusting of what you normally think of with subtractive synthesis, as it is really about adding detail to a waveform. We’ll explain this by way of talking through a simple set up process.

There are two VCOs, each with that Moog sound and each with two sub oscillators. Rather than playing octaves below the main voice, these can be tuned in intervals, meaning you can trigger three-note chords. Set up appropriately, the SubH, using both VCOs can play six-note chords, is something not to be sniffed at.

These oscillators share two AD envelope generators, one each for the filter and amp and there is that lovely Moog filter with resonance and control for setting filter envelope amount.

The mixer section is simple, with rotary controls for each of the six voice’s volume and, while that may sound basic, once you start adjusting the mix during sequencing it becomes very powerful.

The sequencers are where the real power of the SubH lies. There are two four-step sequencers which might sound a little underwhelming but that kind of misses the point of this machine. Each of the three voices in a set can be individually assigned to either of the sequencers, so you have two sets of three, with a button to set the global octave range and a further button to set global quantisation, with five different settings.

Once you set this up, you can hit play and listen to the sequence. At first, it will appear less than interesting but this is where the fun begins. The polyrhythm knobs come into play now and with a twist of the, admittedly undersized, knobs you can begin to experiment with the individual tempos of the two sequencers. You have four of these sub rhythms and each can be assigned to either, none, or both sequencers. Start to do the maths and this equates to an almost limitless number of rhythmic options. If you were to try to set up this kind of thing with another method it would be either very difficult or hugely expensive. Eurorack is probably the only realistic way to do it and even then doing it with the classic Moog tones would be tricky. That said, the SubH will fit into a Eurorack setup, so you could work it into whichever is your preferred workflow.

When you start to patch the SubH things take on a whole new world. With I/Os for most controls, you really are spoiled for choice. Imagine taking a Moog VCO and using its frequency to trigger one sequencer, while the second is kicked off by the Envelope generator. Add to that effect by hitting the button that activates the EG restarting with each sequence step and you can see how complex and musical this thing is.

And that is the crux of what the Subharmonicon is all about. Musicality, expression and playful experimentation. It’s nice to see a company like Moog taking steps into newer territory, where it could have been really easy to stick with the known formats. I’m hoping more of this shows up in future products, as it makes for a fantastic extra capability for the sound designer and musician.

We love the triple threat of a Moog stack where the Mother 32, DFAM and the SubH are all patched into each other. Think of the voices and control available and try to find anything comparable for the money. It’s very difficult.

So, if you want a great sounding synth, with all the classic Moog trimmings, put the Subharmonicon on your shortlist. It’s more than deserving.

MusicRadar verdict: The Subharmonicon is an interesting take on mixing the sounds Moog are well known for with more experimental sequencing and mixed rhythms. It’s a well built and thought out synth, which could inspire countless hours of creativity. Its lack of conformity to previous Moogs might make you think twice but it does what it does extremely well.

Hands-on videos

Thomann Synthesizers

Mylar Melodies

Suzanne Ciani + Scott Kiernan

Specifications

• Type: Semi-modular polyrhythmic analogue synthesizer
• Key features: 2 VCOs with 4 sub-oscillators. 2 4-step sequencers. 2 envelope generators. 32 point patch bay. 8-channel polyrhythmic sequence controller.
• Contact: Moog Music Inc.

What is it?

Moog is still the most well-recognised name in synthesis, some 67 years after launching. The company has gone from strength to strength since it launched the Voyager in 2002 (which is now regarded as a modern classic). 

Following on from the Voyager came the Little Phatty (the last synth design Bob had a direct hand in before his death), the Sub and Subsequent range, the flagship One and the ‘Mother’ range of semi-modular machines. In front of us today is the rather colourful and playful-looking Matriarch; but make no mistake, this is one serious piece of kit. 

Opinions are divided on the look but we love the pastel shades on the front panel. Recent Moog designs have been more in line with classic Moog design language (black front panel and wooden sides), but the Matriarch (and its Grandmother sibling) hark back to the more colourful plastic/metal, designs laid out by The Source, Satellite and Realistic MG-1 (a Moog design sold by Radio Shack but manufactured by Moog). 

The colours aren’t just there for looks – they serve a function, making clear distinctions on the panel between the ‘modules’, and the various inputs and outputs on the rear are also colour-coded, linking nicely to the front panel. It all feels warm and friendly right from the get-go. 

With regards to the front panel, there’s no silk-screening for the panel legending (which can scratch off easily); the whole front panel is a super-tough ‘Lexan’ sticker. Every one of our synths with Lexan stickers for their panels still looks like new.

The knobs on the panel are all familiar Moog issue (either ‘chicken head’ style or skirted black plastic with silver-disc inserts) and feel premium under the fingers with a nice resistance and accurate response so you can dial sounds in reliably every time. 

There are also some lovely sturdy flick switches with white caps for various functions and some super-stylish ‘sweet-shop’ style backlit buttons on the left-hand controller for sequencer/octave control/hold and for osc sync, delay controls/tap tempo. All together these quality component parts form a rather unique, inviting and very intuitive interface.

Performance and sounds

If we start on the left you’ll find the first of the 11 modules (the sequencer/arp) and a quick note: these aren’t removable modules – they are embedded and pre-wired like an MS-20 or other semi-modular synth but you can use the included patch cables to significantly reroute things via the connections on each module and at the rear. 

The sequencer section is surprisingly easy to use and allows you to create keyboard-transposable sequences at any tempo (and with tap tempo) up to 256 steps in length with up to four notes per-step. Simply set the toggle switch to Rec, play some notes into your sequence, hit the green play button on the left-hand controller and you’re off – your sequence will be auto-saved to the slot and retained after powering down. 

In Rec mode you can also add ratchets per-step (fills and trills) or ties and rests easily too, all with no screen in sight (there are no presets of any sort on this machine apart from that you can save up to 12 sequences over three banks, selected with the oct/bank switch).

As expected, there’s also an arpeggiator with octave range control and the direction switch employs several modes which can be applied to both arps and sequences including random, forward/backward, and order (as originally played) modes. 

Being semi-modular, you can also send sequencer velocity, CV and gate out and have external devices control rate/division input. So in this first module alone there’s plenty of power (and you can seamlessly switch between sequences too for more extended/smooth performances). 

Moving onto the oscillator section, the Matriarch has four beautiful sounding oscillators with unison, two-voice and four-voice paraphonic modes via a switch to the far right of the panel (you can play chords of up to four notes but each oscillator is articulated by a single amp and filter envelope rather than a standard poly,which will have an amp and filter envelope per-voice).

The oscillators are based on the Minimoog Voyager (and not Moog’s modular range) and so you get greater stability but still with plenty of fatness and bite (the Voyager has been my go-to bass/lead machine since 2004). Also notable is that the Matriarch gets up to pitch almost instantly (unlike the Voyager which needs about 15 mins). 

Each oscillator has a wide frequency range and a choice of four waves (there are no variable osc waves like the Voyager, however that isn’t an issue with 90 physically patchable points and the versatile controls available to shape sonics)!

Oscillator sync is also onboard and three round red backlit switches select which oscillators have sync applied to them. For modular heads, you also have three CV inputs (pitch, linear FM, PWM) and a wave output per-oscillator too.

Next up is the CP-3 Moog Modular-based mixer for the four oscillators, which is key to a lot of the Matriarch’s old-school Moog Modular-ish character! You can really detail your sonics here with the oscillator levels having a huge bearing on how much the mixer saturates and how the filter is driven. 

You can go from clean to nicely driven and textured or anywhere in between – versatile is the word! And of course, this section also has five CV inputs and an output for further patchability.

The filter section is also refreshingly versatile (and sounds fantastic) and once again is based on the highly regarded Moog 904A module. This is a stereo filter (again like the Voyager) but with three switchable modes – Series HP/LP, Stereo LP/LP, and Parallel HP/LP. You have a single big cutoff control, two resonance dials (one per fi lter L/R and you can use resonance to filter out lows too) a spacing control to blend/pan between the filters, plus envelope amount and keyboard tracking.

Once again, this is classic Moog and simply never sounds bad – the way you can have high-pass and low-pass filters panned left/right makes for some very unique animated sounds, giving the impression of more than one synth being played simultaneously. There’s lots of patchability in this section too; five CV inputs and two outputs.

The beauty here is that even if you are new to semi-modular (or just want to play without any further patching) you can still get a very wide range of sounds from the Matriarch from the get-go. It’s all very intuitive/elegant but complexity is readily available via the patch points too.

There are two typically punchy, patchable Moog ADSR envelopes (from the Moog 911 module; both with a lovely DJ-mixer-style long throw sustain slider) and these are hardwired to amp and filter. However, these can be patched to control almost anything else on the panel and with the use of the mult(iplier) and attenuator sections, you can send signals to multiple destinations with detailed control (as applies for the other modules too).

Patch points here include env out and env end out plus trigger inputs per-EG. Finally, there’s the output stage which again is based on a classic Moog Modular module – the 902. This is nicely sensitive to level and can be driven if required.

Three modes allow versatile control – Amp (both VCAs controlled by the amp EG, leaving the filter to control other choices), Split (one VCA controlled by the Amp EG and one by the Filter EG), and Drone which auto-triggers and decouples the VCAs from the EGs. 

The versatility on offer in this section is very handy and patch points include two audio VCA inputs (plug in any audio here) plus two VCA CV inputs (allowing CV to control the VCAs’ output voltages for tremolo effects, for example).

To sum up, the Matriarch is a very elegantly designed self-contained synth; the nearest you can get to owning an expensive Moog modular but at a fraction of the cost. It has a great-feeling Fatar keyboard, audio rate modulation, intuitive sequencer and arpeggiator, killer analogue delay section, velocity and aftertouch and a very engaging soulful sound. 

The patchability is also very well thought-out and allows you to travel very deep (if you want). A truly inspired design and one that’s very hard to stop playing/ exploring once you get your hands on it!

MusicRadar Verdict: The Matriarch is very inspiring. It’s well built, has the classic Moog Modular sound and is complex yet intuitive. A future classic!

Hands-on demos

loopop

Kraft Music

Expanding Sound

The web says

"Despite having a fairly diverse and large modular of my own, I found myself drawn in by the Matriarch’s construct, partly as it offers a very beautiful tonal centre, but also because it feels contained, manageable and immediate"
MusicTech

Specifications

• Moog Matriarch
• KEY FEATURES: Fatar 49-note semi-weighted keyboard with patchable velocity/aftertouch. 90 patch points. 4 Voyager-based analogue oscillators with osc sync. Moog Modular stereo fi lters and VCAs. 2 LFOs, 2 utility sections with mults and attenuators. 256-step poly-sequencer and arp. Stereo analogue delay module
• DIMENSIONS: 812 x 361 x 139mm WEIGHT: 13.6kg
• Moog