Moog MF-102 MoogerFooger Ring Modulator

must know what the controls are to achieve sonic bliss. this may take a moment to those not familiar with modular synthesis. the manual is very helpful.

the best. i play all types of keyboards through this. with passive keyboard like a rhodes, the drive makes for a great decibal boost/pre amp. for preamped keys like a wurli, this pedal will provide some ultra warm crunch.

the best

amazing. i love the folks at moog. sometimes i just call them from work to discuss new CV link possibilities. great people.

i currently play in a dub band and this pedal is great for spaceship sweeps from the organ or using a ringmodded clav to second the snare hits. sounds great through some delay. i just wanted to point out one great CV trick that someone showed me. this involves plugging the carrier out into the audio in, then plugging the audio out into an amp/effects. this will let you hear the internal oscillator which can be modulated by the LFO. this gives you an analog synth sans keyboard, great for effects and fun!

Pretty simple, the layout is intuitive once you figure it out.

AWESOME - this is the best tremolo pedal I have used. I'm not into the RIng thing, bu tthe Tremolo was incredible. I play this through my Super Reverb and you can feel the stage shake - very nice lows and highs. Incredibly lush !!

Great tremolo on this unit, The ring thing isn't my bag, but it's there and in your face. I had the Empress Trem unit but sold it as the sound was no where near the Fooger and I didn't need all those extra features, I don't like the fact the the drive knob alters the overall volume when the unit is shut off - likely not true bypass. But man it sounds fabulous!!

If you know LFO's from synth, this is pretty much the same. Knobs for amount, rate, mixing between audio signal and effect, drive and freqency and high/low square/pulse wave. To get the sound you want is neither easy or hard but my suggestion is to write down or take a photo of your settings.

The main job to the ringmod in my eyes is to mess the sound up. And my opinion is that it is fully capable of doing this. You can get twisted, detuned synth-like sounds, pulsating high-fqz stuff, but altso tremolo and vibrato effects.

I have used this mainly on guitar with clean and dist setting but altso some synths.

Distortion sounds great combined and with the right settings some guitar picking, the ringmod and a tape eco sounds like a sound-schizofrenia.

The downsides however are pretty serious.
The bleedtrough is really really bad. When in bypass mode you can still hear the frequency in the back of the soundscape even when you are not playing the guitar.

The other problem is changing settings during playing. This can be done in two ways and non of them are pretty ideal as i have tried both.

The first one is to do it manually with your hands/feets whatever.
The good part here is that you get everything as you want it to be.
The bad part is of course that you would rather prefer NOT to stop playing midgig to get down on the floor to edit.

The second one is expression pedals.
The good part here is that you can adjust the knobs as you play.
The bad part is that the accuracy is crappy with exp-pedals, and with a stompbox like 102 the accuracy is extremly important due to very sensetive settings.

Built rock-solid. Im afraid though, that the knobs may losen up a bit after some time.

Never dealt with them.

I bought this second hand and would definatly do it again if it was stolen.

It is ecsactly what i was looking for and a must-have for every alternative-guitar player with a secret love for synths,

By its design and function its not an easy to use .Knobs have a wide range and alot of sounds can be pulled out of it .
but I guess the question is "is it hard to get a good sound out of it?" no . A few knob tweaks and you will stumble on all kinds of great sounds .
The knobs are reliable though . the same knob settings get same sounds ,unlike my Zvex Fuzz factory that the same settings sounnd different on different days

The sound quality is all I could ask for . Warm and beautiful . When I bought it I wasnt too sure about the line level output aspect of it . The level knob is always active , even when the effect is bypassed . But its great . adds warmth to the signal and can boost too a decent overdrive if you that way inclined . I leave it with just a tiny bit of clip if I really hit the strings and it sounds great when bypassed to me . It is pristine sound in my opinon

I would depend on it. I agree with some others here on some aspects though. its alot lighter than I expected and the base plate does feel flimsy . The knobs feel ok and the rocker switchs seem solid enough . Weirdest thing is the power supply I got (im in australia) doesnt fit into the back properly. The tip barrell is too short and if I knock the pedal the power supply falls out . The dealer here has told me it's not a usual thing and they'll source a new one but for the price it's not what I would expect .
The moog expression pedal I bought with it is also dissapointing . All molded plastic and not smooth under foot. Feels very ratchety. It will do the job for now though .

Moog I have no idea. hopefully I never will.

The Australian importer was cool and gave good service . Put up with my hassling as it had to come from USA and did it happily .

I love this thing . It's made me a little anti social musically since I've had it. Bells,tremelo,vibrato , robotic atonal modulations .It makes my guitar sound like something else which you either love or hate . And I love having the ability to totally destroy and rebuild my sound . Ring mod is a weird effect and can make you instrument totally foreign to you .
There is tons of info and reviews out there about what this can do so I'm going to sum it all up in my eyes
.
There arnt any other pedals I've bought that have dragged me into new area's of my playing . this thing has made me explore tonalities in a different way ,cause you have to . It's not a normal effect (apart from its tremelo setting which are great too ) and you have to change your objectives if you want to use it musically . In my eyes that's worth way more than the $410 I paid for it

Like all moogerfooger pedals this one is rather tricky to get a handle on but once you do it is very intuitive...it helps to have a basic understanding of analog synths as this pedal, like all moogerfoogers, is pretty much based around an analog modular synth design, especially considering that the knobs are VERY wide ranging, unlike almost all other effect pedals.

The best, and I do mean THE BEST analog ring modulator made. I use this pedal in conjunction with the moogerfooger lowpass filter and phaser (and have the new analog delay on order). I also use a fender telecaster, and PRS hollowbody, a few analogman effects, and a vox wah. This effect will do anything from robot, synth type sounds to a warm lush tremelo to all out pich bended ring mod madness. I do have to say that this pedal works best in conjunction with the moogerfooger lowpass filter. I mean you can get great sounds out of this pedal by itself but with the lowpass filter and the ring modulator you can really get that squirty, fat, liquid, moog sound out of your guitar, keyboar, bass, whatever. These pedals are quiet as hell and can accommodate any input due to their drive controls. Speaking of which, you can overdrive the pedal's input stage and get some really great overdrive sounds out of it. With the ringmod set to tremelo (which involves setting the frequency switch to low and the mix up) and plugged into a lowpass filter you can get some great "autowah" sounds as the ringmod modulates the filters sensitivity...like nothing you've ever heard before. You can even send the LFO out from the ringmod into the cutoff in on the lowpass and it will modulate the cutoff frequency of the lowpass. Anyway, this pedal, as all moogerfoogers, sounds amazing and really is worth every penny. I reccommend this setup: guitar-ring mod-lowpass-phaser-delay-amp. It works the best for me but experiment with other settings as well to get different sounds. I just particularly like the lowpass filtering the ringmod but the other way around can create some great sounds as well.

Never broken down on me (knock on wood) and seems very solidily built. It does have those wood sides though, which can get scratched up so be careful (you wouldn't mistreat a $250 pedal would you?).

I have never contacted moog music but this pedal seems made to last for a very long time and the instruction manual that comes with it is very informative (pretty much a crash course in analog synthesis) so I doubt I'll ever be contacting moog music.

It doesn't get a 10 cause it is very expensive but in this case you really do get what you pay for and this means the best sounding analog effect you'll ever have the pleasure of using. It really seems an injustice to call this a guitar pedal, all the moogerfoogers are studio quality anaolg effects that are built to use on the floor. Moogerfoogers can be used on any insturment in any situation for any type of music and I highly reccommend them to anyone interested in the warm, liquid sound sounds of analog synths.

If you take the time to read the manual beforehand and have a basic knowledge of physics, then you should not have a problem. It does take a while to get used to the various knobs and understand what they do. But that is "part of the thrill" when using this type of unit.

The manual is extremely well written.

My setup is fairly basic: Fender Jaguar 1967, MF Ring Mod, VOX Wah into a Marshall AVT275. This is the weirdest effects pedal I've ever used. At the LO setting you get really slow tremelo/vibrato effects.
HI setting produces sum and difference frequencies - giving your notes a dissonant effect, siren or spaceship sounds!

I don't think I'll find much use for the HI settings (although I'm only really starting out with it) - the tremelo/Vibrato is great.

I'm not entirely sure I could depend on it. Does not seem very rugged.
I like the wooden touches though!

Very good

I'm into 60's GARAGE PSYCHEDELIA BANDS. Been playing 7 years.

I'm into playing MC5,JIMI,Stooges,13th floor elevators and Red Crayola. This unit may help to a certain extent - but I'm still at the experimental stage.

I love the weird synth noises you can get from the HI settings. But from a usability perspective....it's just good to experiment with and nothing else. The LO settings for me are more usable.

No hates.

This pedal is easy to use, but to understand what you are doing is a little more complex. The manual explains things pretty well. You can not save patches with this pedal.

At first I thought I would have little use for this pedal, but the more I studied it I decided it had great possibilities. I was expecially interested in its LFO CV out. I wanted that to modulate my MF101 Low Pass filter. But on its own the MF102 is a great pedal. It can produce some fantastic tremolo. When pushed into higher speeds the wacky metallic ring mod sounds make this an unearthly sound machine. I use it for experimental and ambient guitar. There is plenty of gain to use this for slight overdrive. Like the other MF pedals, the MF102 becomes more powerful when used in conjunction with other MF pedal. The CV outs make these pedals very unique.

Well built. Very dependable.

Never have had to use cumstomer support.

I play experimental and ambient guitar. I use this with the MF 101 and 103 as well as a Lexicon reverb processor and Line 6 Echo Pro. For my kind of music this is an indispensible unit which I would quickly replace it lost or stolen. I wish all the Moogerfoogers AC power could be daisy chained. When you get several racked, the three wall warts power supplies are cumbersome.

Very difficult to use. It is not very clear how the four knobs works together. You have to try and try and try for several hours before you get your desired sounds. Then you have find out the waweform-button (thats easy though) and the lo/hi-button (who make a dramtic change to the sound).

When you finally find out, that the 102 are divided in two - a leslie-chorus-tremolo-effect and a crazy synth, you will be pleased, that the analog sound of modulation a much fatter and clearer than a digital stompbox. You can get a really fantastic leslie-speaker simulation, that I have never heard before. When you want something completely different, you can either swith from lo to hi or turn up the freq - you will get a never-heard-before synth.
I'm a guitarist, and I'm using Gibson Les Pauls and Yamaha Strat-clones (Pacificas). I think, it work best with humbuckers, but that could be me.

Well I don't know.

You have to get a last one expressionpedal or better two. It is a comfort to control Mix (mix between original signal and modulationsignal) and Freq (how fast it swells) with your feets realtime instead of turning the knops with hands while playing. It was indeed very difficult for me to get something at all acceptable out of the 102. I was nearly bringing it back to the store. But I first found out, that the analog chorus sounded much better than my digital Yamaha DGstomp. Then I found out, that Rate and Amount both should be at circa 3.5 and to control the Mix and Freq with expressionpedals. When that happend I found that I'll never get another so good sounding leslie-chorus and I'll never get another analog guitarsynth. Therefor I'm keeping the 102 - and now I don't think I can live without it in my setup.
I was comparing the 102 against the 101, 103 and 105. For guitars, the 102 and 103 are the best choices. The 102 can sound like a analogsynth, it is more difficult with the 103 to get that effect, so I was purchacing the 102 and not the 103-phaser. But latter I'll get that as well.

Very simple and self informative, I never really sat down to read the manual. However, precision is needed in getting a desired sound, because one tiny tweak of the frequency knob can change the sound completely. This means that the sound possibilities are endless, which of course is not a bad thing at all. I normally tune it to whatever key I'm playing on guitar, but it is fun to close your eyes and tweak it randomly to see what you can come up with. If you're a first timer, GET THE EXPRESSION PEDAL(or one for all 4). It doesn't cost much at all. You'll be glad you did, otherwise you'll be having back problems while you tweak away into oblivion. I use it primarily for atmosphere. It can make your guitar sound like it's exterior is rotting away and morphing into a robot.

This pedal turns your guitar signal into a vintage synth patch, no question. Don't waste your money on midi guitar synths with delayed reaction and preset synth sounds(don't forget those pickups). I use it on an old crate halfstack with a Schecter Tempest. I got into the ringmod sound after toying with the one on my Korg D16 recorder. I went out to find a pedal version. I almost lost all hope in ring modulators after buying a discontinued Gonkulator by DOD. I decided to give them a second chance and bought the moogerfooger with no regrets. I returned the Gonkulator. If anyone is familiar with the guitar solo in the nine inch nails song ruiner, that tone can be achieved with this pedal. Another song would be the clean guitar in Lord Only Knows by Beck. I normally use it on clean, but I recommend using the effects loop if distorted. It sounds great either way though. Don't settle for RingMod imitations, they are not ring modulators. They're noise makers.

It's built quite solid, I like the wood sides. It gives it that Moog feel.

Never had to deal with them, but as far as the samples on their website goes, they need better ones. The guitarist sucks, and is not using it properly. I told the owner of a guitar store about the pedal(he never even tried it) and he started to bitch about how it's not a real moog pedal. I told him to piss off. My secondary instrument is synthesizers, I know a moog when I hear one.

I've been using it for a couple of months now, it's my favorite pedal. After playing shows, people would come up to me with questions about it. I use it for subtle purposes on some songs, and intensely for others with my band. I play jazzy southern rock and bluegrass on my own time and find it very useful for single notes and chords. I look forward to trying the new MoogerFooger Murf. Even if everyone owned one it would still make music authentic, because there is a seperate sound for everybody. Find your musical identity with this pedal.

Ir is very easy to get an excellent sound out of this effect
No editing patches are needed
The Manual is execellent and very easy to understand
I do not know the firmware revision number, but this unit has not been upgraded, it sounds great just directly purchased from the Factory or any Authorized Dealer

Two SRV's Custom Strats, two PRS's. One other Custom Fender Strat, using two Fender Custom Amps one is the Vibro-King the other a Vibroverb, the effects always sound great. the above amps stated in this review. I can get the sound such as Goverment Mule doing Red House. It sounds like he is using a Ring Modulator when he does this song. This product is a MOOG Ring Modulator and it sounds great as stated above in the review.

This unit is very dependable.
I would use it at a gig without a back-up this device is built like a tank.

I was called by the Prsident of the MOOG Factory asking me how I like this effect and I told him that it was excellent and I also asked him if this effect had ever been posted on HarmonyCentral and he told be no that it had not, and I stated to him that I would post one.
This effect probably will never need repaired as I stated above it is built like a tank, This effect does not need an upgrade it also has a True Bypass switch install at the factory so it does not suck down the sound of your guitar or organ when shut off

I play Blues,Rock,and this device is an excellent match for songs that has a Ring Modulator sound. I have been playing since I was five years old, so I have been playing for fifty years, I own so much gear that I could not list it all on this review. If this effect were to be stolen, I would purchase another one. What I love about it is all the different sounds that you can get out of this one effect. I hat nothing about this effect. My favorite features are the ease of use.
I did not compare it to any other effect since it was hard to find a stand alone Ring Modulator with purchashing someting that has several effect with it., I I decided on this effect because of the reputation of the company.If anyone is looking for an effect I would highly recommend The MOOG Ring Modulator MF-102