Moog Minimoog

One of the easiest synths to use, it's very easy to get a good sound out of it and with a panel full of knobs and switches you can get the sound you want 100x faster than you can with an LCD and a pair of up/down buttons. All knobs and the signal path is laid out from left to right, like reading a book.

Presets? HAHAHAHAHA - Tweak it like a REAL man.

OK, the Minimoog entered production in 1970; before MIDI, before built-in effects, before memory cards, before this, before that so yeah it's short on the features but it's BIG on the sound.

Let's read the control panel from left to right.

CONTROLLERS contains TUNE, GLIDE, and MODULATION MIX. TUNE is self explanatory. MODULATION MIX lets you vary the combination of VCO3 and noise that get routed to the mod wheel. The mod wheel can be applied to the VCO by turning on OSCILLATOR MODULATION and to the VCF by turning on FILTER MODULATION. There is no provision for modulating the VCA for tremolo effects. GLIDE varies the transition between two notes from instantaneous to around six seconds and can be disabled with the switches above the pitch/mod wheels. The Minimoog glide is a BIG part of its sound and is quite unique, nothing has ever matched it. It's one of the attributes that puts the Minimoog in a class of its own and is why it is still sought after long after its discontinuation in 1981.

OSCILLATOR BANK contains three VCOs with octave ranges of LO, 32', 16', 8', 4', and 2'. Each has six waveforms, triangle, rising ramp, triangle/mix composite (VCOs 1 & 2 only), falling ramp (VCO 3 only), and three different flavor of fixed pulse waves. VCO #3 can be used as an LFO by turning off OSC 3 CONTROL and putting it in LO range. You lose a VCO for audio but one Minimoog VCO sounds so huge on its own that two are enough. I only use three VCOs for bass FX or for sounds using VCOs at non-octave intervals (IE 16' 8' 5-1/3' settings in organ footages). 95% of bass patches sound fine with two VCOs and most lead work sound better with one VCO. There is no sync (wasn't invented yet) but it can be added.

I really like having a mixer in a synth, it's far better than a balance control because you can control whether you want to overdrive the filter. It's a five input mixer, three for the VCOs, one white/pink noise source (which sounds really good), and one external input. Many people use this external input to process drums and samples with the filter, and there's also the old "feedback" trick where you route the low level output back into the external input for extra grunge and cream.

The filter is one of the best in the business, this is the industry standard filter that all others are compared to. The resonance (AKA emphasis) of the Minimoog filter is quite variable and gets a lot of color to the sound. It's hard to get a good sounding filter, most synths sound squelchy or raspy when you add some resonance and they don't sound as "musical" as the Minimoog. If you crank the mixer levels to 10 you will get a pleasant overdrive from the filter. This isn't always desirable, I use this effect in moderation and most of the time I run the mix levels at six and below, it sounds smoother to my ears. Since one Minimoog will sound different from another one, YMMV. One cool sound is to modulate a near-resonant filter with an audio range LFO, which VCO #3 can do.

The Minimoog VCF has non-linear resonance, IE if you turn off the VCOs and crank the emphasis, the filter will self-oscillate and generate its own sine wave but as you sweep it in the low range, the oscillation dies off. This can be a "fault" or a "feature" depending on how you look at it. Almost every other synth features a "correct" filter that self-oscillates across the whole range. Consider that most Minimoog bass sounds use an envelope to spike the filter. As the envelope decays toward zero, the filter's resonance decreases in the lower range. This is what defines the "Minimoog Bass" and explains why all the other synths don't produce that "Minimoog bass sound".

Also consider that Moog Music attempted to "correct" this fault in the Micromoog and the Multimoog, but the sound suffered as a result. Those synths don't sound like a Minimoog.

The EGs (modifiers) are ADS with rel

The keyboard has no aftertouch and no velocity sensing, but the wheels and glide do a good job to add expression. The Minimoog is best at its signature sounds and sound FX, you can imitate some acoustic instruments but the Minimoog is so much its own instrument that imitative synthesis is pointless.

For bass, it's unbeatable. When I want to do a lead line or double a guitar, I reach for the Minimoog. For some reason the sound of a Minimoog lead cuts through the mix and blends with guitars really well. The Minimoog does some OK sound FX with the VCOs in LO range, with the noise source, and with the filter self-oscillating and combinations of modulation, but there are many synths out there that do better sound FX.

The sound of the Minimoog is unbeatable, don't even bother wasting your time trying to sample it. Something gets lost in the digital translation. The Minimoog has this GROWL in bass and lead sounds that has yet to be duplicated in any synth built in the last thirty years. I have a Moog Source and Memorymoog that does good Minimoog sounds, but they don't GROWL like the Mini. That's why I'm hanging onto mine. Nothing else sounds like it.

When I first got mine, it would not stay in tune. I did a lot of hot-rodding to the circuit boards and now they stay in tune really really well, even on a hot stage.

The later boards are a better design and they stay in tune better, but they don't sound as fat as the earlier boards. There were three oscillator boards throughout the Minimoog production cycle. The first 200 had a 100% discrete design with no ICs, but they had the worst tuning stability. These were superceded with a 3046-based design with a few opamps in the CV summing circuitry; these are the most common. This is the board I have. From serial #10175 and up the oscillator boards used a uA726 heated matched transistor pair that gets the best stability but that part is very hard to find today if it breaks. Whether the 726 or the 3046 board sounds better is a subject of hot debate and is best left to the individual's preference.

It is not uncommon to find an early Minimoog with a later oscillator board, since they were 99% plug-in compatible.

I gigged with mine as recent as 1997, and with the rising value of Minimoogs today it stays home now.

Moog Music is long gone but many techs can still service Minimoogs. They're not hard to work on.

With the exception of the hard-to-find uA726 on the later oscillator boards, every component is fairly easy to find, no custom ICs, no weird parts, etc.

I've owned several Moog synths and decided to get a Minimoog to see what all the fuss was about. I found this one in 1993 just when the vintage synth craze was blossoming. I paid a little more at the time, but I got one of the first 100 Minimoogs from the original Moog factory in Trumansburg NY. It's a piece of synth history. It has these cool clear plexiglass pitch/mod wheels and a big "R.A. Moog" badge, the original name of the company. At the time I had no idea of the significance of "R.A. Moog" or of this synth. I've seen a few later Minimoogs, but the walnut finish on mine just looks a lot nicer.

There's no way I could replace this synth today if I lost it, the ones that are left are in the tight grips of collectors. When I heard that these early Minimoogs can trade for $3500, I stopped taking it out to clubs. Today I use an Alesis Andromeda/A6 in its place and it does a VERY good Moog impersonation.

I've even added a MIDI interface from Big Briar, Bob Moog's current company. He's at http://www.bigbriar.com/ and his LMC Minimoog MIDI interface is far better than outboard MIDI->CV boxes. Big Briar can install it for you or sell it as a kit if you want to tackle the job yourself. The LMC was designed especially for the Minimoog and has some really superior features. One problem with external MIDI-CV boxes is that you have to use the rear panel oscillator CV input; you can't use glide and you have to periodically press the Minimoog's low F because of S&H droop in the keyboard circuitry. The LMC doesn't suffer from the droop problem and you can use glide with MIDI signals - the only one that does this. The LMC also adds an onboard LFO that is almost a duplicate of VCO #3 so you can use VCO #3 for audio. You can route MIDI velocity to volume and/or the filter which is WAY cool. Too many other features to list here, go check out the Big Briar website.

I had a Memorymoog, Moog Source, Micromoog, Liberation, and Polymoog before I acquired the Minimoog, and the hype is true. Nothing sounds like a Minimoog. I can get close with the Memorymoog and the Source, but nothing gets the GROWL of a Mini. I've been playing club gigs for over twenty years now and I'm up to fourteen keyboards, and the Minimoog is the crown jewel in my arsenal.

Pretty self explanatory. not hard to figure out.

its really limited on features, i found that there are a lot of the same features on the MG-1. which is kinda sad.

some really sweet sounds..

its hard to rely on analog, it goes out of tune constantly.. other than that .. yeah

none

They're cool .. but not THAT cool. go for a Korg MS-20 if you want COOL.

Its very easy to use, i mean everybody could handle one of this babys.

Well the modulation is very good, the filter also. The mod wheel is ok the oscillator is great especially the control of the waveshapes the octave and so on. I mean it has a little of variety but you can build a lot and different types of sounds never heard before.

The micromoog is used specially in the world of electronica. LEt me tell you that the sounds are killers. Especially if you're into experimenting, you can do it with this baby i mean the sounds that the micromoog can do are unique. Is if like you where hearing the soundtrack of space oddyssey 2001 the sounds are so organic so resonant so strange but good.

I had mine over 3 or four months and untill today it hasn't givenme any problems at all.

This baby is one of my favorite instruments the sounds are very awesome and it helps me a lot with my music (electronica) its perfect for me and the music that i make and of course its a Moog! so its perfect!

Nice big knobs. Has a nice feel.

The keyboard on a Mini feels great. It doesn't feel cheap and plastic-y.

I've gotten blowjobs on many occasions.

Kind of moody just like the way it sounds. Needs to be pampered. Treat it like a pretty girl.

HA

Too bad these things are so over priced. I've seen them on ebay lately for like $2300. They really aren't worth that much. People are just going insane with how much they are paying for things these days. In a realistic world, Mini's are probably worth about 500 bucks but they go for 5 times that much sometimes. I remember for a while they were like 12 or 1300. Then about a couple months ago they jumped to like 2500. People must be stoned or there must be a lot of people with money to blow on analog gear. I wish it had more flexible mod routings and sample and hold. It's probably the most musical sounding and soulful instrument ever made. For the best examples of it's sound don't listen to all that ELP and Yes crap. Keith Emerson had no tone. He should have stuck to playing the piano. Listen to Jan Hammer with the Mahavishnu Orchestra on Birds of Fire and The Lost Trident Sessions. Also check out Manfred Mann's Earth Band- The Roaring Silence and Kit Watkins from Happy the Man and a German band called SFF. Those four bands are the only ones who really mastered the Minimoog.

Great! Easy to use. Even without basuic experience with synthesis
new users will quickly learn what is what and how it affects the overal sound.

No polyphony. One big fat voice. Actually three if you count each oscillator.
But these all are synced. The Minimoog had many versatile features allowing
not just for music but fo sound effects. Wind, static were the two most obvious.
Simple noise generator stuff. But you could feedback the LFO, etc.
I used to get all sorts of nasty echoey stuff that probably made my Dad
regret I was a musician in the first place!
One funny thing about the synth was it had a pedal input with what appeared to be a 1/4 inch'
standard jack. It was in fact just slightly smaller. My assumption has always been that
this was to get users to buy the MOOG pedal and not others.

No midi or sequencing. Just big fat monophonic heaven.

Loads of different combinations between oscillators with different
waveforms on each of them at a time. Plus adding the noise generator
made this a very versatile synth in most respects. Horns weren't necessarily
one of the categories it shined in but it came up with lots of other
sounds. Listen to any ELP or Steely Dan to get an idea. Heck most of the
ssynth solos on Steely Dan albums were Minimoogs. In the users manual they and ELP
were used as example setups for the user.
Good reaction too. Very expressive instrument. And it put out generally clean sound
as well.

Although I have heard about its instability, especially in the tuning
area, I have to say that this may be a problem that can be easily repaired.
In my case the portamento would come "unhitched" causing a pitch I had
played on the key board to fluctuate, at first not too often but then it increased
and would slide out of control sometimes. I took to the boy at Bozo-tronics in
Seattle, Washington. They immediately found the problem. In fact the guy said he probably knew
what it was from my description - a leaky FET box. Sure enough he fixed it and it was always stable
after that. Just like a car, get a tune up. It may be worth a lot more than you think.

Moog was sold to Norlin by the time I got my Minimoog. Then they went out of
business. I have read recent interviews with Bob Moog and he states he is in the
process of getting the company name back. Also, I have heard new Minimoogs are being
or will be made.

In short, when I owned one, there was only support from the Bozo-tronics people.
They were great, but I never dealt with the company.
I am rating this down the middle since Moog was not available but the private
repair shop I mentioned above was great. This was in the 80's however and I do not know
if Bozo-tronics is still a functioning repair shop.

I sold my Minimoog in 1987-88(?). I thought getting plane fare to see
a girlfriend in another state was worth letting it go for consignment for $150.00
Aaaahhhhhh! Where was my Minimoogs Anonymous support partner when
I needed them? What a cruel act! I have salivated for one ever since.

BUT.. I do feel they are a LITTLE overrated. Prices for these buggers
are a tad too high. And I think the other Moog synths - Memoreymoog,
Micromoog and Multimoog are just as good a synth.

I also currently own a great quirky ARP Omni II. I got it for $20.00!
They thought it did not work. Wrong! :)

No software, no presets - Just switch it on, play and turn the knobs. It's easy to use and being adventurous can give amazing surprises... Knowing the basics of analogue subtractive synthesis can help if you're after a particular sound....

Monophonic. The light action takes a bit of getting used to but it's very playable... No midi, although there are various mods available... this board should be judged as a unique instrument - polyphony and bells and whistles are not what it's about

The king of analogue expression.... The minimoog has a soul!

Tuning tends to drift a lot and I occasionally need to thump the side to make the modulation section work properly... I wouldn't take it out on a gig, not only because it's unreliable in this sense, but also because I couldn't bear to have it damaged...

The company died years ago....

Worth what I spent, although it was a lot! I've been using it for a couple of years now and it inspires me continuously... Although I have other keyboards amd racks, there's always a track for my moog in a song... it simply sounds good in any mix!

Tip for Minimoog owners - Patch the headphone output into the external input and listen to what happens!!! Great crazy overdrive harmonics!

Just tweak away! easy to use no manual necessary everything is well graded on the panel...only thing is watch out the knobs settings are sensitive..just tweaking a bit will dramatically alter the sound.Just let it warm up before playing

monophonic 3 octave keyboard..glide,3 oscillators with multiple waveforms(3rd can be be set to lfo),noise generator(white and pink),an external input for processing sounds through vcf and env(sweeeet!!!)and a mixer section for all those.Then followed by the classic moog 24db ladder filter and two enveloppes(one for filter and one for vca).pitch wheel and modulation wheel(just wish that pitch wheel had the elastic to bring it back to zero when let go,but still nice). no midi but heard many kits available will work with this one.

Do not try and emulate any real instrument with this it's not made for that.This thing looks basic and unversatile but it's alive!!!the oscillators are as fat as people claim them to be,even when using just 1or2..basses and leads are a given,but you can get some strange sounds from it no crazy bleeps and bloops mind you but the modulation wheel works in interesting ways and the oscillators can be tweaked to produce nice drones...the sound is where this machine beats a lot of othr ones hands down,try using it with tape echo and long envelope settings(beautiful sounds)or any effect this is where you can make it more versatile.Can be used in any type of music just molest it to your style.

ok they are starting to get long in the tooth...and some people say that the drifting tuning is a problem...always let it warm up a good 15 minutes and usually it is not so bad...if you're not the original owner spending a few bucks to get it calibrated is worth it..but otherwise built solidly... i don't have a backup i paid a lot for mine and could not afford 2 of them unless i find one for cheap(becoming less and less feasible..but be spontaneous if i had to lug around 2 of everything i have i would go crazy...if you depend on this live i would suggest to have a small bass synth(realistic mg-1,novation bass station)in case that way you can stil feel safe.

Original moog went bust long time ago...i've not had to deal with any customer support but there are a few options available for people who want they're moogs fixed,spruced up or just a new one.Moog music in cincinatti states they offer brand new mini's and modulars but i have heard many a negative story about this particular co.(never dealt with them though)recently website seems to be down...moog custom engineering in buffalo this is the old moog factory(back when norlin owned moog)so these guys are building modular moogs and state they will also service your old moogs if problematic.There is also a midimoog available from a moog(uk)either rackmount or keyborded but is quite pricy but if you are willing to why not?? you can still get your synth serviced from some other places on the net look into synthfool and al. and you can get schematics and info on repair

This is a great synth ,but they are getting expensive and have to ask yourself if you really need a completly monophonic anaolg beast like this in your setup many a synth available today wich emulates or is still analog so shop around you might find thesounds your looking for on the cheap...but if you know this is the one for you then by all means get one anyway you can

Just turn it on, tweak the knobs and play. There are no patch memories, and you have to tune it regularly. Otherwise it is very easy to operate. The knobs are big and they move smoothly.

Minimoog is an analog monophonic synth. The keyboard has three octaves. No MIDI, but it is quite easy to add afterwards with a MIDI-2-CV converter. The Minimoog has three oscillators with a few waveforms, a noise generator, a great VCF, a VCA and two ADS-envelopes. The third oscillator can be used as an LFO too.

The specifications were nothing special. But when you hear the sound you understand why it's a classic. The sound is warm, fat and .... just perfect. Of course you can't get acoustic emulations from the Mini, but the synths basses and leads are great. The secret of the sound is the Moog ladder filter, fast envelopes and living oscillators. I really can't imagine how to improve the sound.

There are constant tuning problems. But what is important, when it breaks there are only just few transistors which are difficult to find. No custom ICs, mostly standard components which are still manufactured.

The Minimoog is perfect for synth basses and leads. It's a classic, and the ONLY synth I can't live without. I would buy it again and again and...