Moog Satellite

Had my Moog Satellite since 1974. It hasn't worked too well since around 1982. Its appearance is flawless, inside is a laugh - it's like looking at a magnified zoom of around 2 inches of mobo - big spaces in-between the capacitors & resistors and whatnot, all marked neatly - so why is it so hard to get anyone to repair this synth?

It is pretty limited in both voicing and changing those voices, but back 30 some years ago it was oohed & ahhed at as some "futuristic" instrument. I also read Thomas got Moog to make these primarily for sale in their organ stores in shopping malls to show that Thomas Organ was "with it". Sequencer? When this baby was new, a sequencer was only found in the most far-looking major-lable recording studios and the homes of people like Ray Kurzweil! It barely accepts its own innards, let alone add-ons. The keyboard is supposed to be "touch-sensitive". It has "contour", "color" and "emphasis" sliders to modify its limited range of sounds, plus sliders to adjust the volume, repeat rate, glide, etc.

The sounds are as realistic as those Gershon & Kingsley did for "Forbidden Planet". Truly a basic oscillation type synth. There aren't effects, the sliders kind of "dumb down" the user's ability to alter the sounds much. The keyboard is supposed to be touch-sensitive...

Not dependible - who's around to service it? When it was new, I DID use it on gigs w/out backup, but these days ? One just sold on e-bay (March 14th, 2006) for $364 Australian dollars (around $274 in US dollars on the same day). That's about one dollar less than I bought it for new back in '75, so you could say the thing doesn't depreciate in value at all. And the one on e-bay, the owner only said that the red "on" light worked when plugged it in - its ability to actually function is a secret its new owner will have to find out!

Moog ain't what it used to be, neither is a billion dollars...

I wouldn't buy it again - the price is more than a basic Korg Electribe unit (right now, they're going to go back up to near $400 soon)... I loved the loony, rather cheap SciFi sounds it could make. I wish it had an entirely new set of innards - these days they'd be reduced to around the size of an iPod, and there'd be so much more room to pack in MORE features and synth-ability. It did help me make music long ago, but then a TEAC A-2340 4-track reel-to-reel tape recorder used to help me record it back then :) .

There is nothing to the board. Someone with 1 brain cell could use this thing!!!!

Monophonic with no Duophonic capabillity!!!!
10 of the worst Pre-Sets ever created!!!!
Effects that sound cheap!!!!
No MIDI!!!!
No Sequencer!!!!

This Synths only feature is being able to create useless sounds!!!!

To be honest, the Satellite looks and sounds like a childs
Play Toy!!!!

All of the Pre-Sets sound terrible especially the Luner one which sounds just like a 70s Arcade Game.

Not too good.

Not a clue, Probeby rather bad because Satellites are quite
rare now!!!!

This is the worst Analogue Synth ever made so do your self a favor and get a better Analogue Synth like the Juno-106!!!!

Really easy, choose one of 13 starting points (all switches up also results in a sound)then tweak to suit

Monophonic, 37 notes but unusually for a Moog top note priority and multiple triggering
No MIDI
External input for filter control voltage plus an accessory multipin plug thay accepts impossible to find accessories

The sounds are all basic starting points but you must look beyond the names such as 'lunar' and 'bell' and just use them for what they are. For example 'bowed string' is really a sawtooth with minimal resonance (emphasis) and filter envelope. use with some glide and the result is a reasonable lead sound. Now it doesn't sound like a MiniMoog (I know as I have one) but for a single VCO synth it sounds quite good even when played back to back with the Mini. For best results follow the alignment procedure in the manual carefully it makes a great deal of difference. Use with some chorus and echo and it can sound quite good.
There is a lot going on here although only a single VCO there is a bandpass filter and waveshaping as well as the VCF (only 12dB/octave) and separate envelopes for VCF and VCA. In fact every parameter is voltage controlled so tricks like switching octaves can affect more than just pitch (for example envelope times get longer the lower you go on some voices)

Seems to be built quite well although the switches at the front could be prone to damage. So it may get gigged in the future.

However fixing it isn't a problem

Never dealt with Moog Music but I wish all manufacturers gave as much info in their manuals as Moog did, rebuilt a non working one just from the info in the manual

Strange but rue this synth is an excellent example of 'less is more'. I bought mine as an interesting project to fix but once I got it going I find I use it quite a bit and will be hanging on to it for some time, I also have a MiniMoog and I find the Satellite is thinner but the sounds still have a quality about them that makes them very usable.

It is very easy to set up sounds on the Moog Satellite. With a little practice with the tremolo, rate and glide controls, you can even authentically recreate the shooting-star sound effects Gary Wright used on his song "Dream Weaver" which utilized a Minimoog for the same effect. Both the manual and the patch book are very easy.

The trick to making the Satellite sound good is some artful experimentation with the slider controls. The unit can be made MIDI capable with the MIDIJACK sold by Synhouse on the internet.

While created with the home organist in mind, the Satellite can be used as a cheap way for a beginner's band to get a synth sound into its setup. It can get some funky bass lines--not very phat--but at least funky like a Clavinet if you can play your licks right.

I wouldn't take it on the road. Home studio or vintage collection would probably be the best.

Anybody who has worked on vintage synths before should have no problems troubleshooting the Satellite from the service manual.

The Moog Satellite was the first synth I ever saw in the 1970s. Consequently, I bought one 30 years later for nostalgia purposes. Mine is in near-mint condition. The Satellite used to be sold in the Montgomery Wards catalog in the US for about $299.95 back in the 1970s. I own the owner's manual, service manual and patch book.

Don't fall for the Moog hype - this is the absolute worst of the line.

This thing was conceived as Moog's answer to the ARP ProSoloist. By comparision, the ARP is *way* better.

The Satellite is a preset synth with near zero tweakability and awful sounding presets. If you like to push a button and just play, then this is your toy. There are only six slidepots and they don't vary the sound much so I'll give it a six for ease of use.

Thomas Organs built 5000 of these and shoehorned them into their organs.

For a Moog synth, it doesn't even have the proper 24dB Moog filter. It's a highpass filter in series with a 12dB ladder filter, and it sounds thin and lame. There are no external inputs or CV/trig inputs. Don't buy it expecting to process drums and stuff through it - very disappointing.

The Satellite only has one VCO and the 37 note keyboard is monophonic.

Even the superior sounding ProSoloist has a ripped-off 24dB Moog ladder filter module.

Mostly bad presets - none very usable.

No expression controls whatsoever, not even mod/pitch wheels.

Who gigs with one of these?

Moog Music is LONG gone.

No custom chips to worry about, but good luck finding caps for the slidepots.

The only two reasons to buy this keyboard is to make cheesy solo sounds with Aunt Gertrude's Lowrey organ or to complete your "must-have-one-of-everything-Moog" collection.