Moog Sonic Six

The unit is self-contained with a built in speaker. The sturdy housing is also its own carrying case, kind of like a large clam. The front panel is fairly well laid out with flow chart-like graphics to guide the user. I had already owned an ARP Odyssey and a Mini Moog long before I got a hold of mine, so I was fairly familiar with analogue synth programming and proficient at getting sound. I used it more as a teaching tool than for studio or live performance. I have seen instances where it was used successfully as a stage instrument. I saw Mats Oberg use one with Zappa's Universe and was very impressed with his command of the instrument.

This synth has two-note polyphony, which was a luxury for an instrument of its day. The best feature is the X-Y modulation section, which has two separate oscillators that have a nice variety of waveforms to choose from. Both oscillators can be balanced to taste. This is a fairly advanced feature for an instrument of non-modular design. These modulation oscillators are wide in range and can also be linked together so the relative pitches change uniformly. The audio oscillators (2) have saw, triangle and square waveforms. Unlike the Mini Moog whose square waves are incrementally changed, the Sonic Six's square waves can be continuously varied in pulse width, but neither instrument's square waves can be pulse width modulated. There is a ring modulator and other modulation effects that can be achieved. The modulation possibilities can become very complex. You can also mix the raw audio sources with the processed ones for more variations in the sound textures. There is an audio input for processing external sources through the Sonic Six. Also, there are some patch points for gate, trigger and control voltage.

Due the to crude design of the envelope generator, the Sonic Six lacks the expressiveness or ability to emulate or mimic other instruments. There is a pitch bend wheel, but it's mounted from side to side rather than front to back. Of course today we have come to using the front to back type for pitch bending during performance, so doing it on the Sonic Six may take some getting used to. There is no wheel for modulation injection so adding continuous vibrato to both oscillators simultaneously is almost impossible. On the other hand however, keyboard itself has a full four-octave range, which is a nice change from other instruments of this type. Most of the non-modular analogue synths had truncated keyboards so you had to jockey around with octave switches to get into upper and lower registers. Thanks to the Sonic Six???s extended keyboard you no longer need to do this.

I found my unit to very stable and always in tune. Despite the fact that the instrument is old and the design archaic by today's standards, it always works fully and perfectly every time I turn it on. This one was built to last. I can't vouch for how roadworthy these instruments actually are, but I personally would not hesitate using this on a gig if the need arose.

I've dealt with Moog in Buffalo New York and always found them very friendly and helpful but never actually had to engage their services.
The company itself was always in some kind of a state of flux in one form or another. I have no idea of what it is like to deal with them now or even know if they still exist to handle working on these units anymore.

I suppose that if I had to pay money for this instrument it would not be my first choice. It's more of one of those obscure oddities that came out of the race for the ultimate non-modular performance oriented synthesizer. It's funny how marketing works and why companies end up producing the instruments that they do. I wouldn't call this instrument indispensable, but since I have it, I use it.

It's a bit strange but after some tweaking you'll get it. When you know how this synth works u can get some interesting sounds out of it. I use it for drones, leads and strange fx. Despite all rumours about his instrument being unreliable and out of tune my sonic 6 is perfectly in tune. If yer sonic 6 is way out of tune/scale you should try to adjust the trimpots.

Features?? (the first) Duophonic keyboard, 2 very flexible lfo's, ringmodulator, fm, Moog ladder filter provides perfect filtertracking. I'm gonna modify this synth and add 1/4 trigger in and vco sync.
the simple envelopes don't bother me at all but it's a shame there is no general modulation wheel to add vibrato tho both vco's at the same time.

The sounds are very nice and can be very electric. it's great for all kind of electronic sounds. i think the keyboard is quite nice. It has one of the nicest ringmodulator sounds i've ever heard. It sounds much thinnner than a minimoog but certainly has it's specific own sound. Don't excpect it to do groundshaking bass sounds.

I clean the contact buss regularly and adjust some trimpots when needed. Overall it seems to be very reliable. I'd love to use on stage even if it was only for it's spacey appearance:)

Never dealt with the company concerning this instrument but i heard some good stuff. If you have any questions you can allways mail Bob Moog at BB/Moog music. I have the manual and schematics so as far as i can i will service it myself.

Actually i'm looking for a second one to do some extensive modding:D I really love this synth and i enjoy every minute spend with it. if it were lost or stolen i would shurely trace down another one. They don't show up very often though.

No presets or patch storage of any kind, all programming is done from memory or on the fly. It's a great way to really learn synth programming and how things work together. It was my first synth and I didn't have a manual, but it was pretty easy to figure out. Editing is easy because of all the knobs right there for every parameter. I did get a manual for it eventually and it was pretty good.

Two note polyphony, but it didn't sound very good when played that way, it was really designed as a one note lead or sound effect keyboard as they all were then. These are ancient. I sold mine many years ago for (for only $100) so I don't remember everything about it, but it was very cool to play at the time. (The Cars, Devo, etc.)

About the only real acoustic instrument sound you can get out of one of these is a string sound. These days it really would only be good for real retro kind of music or sound effects.

Mine was used when I got it and I did some playing with a band and had no problems with it except that the analog oscillators won't stay in tune. A problem with all Moogs of the time.

I did get a manual from Moog at the time but obviouly they arne't around anymore.

I wouldn't have a use for this synth now, but someone who is into vintage gear and retro music might really like it. I wish I hadn't sold mine just because it was really fun to play around with (and I could get a lot more for it now). I used a Korg DW8000 for 15 years as my main live controller and could get a lot of the same sounds and effects out of it. I'd probably still be using it if it hadn't become too unreliable. My rig now is a Roland A70 controller with a JV-1 expansion card, an old Korg DS-8 that I use just as a controller, a Roland JV_880 module with the 60s-70s expansion board that I use as my main sound source and a Yamaha TX81Z that I only use one patch out of but can't do without.

I'm well versed in synthesis, so the layout (being designed for education) is totally intuitive... but even if I wasn't versed in synthesis, due to the layout, it wouldn't take long to figure out what was going on. Oh, that cruel Direct Output Mixer, though... for you who, like I, don't know what that is... it's the top three knobs (unlabeled) in the upper right hand corner... if you don't turn them off, sound never stops. I mistook them for level balance, and was very sad when I thought my Sonic Six was broken!

As everyone has stated before me, it's duophonic. The duophony (did I just coin that term?) is pretty wacky, as the portamento only applies to one voice. The dual waveform stuff, as everyone says, is astounding, bizarre, and versatile. It's a fantastic keyboard because it has the HUGE control panel. The knobs are large, and there's a lot of space between them... it's very comfortable to noodle with. It has a full and separate ring modulator.

The Sonic Six has vast expressive possibilities.
Don't listen to everyone who complains about it lacking "the Moog Sound." If you want what is characterized as "the Moog Sound," just BUY A MINIMOOG. The Sonic Six has it's own sound, and as long as you don't have the Minimoog expectation, it's a fantastic, interesting, and versatile sound. Especially if it comes out of it's own built in speaker... I LOVE that thing.

I've had it for a week, and it hasn't failed me yet. ; )

I bought it from Big City Music in L.A., and they were VERY helpful in helping me find out why it wouldn't stop playing. (THE ACCURSED DIRECT OUTPUT MIXER!!!)

I have already fallen in love with this thing... if not for the sounds, the versatility, the history or the ergonomics... the LOOK... there is NO cooler looking synthesizer! I possess a Micromoog, which gives me "The Moog Sound" when I want it, but the Sonic Six gives me a delightful and less common sound. If you find one, buy it... especially if it's cheap... as you can tell by what I payed for mine... they're not the "budget synth" that people made them out to be a couple of years ago. Roger Manning jr. described the Sonic Six as "furniture from 2001 (a space odyssey)."

This was designed to train people for analog synthesizers and it's extremely simple. In fact, it's a little bit TOO simple (i.e., a single, AR envelope generator!). There's no software or presets on it, of course. The manuals were written by Tom Rhea and they are excellent (if you can find them...)

It has a kind of two note polyphony, but the tuning (and scaling) instability makes it almost useless for regular tonal music. It has a ring modulator and two LFO's with a lot of waveforms that are mixable. The keyboard is also fairly nice. You can adjust the keyboard scale to play microtonal music. It is seriously lacking in envelope generators. With only a single AR one, doing complex sounds is almost impossible. Finally, there's tons of knobs to grab in realtime. Of course, there's no presets or programs, no sequencer, no expansion and no MIDI.

For making wierd noises it's still pretty useful today. You can run an external signal (like an mike) into the ring mod it has and it can do a nice drone on top of everything. For regular music, the tuning is just too unstable and inaccurate. The occillators don't even stay in tune with each other. It can approximate a Minimoog sound, but is a little thin compared with a real Mini (or even a sampled one). Good for spacey effects, cheesy 60's "synthesizer" sounds etc. Not een remotely like a "real" instrument. Very eletronic sounding.

It's actually very reliable, except for the tuning. It's built into it's own little case for travel and is constructed fairly well. Nobody sane would use it as their primary instrument, so it's fine.

Moog is gone, but there are some companies supporting vintage Moogs, who could probably fix it if it ever broke.

This was my first synthesizer. It was a blast at the time, but I needed an electric piano or organ to go with it to do anything really musical (I would do an occasional solo or sound effect on it and go right back to the organ again.) For someone into effects or vintage sound or just a general collector, it would be an interesting instrument, but I couldn't recommend it to a serious musician.

Very easy to get some sound out of, once the two mixer sections are worked out.

Very Good Looking. Blue inside and very retro - looks more like a modular than anything else. Good, then, for stage value.
Fairly extensive sound features but poor envelope - worse than minimoog.

The Moog keyboard is lovely to play, like a good piano it almost plays itself. The Sonic Six works very well on it's own - eg, one oscillator can be set to 'Popul Vuh' or 'Hawkwind' style noises, and the other can improvise a melody, the one influening the other.
Not so good in an ensemble, due to tuning instability problems - though it's not as bad as people say.

I LOVED my Sonic Six so much I bought another one. Which is useful when the first goes wrong...
Mostly standard components so, if you have the schematic and a fair knowledge of electronics, you can fix it. In fact, I swapped the 741 chips for something modern myself and that improved the tuning.
The log coverter chip is hard to find - the 726, also used on the Mini and a few Rolands.

eeerrrrrr

My Sonic Six collection is very, very much a luxury. Love not need. However, I do get gigs simply because I have a funny looking old Moog.

Lots of stuff to choose from, but all knobs are well laid out. Funny looking diagrams can be helpful or misleading. Make sure that darn direct output mixer is off before you try figuring anything else out...but once you get rolling the DOM can be very helpful.

Dual oscillator, duophonic, X/Y modulation, ring MOD, white and pink noise, external imput, and IT'S IN ITS OWN CASE!!!
Each oscillator has sine, square (w/ PW), and triangle waveforms. Each can also be controlled by the X/Y MOD. OSC A can be controlled by the A/R envelope and OSC B can be modulated by OSC A.
The keyboard is "duophonic", but not in the conventional sense. When OSC A can be set for low or high note priority (or neither) and OSC B is always high note priority.... So, in essence, when OSC A is set to low note priority and both oscillators are evenly balanced then it becomes duophonic. With this feature, the keyboard isn't the best to play...especially if you are used to low note priority.
X/Y Modulation is crazy!! LFO X or Y can have have seperate waveforms, seperate tempos, and can be affected by the A/R envelope. Waveforms available by either X or Y: Sawtooth up or down, sine and square. X and Y can also be mixed together for interesting results.

Super Weird. With the X/Y MOD and ring MOD, this thing really gets goofy. I'm beginning to feel that this synth is more a noisemaker than anything else. Explosions, kickdrums, boat motors, laser guns...you name it.
Oscillators have a thin sound...it is hard to get earthy or "fat" sounds. Many sounds come off as metallic... Listen to "Hardcore Devo Volumes 1 & 2" and you'll get the picture.

Most complain that the oscillators go out of scale quickly and frequently, though I have not encountered this yet.
But what can you ecpect...it's "vintage" (i.e. OLD)

You kidding?

Great quirky synth, but not what I want right now.... Spend your money on something more useful...unless you've got everything else.