My Moog Journey!

It's that time again...I get the urge seemingly every year.....I get stagnated in my production and it makes me want to....buy a Moog!

It all started with the Little Phatty a few years back. This was a good synth no doubt. I bought one looking for the earth-shattering bass I had heard about. This is back when the Voyager was a bit out of reach. I bought one second-hand from a guy on craigslist. Got it from him for about $450 (circa 2010)...got it home...turned it on and.....boom...I was floored with how this thing sounded. I loved the look, feel and sound of it...then...the ugly issue with it reared its head..the main encoders that change the filter and modulation parameters were all screwed up. The weasel sold it to me knowing that it had issues and I was the sucker that didn't turn every knob before finishing the buy. I met him at a Dunkin Donuts in Jefferson Park so there was no way of rectifying the mistake. I ended up selling it because the issue was very bad after a while. (The new owner was a tech guy so he got himself a nice deal that I know he fixed for little or nothing) The parameters would just move by themselves in the middle of playing with it. Even though I was disappointed in the transaction, one thing I did get from it....the sound! It was beefy, deep, powerful...everything that I was looking for. Up to that point, my synth buying and selling had got me to experience with a few romplers (Korg Triton, Emu rack series, Fantom Series) a couple of digital classics (Novation Nova desktop, Yamaha DX7, Roland D5), and the holy grail of VA's (Roland JP8000, Korg MS2000, etc)

I had yet to use a true analog synth. This was my first and no doubt what started the obsession. Fast forward a couple of years later I ended up buying a Slim Phatty rack. Just as powerful, less space. I kept and cherished that one for a few years. I sold it to get an MPC 4000 which I still have today. Then the glorious Grandmother was released in 2018! This thing was the answer to my dreams I thought. It was a take on Moog modular era in a small, semi-modular package. This one paired nicely with my Ableton setup and MPC Live. Got it...used it like crazy...then I felt I was missing something! Patch memory! I loved it but at the time I didn't have a room full of synths and I wanted to save my creations. So I sold my Grandmother to fund the purchase of a Subsequent 37 in 2019.

I loved that one until once again felt like I was missing something and I needed less control and more feel. So I bought myself a Realistic/Moog MG-1. This thing was awesome. It sounded great low and high. Only one issue....the rinky-dink RCA outputs were shot. The issue appeared after a couple of months of use. SOLD! I then bought a nearly pristine Moog Rogue. Which gave me all the character of the MG-1 but none of the crappy output issues. I love this one and couldn't dream about selling....for now...lol. Then finally, I have come full circle and recalled my past Moog glory and bought the Dark Edition Grandmother. Looks cooler and gives me back the feel of spontaneity, I have decided like my MPC's in the past, Moogs stay. I will just end up buying them again. Might as well hang on to them. They all have a shared character but they all are different. This makes having 2, 3, or 8 of them not too crazy. I hope to have a collection of them one day...for now, I'll settle on a Subsequent 37....yea the one I had...that I sold after swearing the Pro 3 was all I need. Note to self...don't ever sell a Moog again!