The Little Phatty is the next great thing to emerge from the revitalized Moog Music synthesizer company. It is sort of a notch below the Voyager, but should not really be categorized as such because the Little Phatty is a powerful synth with a layout and design that looks less into the past and more towards the future.

The Little Phatty boasts a 100 percent analog signal path, 100 user editable presets and a 37-note keyboard. It is a monophonic synth with two oscillators (the Voyager has three osc). Waveform selector is continuously variable between waveforms (tri, saw, square, pulse) and there is oscillator-sync. The filter is the classic Moog ladder design. Two ADSR envelope generators are available for the volume and the filter. And finally a nice LFO with six waveshapes, four destinations and rate/depth controls helps to get things moving. The 'Master' section of the keyboard has controls for Tuning, +/-2 Octave Transpose, Glide, Pitch/Mod wheels and some data entry controls. There are no on-board sequencers or effects, however.

The interface couldn't be simpler and despite the minimized number of buttons and knobs, there are no hidden pages or sub-layers of button functions - all controls are still very hands-on and provide excellent visual feedback via two-tone back-lit buttons, dials and pitch bend / mod wheels. Beautiful, hand-built, simple, effective, powerful - classic Moog design. The Little Phatty is designed to offer a 21st century analog Moog synthesizer in a compact portable package and at a price every musician can afford.

The standard edition is the Stage model (pictured top). Moog initially released a special, limited edition run of 1,200 individually numbered Bob Moog Tribute Edition synths. The limited run, Tribute Edition of the Little Phatty (pictured above) has special Moog wood side panels, a Bob Moog signature plate across the front and rear, comes with a CD-ROM featuring highlights of the Bob Moog Memorial Celebration Service and a special Bob Moog poster.

OK so they aren't that cheap. And they aren't very feature-rich compared with some of its competitors. But it is a genuine Moog. Its sound engine was designed by the late and great Bob Moog himself. It's the final synth he built for us. And it simply sounds amazing! It's analog but with such ultra-stability and such a modern and expressive interface, using the Little Phatty is an absolute joy - for experimenting, learning, jamming and having fun - it's one of the best 21st century synths for analog basses, leads, effects, noises and more.

69 VISITOR COMMENTS

Klarity

January 12, 2012 @ 12:27 am

Big fan of this synth. Does absolutely everything I need it to, live and in the studio, all without breaking a sweat. Never had tuning problems on mine, but cutting it on early on a winter morning and playing it immediately reminds me of my MS-20. Usually it's good to go after 10 minutes or less. Not gonna get these sounds out of any VA, and most other analogs! Continuously variable waveshapes, filter pole switching, and overdrive all allow for your very own sound.... But no matter what there's no mistaking it's a Moog. This ones a keeper.

Factory Fun

December 17, 2011 @ 2:59 pm

VCOs need to warm up if you want their tuning to be stable. This isn't a LP problem, it's just how VCOs work. I wouldn't say the LP warm up time is any greater than any other VCO analog.
Slightly detuning oscillators is a really common technique. I don't see how presets that take advantage of this could be viewed as a flaw. Actually, I don't see how the presets matter at all when judging a synth.
I have been using a LP live for years. They’re fun to use and they can sound pretty great. It's weird reading the stuff people post on here. People thinking the Mopho is virtual analog?

blammo

December 13, 2011 @ 9:43 am

Yes, the PCB's are stuffed in China, but they are assembled and tested in Ashville NC.

Liquidyzer

December 13, 2011 @ 7:07 am

Fancied some of that Moog sound to go along with my mostly roland stuff. Got a tribute version very cheap but basically all the pots on the front are shot,working but skippy. Have to say i do like the moog muffled creamy sound mixed with my other gear. Adds another dimension. BTW this made in america is a load of BS opened the LP to replace pots. Cheap Tiwanese pots and all boards made in Taiwan. Build quality is bad, god knows but my 30 year old Juno 60 will still be going when this the Little Phatty has long died. Come on synth producers, stop cutting corners and make some quality kit!

kenny

December 11, 2011 @ 2:41 pm

All these people saying mean things about Mr. Phatty are making me sad. I have a collection of synthesizers, all of them analog, and most of them vintage. The little Phatty is my absolute favorite above all of them, and it has such a rich character that I feel like it has a soul of its own. Please don't share your opinion until you have tried it!

<14131211109876>

 

Post Comment!

Your Name: (required)

Email Address: (required)

Image verification: (required)

Message:

 

Posting Rules:
Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

I have read and understand the posting rules.