Vintage Synth Explorer

Moog Music • Little Phatty

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 arpeggiators, 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.

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Marc

Posted 414 days ago

It's a MOOG, and it's affordable (after some considerable saving!)

Nothing in it's price range can beat it (analog) unless you start looking at second hand kit....

All of my other kit is digital (VA's, FM, PD, SD, etc) and this thing blows them all away. Having never owned analog before the sound is so deep, dirty, and raw. Because of this I'm struggling to place it in my setup as it stands out so much I have to tone it down.

Great for Goldfrapp style basslines, the interface is easy to use and the whole things feels pretty well built.

V2 has added the Arp which has increased it's use, I have done the software update but doubt I will add USB.

Only complaint is some times the buttons seem pretty unresponsive and have to push them a few times.

Always wanted a MOOG but was too scared to spend huge amounts on potentially unreliable 2nd hand kit, gotta thank Moog for producing something thats cost is more earth bound

Lovell Hickman

Posted 424 days ago

Of all the fanboys in the music world the synth guys are the worst "this is the bastardazation of the moog name". Whats Moog suposed to do, keep making replications of the model d for a price that the common musician couldn't afford.
Look, most keyboard players don't even understand the power of an analog monosynth and how many other synths are there in this price range.
In the name of rock and roll, I have regretfully sacrificed too many awesome insturments without the safety net of a modern replacement, Odysseys, Octave Cats, the Source, they're long gone folks so don't act like this is Moogs Phantom Menace.
Guitar players have it easy, you'll always be able to find a plexi or an awesome telle anywhere. Can you just go downtown and get a badass synth thats cheap enough to risk clubbing with?
I for one commend Moog for having the forward thought to make a synth that actually is what it is.

Architecture

Posted 441 days ago

I have the Stage II edition, which really makes this machine far more powerful, like S&H, Noise, Appregiator, and a few more goodies! The cool part about this machine is being able to go anywhere from 1 to 4 poles on the filter, with 1 being incredibly harsh and acidic, with 4 being very smooth sounding. Im in love with 1 Pole Filtering on this thing, it does things my Andromeda A6 cannot, especially with its fast LFO. Definitely a must buy, even if you are making Techno music, it can do anything, as long as you work with it.

Jim

Posted 444 days ago

This synth is just a bastardization of the Moog name. It sounds very thin for a Moog, has parameters that can only be reached by menu, has only six control knobs, and wasn't even designed by Bob as they so love to claim. Like so many other modern analogs, this thing pales in contrast to what is expected out of an analog.

Oneki Kai

Posted 451 days ago

I liked this, but I wouldn't buy one. It doesn't suit techno music well and costs too much for my salary given the features.

However, if you do R&B, Hip Hop, 70's rock, or Funk, this is probably the best keyboard you can possibly buy.

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