This is the very source of cheap Moog bass! It is a lot like the strap-on Moog Liberation in its design and architecture and also looks and sounds very much like the Moog Rogue. The MG-1 was built by Moog for Realistic (Radio Shack), and was designed specifically for the home market. Very basic and easy to use, this is a nice cheap way to get your hands on Moog sounds!

The MG-1 is a 2-VCO monophonic/polyphonic analog synth with a genuine 24dB/oct Moog filter, however the overall sound is thin. On the MG-1, the VCOs are referred to as 'Tone Generators'. It can produce sawtooth, square and pulse waveforms, and the oscillators are detunable and syncable. A simple ASR (attack, sustain, release) envelope called 'Contour' can be applied to both the amp and the filter. The LFO section provides triangle or square wave patterns as well as Sample-and-Hold. Additionally there is a simple Ring-Mod effect called 'Bell'.

Unique to the MG-1 is a slider on the far right side of the keyboard which controls the volume of a simple divide-down polyphonic organ sound. This feature makes it at least a little more versatile than the Rogue. There are RCA inputs and outputs (the input is routed straight to the output for playing along with music from your stereo system) but no external speakers as in most other home marketed synthesizers. There is also no sign of Midi or patch memory on the MG-1. It is used by Peter Gabriel, 808 State, Remy Shand, and KMFDM.

Here is a table highlighting some of the differences pointed out by a user between the MG-1 and Rogue.

michaelphibes

May 6, 2011 @ 2:45 am

i own this and love that this has 10 voice polyphony for a moog/realistic. it is feature-ful for ur buck. the mixer is so much fun.

Ken Albin

May 4, 2011 @ 11:13 pm

I've had mine for 28 years now since I bought it new as they were closing them out. It plays as well now as it did when new and I wouldn't take anything for it! I've used it in compositions for bass, sound effects, various instruments, and it is the perfect small retro machine. I use other synths and computer samples as well and you just can't duplicate the wonderful sounds you can get out of this instrument. It is a real classic. It's like comparing a vintage Les Paul to modern copies. Grab one if you can find one in good shape.

harry corrigan

April 15, 2011 @ 10:20 pm

jesse johnson from motion city soundtrack used it on their first 4 records before switching to the moog lil phatty

gridsleep

February 26, 2011 @ 4:34 am

I can't see how VSE can rate this tea tray sized marvel as "humdrum" when there are videos like Automatic Gainsay's five part demonstration there for all to see. Hey! VSE editors! Look at http://www.youtube.com/user/AutomaticGainsay#p/u/28/qE7aQpA4XVA and I dare you not to change your minds. This box has to be "great" if not "excellent."

Connor

February 5, 2011 @ 5:47 pm

Also used by Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

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