Moog • Minimoog
Historically, the Minimoog is considered the very first synthesizer for musicians! Compact, affordable, simplified and based on the mega-modular Moog synths, the Minimoog became the most popular synth of all time, even still to this day! Famous for its excellent fat analog sound and the best filters in a portable case. It featured three oscillators (one of which can be used as an LFO) that could be individually de-tuned and offered multiple waveforms. The Minimoog is monophonic (only one note can be played at a time) and its three-oscillator design gave it its famous fat sound - three de-tuned oscillators each playing a different waveform can create some pretty thick analog sounds!
You can't talk about the Minimoog without mentioning its filters. Amazingly, Dr. Moog's filter design has yet to be surpassed by a better sounding filter. It's a filter that sounds so warm and smooth that Moog rival ARP tried to copy it for their 2600 and Odyssey synths. The Minimoog has a 4-pole (24 dB/oct) low-pass with the typical cutoff, resonance, ADS envelope and keybd tracking controls. There are also some very cool modulation possibilities via LFO, and external audio can be processed. Every editable parameter is on the front panel and clearly laid out. As well as an awesome sound, the Minimoog is a great teaching tool for anyone interested in classic subtractive synthesis. It even has an A440 tone so you can manually tune the oscillators which is nice since (like mosts analog synths that heat up) the tuning of even this machine can be a little bit unstable.
The Minimoog is responsible for some of the warmest and best analog synth bass, lead and whistle sounds ever. Its control panel can lay flat or propped up perpendicular to the keyboard. It also has a great wood casing. Very rugged. A very versatile synth, useful in all styles of music and easy enough for anybody to operate! It is used by The Chemical Brothers, The Orb, Kraftwerk, Jan Hammer, Nine Inch Nails, Vince Clarke, Gary Numan, Add N To (X), Rick Wakeman, 808 State, Air, Future Sound of London, Bushflange, Chick Corea, Überzone, Depeche Mode, Recoil, Tangerine Dream, Mouse on Mars, Apollo 440, Ultravox, Dave Holmes, Jean-Michel Jarre, George Duke, Blondie, Rush, Toto, Jimmy Edgar, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Yes, Vangelis, Joe Zawinul and Herbie Hancock.
Evolution of the Minimoog: (pictured above from The Audities Foundation).
Model-A Prototype - Built in 1969. This version more closely resembles the modular Moog's but in a very compact form. In its wood case, six Moog designed modules were internally hard-wired together and connected to a small keyboard. Many labels were typed out on paper and taped on to the front panel above the knobs.
Model-B Prototype - Built in 1970. In this version, the modular look was eliminated as the components were brought together by a pupose built front panel lay out. The three identical VCO sections were stacked on top of each other on the left. The right side held the Amplitude and Filter contour controls. The middle section held the Noise, Filter (cutoff, res) and master tuning controls. There was even a power switch on the front.
Model-C Prototype - Built in 1970. This version really begins to look like a Minimoog. The familiar left-to-right layout of Controllers, Oscillator Bank, Mixer, Modifiers and Output sections and the signature pop-up front panel had come to exist. The Model-C was photographed for the original Sales Flyer introducing the Minimoog, although in that flyer it was referred to as the Model-D.
Model-D Prototype - Built in 1970 almost immediately after the Model-C. A few more cosmetic tweaks to the front panel design brought about the last few final touches before readying for commercial production of the official Model-D.
Model-D - Built in 1971. A few more design tweaks (like adding some red rocker-switches and proper pitch-bend and mod wheels) and the Model-D was the Minimoog sold to the public. Interestingly, there are three versions of the Model-D, with some very minor and mainly cosmetic variations to each. Fortunately they can be distinguished from their name-plates.
The very first batch of Minimoogs made in 1971 (a few dozen) were labelled 'R.A. Moog' (as in, Robert Arthur Moog).
Then there was a very short period during 1972 in which Moog Music, which had just merged with the smaller muSonics company, saw the production of a scant handful of "Moog muSonics" Minimoogs.
Then from 1972-1981 came the Moog Music, Inc. labelled Minimoogs which make up the majority of Minis that we're used to seeing. While there seems to be no difference between the Moog muSonics and Moog Music versions sonically, the original R.A. Moog Minis do have a slightly different--to some ears--warmer sound.
The Model-D Minimoog has been reissued several times time during the late 1990's by businesses that often failed quite rapidly. Finally, it was successfully and faithfully reproduced by Moog Synthesizers in the UK, with MIDI and other updated features. But in 2002 the first official new Minimoog designed by Dr. Robert Moog himself was released by Moog Music (once Big Briar) in the form of the ultimate Minimoog, the Minimoog Voyager.
Hardware/Software Alternatives:
- Studio Electronics Midimoog - An analog recreation of the original Minimoog with an authentic Minimoog Model-D board inside a rack-mount design, with MIDI and a dedicated LFO.
- Studio Electronics SE-1 - A more advanced and flexible rack-mount synth but like the Midimoog, it has an authentic Model-D board inside too.
- Steinberg's Model-E is an amazing VST Plug-In that is modeled after the Model-D Minimoog.
- Arturia's Minimoog V - THE most amazing, authentic, and realistic software synth plug-in modelled after the Minimoog, with major enhancements including stereo and polyphonic voices, advanced modulation abilities, MIDI/Tempo sync, patch memory, total recall, controller automation, and much more - all for less than $200!
I am constanly surprised at the new sounds that emerge from this magical machine....
I played around with it but had no idea what I was doing. Later the poly synths got more attention and monosynths were out of fashion. In 1986 he sold his Mini and in 1989 I started looking for one myself, because I found that nothing else could fill that void. For 20-years I have not succeeded in finding one and resorted to clones, both hardware and software. Even the Voyager somehow let me down every time I played it. With the prices of original Minimoogs only going up, I realised I had to hurry up and get one before they get extinct and unaffordable. My 20-year long search finally came to an end last week, when one came up for sale on eBay, which had been completely restored by RL-Music. I have many other vintage synths and with the Minimoog my collection is finally complete. That sound I played as a child on my dad's minimoog also brings back wonderful memories.