The Opus-3 is one great little synth. It was designed by Herbert A. Deutsch from Hofstra University who originally nudged Dr. Robert Moog into building synthesizers and later served as director of sales & marketing for Moog Music. Herb also wrote the owner's manual. The sounds are broken up into 3 categories: Strings, Brass and Organ. Strings and Brass have their own separate VCF filter sections, the Organ section has none. The Opus-3 also has 2 sound outputs for an early stereo effect with panning! It's a colorful little synth with clearly laid out sliders and is fairly straight forward. It has classic analog Moog sound quality and is a great source of some string and lower octave techno-organ sounds. It is used by Stereolab, Kraftwerk, Zonetech, 808 State and The Rentals.

14 VISITOR COMMENTS

dave drummer with synths

February 6, 2012 @ 7:17 pm

YES, mice indeed. When I bought mine, there had been mice living inside, with candy bar rapper, mouse droppings everywhere, and the black dried urine mixed with the gooey black cushion material that turns to TAR!! After a gross of Q-tips and a putty knife, and hours of cleaning, this synth is Great. Lot's of fun, and great sound. Any thoughts on contact cleaner to improve pitch wheel continuity (not asking for help)?

Mr. Vaughn

January 31, 2012 @ 12:58 pm

If I'm not mistaken all (or most) of the sounds can be mixed in stereo. I would love to put this baby through a complex delay patch utilizing the stereo function.

Mr. Vaughn

January 31, 2012 @ 12:57 pm

Not only my first synth but my first instrument. It sounds unlike almost any other Moog (correct me if I'm wrong here) and has a lot of potential. I put it in storage when I moved to New York and when my Dad brought it out the innards had been ripped apart by some kind of a critter, presumably a mouse. It was pretty much beyond repair and I sold the case to a local synth enthusiast. Fortunately they go for less than a grand on Ebay and the Moog Opus 3 will be mine again!

Ediliano

April 15, 2011 @ 5:43 pm

The brass section is one of the best things of the Opus 3. I have one and it works perfect. It's just amazing. If anyone has one with some section not working good, you must send the opus to a electronic technician, maybe the tension it's no coming to the section. And if there anyone who wants to sell one, just let me know. Here's my mail ejd_ssv@hotmail.com
Cheers!

Technician Larry

March 30, 2011 @ 9:26 pm

I've worked on these in the past and have on eon the bench now. It was an export version and would not run on our 110V power. The original transformer can be configured to run on 110 or 220 volts and was easy to change over. See www.technicianlarry.com

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