The Moog Rogue could be the very definition of cheap Moog bass. It's a two-oscillator analog monosynth from Moog that, while having genuine and highly desirable Moog componentry, its design cut many corners to make this Moog's most compact and inexpensive offering of its time. In fact, the design was so simplified and streamlined that Moog licensed the design to Tandy/Radioshack who built the nearly identical Realistic Concertmate MG-1, which actually offers more features for less bucks! Incidentally the Rogue is also utilized as the Moog Taurus II Bass Synth with 1-1/2 octave bass pedals instead of the Rogue's 2-1/2 octave keyboard.

The Rogue could be considered a very scaled down version of the Prodigy (which was itself a very scaled down Minimoog) offering far fewer synthesis options and flexibility. Only two waveforms per oscillator (saw and square/rectangle) and, unlike the Prodigy, the oscillators must play the exact same waveform and pitch range, for a much more limited sonic range of synth tones. You cannot mix Sawtooth with Square/Rectangle waves on the Rogue, whereas you can on the Prodigy and Liberation. Another cutback is the single envelope generator that is shared by both the Filter and the Loudness Amp, offering just Attack, Release and a switchable Sustain mode (OFF, HALF, FULL). Still, the Rogue has a decent Moog filter with an external audio input.

Moog was definitely cutting costs with this model, making it the smallest, simplest and most basic synth in their line-up; yet still versatile and user-friendly enough to be used as the Taurus II Bass Pedal synth and an entry-level electronic tinkering Radioshack junkies music machine. To this day, the Rogue is still an inexpensive place to get good Moog sounds! It is used by Peter Gabriel, Add N To (X), 808 State, Stereolab, Mr. Oizo and KMFDM.

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

28 VISITOR COMMENTS

shawn

January 20, 2012 @ 2:52 am

dp - just watched the demo you posted. you got SO MUCH out of the rogue. fantastic demo.

DP

January 19, 2012 @ 3:27 pm

This is my Rogue, hope you'll enjoy it: http://youtu.be/Je-MeTy7hS0

Dani

September 30, 2011 @ 11:26 am

Sunn 0))) uses a Moog Rogue for creating their drone doom sound (live on this 2011 tour at least)

Calaveras

September 1, 2011 @ 1:36 am

this is NOT the same as a a Realistic MG1!
1-MG1 has amount sliders for modulation, Rogue only has switches.
2-MG1 has a divide down organ tone (polyphony).
3-Rogue has mod and pitch wheels.
4-Keyboard tracking is on/half/off for the MG1, a knob on the rogue.
5-MG1 has independent waveform selection and pitch.
6-MG1 also has a (weak) ringmod effect.
7-osc sync is only on or off on the MG1, there is no "contoured".
8-keybed iss different on the two. The MG1's is slower.

drheqx

June 19, 2011 @ 7:14 am

I have owned mine since 1990. I used it on a straight to tape recording one summer. The bass was so powerful on cassette tape that it would rattle the windows in the car without a subwoofer. That filter is so wide-band that it passes all of the subharmonics that are missed in a lot of the IC based filters. To get the audio input to work you have to set AMT to one extreme. I forget right now, but you will hear nothing if you don't do that at least.

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