Premier Rock Forum

the Moog that Moog made for Radioshack in the early 80's?

if you have used it or have one that you use on a regular basis, i'd be interested to hear your feedback.

yessir i had one for a number of years.
what do you want to know?
there basic. you can get a decent bass sound.
the psudo poliphonic slider yeilds some neatness. all in all its a decent little guy for the price.
you can retrofit them with midi pretty easily too.

I sold on about 7 years ago and kick myself in the head every two weeks about it. tons of fun and easy to use. Very cool machine. Has a polyphonic tone that runs underneath the monophonic synth sound.

It doesn't really sound much like a Moog, as far as I recall, but it's an OK synth. Prices have inflated past what I'd pay for one, due to the Moog association. I think you could probably get a better sounding, less "fashionable" synth for similar money.

hopelesshomo wrote:the Moog that Moog made for Radioshack in the early 80's?

if you have used it or have one that you use on a regular basis, i'd be interested to hear your feedback.

PRF member Choppy owns one, its all over our first record... you could PM him, he knows how to get great sounds out of that thing...

Yep, it's sitting out in the conversation pit now. It even stays in tune, since I had all the sliders replaced last year.

Whaddya wanna know?

sounds nice.
it's no minimoog.
but it sounds nice.

how much can you get it for?

They're OK. just okay.

I wouldn't pay more than say 200 or so for one. They're similar to the Moog Rogue and the Moog Liberation, as they run on, I believe, the same design. Realistic really dumbed down the control descriptors (much like Moog did with the Opus 3), and it doesn't really teach you anything about synthesis. Not that it's a big deal to learn about synthesis, but it's not necessarily the most convenient way to figure out what the machine is actually doing. The ASDR envelope is called "Contour" and the ring mod is called "bell", e.g. It does have that cool 'organ' lever that makes it polyphonic (doesn't it?)

I've seen these things going for $400-500, which is just ridiculous, as it's not that great of a synth. You could get a Roland Juno 6 for half that and have a keyboard that is laid out in an intuitive and logical manner. It's a better keyboard than all of the low end Moogs (the ones I listed above), since it's much more versatile, and the oscillators are more reliable for keeping the thing in tune.

I'm not really trying to talk you out of it, as much as I am playing devils' advocate. If I found one for a decent price, I'd probably snatch it up, too.



Faiz

you didn't say that the Opus 3 is an amazing keyboard.

but you're right.
a juno6 is a fantastic keyboard.

also, if you can find one cheap.
the MiniKorg (not the piece of shit MicroKorg) is a great mono synth.

r0ck1r0ck2 wrote:you didn't say that the Opus 3 is an amazing keyboard.

it is. but the layout for it is kinda lame, as far as knowing what the keyboard is doing. the string bank dies on those things notoriously, and they require a lot of maintenance. I almost bought one a while back, and my old bandmate (who played my Juno 6 and her Opus 3 as part of her rig) talked me out of it. Her Opus (which was in great great shape) has died or developed major issues three times, while my Juno has been running like a champ, without a hitch or glitch for years.

but you're right.
a juno6 is a fantastic keyboard.

so so great. You can do anything with this synth, except get a "moog bass". I will say theat I prefer the sound of the Juno bass. the arpeggiator is even cool, and I usually don't like those things.

also, if you can find one cheap.
the MiniKorg (not the piece of shit MicroKorg) is a great mono synth.

word up. those are basically the same keyboards as the Univox ones, aren't they? I love those things. they've gotten pretty pricey last time I've checked, but I spotted one for $200 just recently. If I had the disposeable income, I woulda definitely gotten it. these ones have that clicky prophet 5 keyboard action, don't they? they feel great to play.

the Microkorg's toy keys are total bullshit. No one should have to play one of those. It's a shame, since the sound engine on those things is actually pretty fucking good. They should have just made it a two octave keyboard and put human finger sized keys on it as opposed to those bullshit half sized ones over three octaves. what a fucking piece of shit. Just buy the MS2000. it has the same engine and real keys.