Moog released Mother 32 in 2015 as the first of what we didn’t know then, but would be a new line of small semi-modulars. Beautiful, but very limited on its own. DFAM arrived in 2018. This one opened up at least my eyes to percussion programming in a new way. The Subharmonicon came (for real) 2020 and seems to be praised by most synthesists. I have the DFAM and the SubH and gaze at the Mother.
Today, this is a model series in its own right. The three are hopefully followed by a few more. So…
So we know it will have a ladder filter and a sequencer, and be mostly analog. I’m actually having trouble figuring out what is really left for them to try and do though. It will likely be very forward-thinking without breaking away from Moog tradition. So nothing west coast, no digital FM or wavetables or sampling…
What else is left? Maybe more of a weird sci fi vibe like early moog systems. Spring reverb, ring modulator, fixed filter bank… And what about the sequencer? Maybe an assignable cv sequencer?
What’s the function of the M32 in this triad? How do you use it? What would you miss without it?
I ask because I have DFAM + SubH and considering the M32.
Edit: I do understand it’s basic functions. I mean rather what it adds to your workflow and to the triad as a system.
I have yet to even come close to unlocking the full potential, aside from more routing options, but what it allows in the most basic sense is the ability to play leads and melodies that aren’t crazy polyrythms. And I do that with my Linnstrument via midi. So it makes it easier to just jam out with nothing but the moogs. Add a nice steady bass line on the M32 and play that off the polyrythms of the sub. But I mostly got it because I knew deep down, that some day I would be forced to complete the trinity and have them in the 3-tier rack.
I have a DFAM and two Mothers, and even in a scenario where only the DFAM is producing sound, the two M32s will be sending LFOs or S&H into the DFAM.
Apart from that, the Mother has MIDI, so clocking the DFAM with other gear or a DAW becomes easier.
If Moog wants to make all the monies, the next one should be dominated by utility modules like LPGs, s/h, multiple noise options, switches, logic, attenuverters, comparators, a wavefolder, a looping ADSR patchable at each juncture, another LFO, and an oscillator dedicated to FMing incoming audio.
It would be an attractive addition for anyone who has any semi-modular synthesizer.
If Moog analogue is the wish and considering how many sine waves additive requires to be viable, plus multiple filters, surely it would be Moog’s most expensive synth to date by a very long shot! And way, way bigger than M32. Then again, maybe I’m missing something? The Animoog for iOS was unexpected and pretty innovative. AFAIK, there’s never been a commercial analogue additive synth. Maybe I’m wrong.
Perhaps too much to ask for But Moog shouldn’t be abound to classic subtractive analog. What would an FM semi-modular look the Moog way? I think that would be interesting to hear, see and feel. (Especially together with DFAM and the SubH).
I’d like to see an extended pitch tracker module, something like the the MF-107. You hook up any audio input to the module and it will translate pitch and velocity values into CV, which drive an oscillator or two.
Apparently the “Beh****r” K-2 does a really good job of pitch tracking, but I haven’t tested it.
Would make it an instabuy!