Is Moog Overrated?

There are very little sounds that cant be emulated by cheaper products these days. And as Moog command such steep prices, im wondering if your paying for build quality rather than the sound.(Like Leica in cameras). Any thoughts on this? Or is this just plain obvious to everyone here?

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no imo. they sound gorgeous and pure quality builds

for me often almost too thick in a mix though

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Depends on the product.
E.g. MF-104 overrated? No. Expensive? Yes.
Minimoog? Maybe… but we will see how Behringer keeps up with Moog build quality over time…
Edit: in no way am I implying that I don’t like the original Minimoog, just that you can now get close to that sound for way less money.

The Minifooger line was pretty nice I guess, donā€˜t know much about their synths.

Still the standard for me.

Sit with a sub 37 and tell me you think that Moogs are over rated.

There is soooooo much power in thier products. Long may they do what they do. (What ever it costs to get it done, I will pay if I can afford)… I own 3 Moogs and they all rock.

And over rated how exactly? Price? Or are you asking if they are shit when the consensus is a thumbs up from 2/3rds of humans who have had the pleasure of basking in the warm glow of interacting with one of thier products?

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They’re overpriced imo
Imagine how much would AH cost if it was made by Moog… 2000 euros? Or A4? 7000 euros?

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No. Pure, pristine electricity.

If you want it to play nice with others, you’ll have to patch or process it heavily Like NIN. If you want unadulterated Moog you have to use only Moog. Like Kraftwerk.

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No disrespect to the A4 but that’s an entirely different ballpark of sound. You can patch the A4 to resemble a Moog…but it sure as shoot ain’t a Moog.

Like many people my age (mid-50s), I spend my younger years dreaming of owning a Minimoog. When I was first starting out, they were not all that expensive - but still too expensive for me. I settled for the Roland SH-09 (still have that very same synth, too). My next synth was an early poly (Alpha Juno) and my next after that a sampling ā€œworkstationā€ - by that time, it was all about bang-for-the-buck for a cash-strapped feller like myself. For decades, I kept dreaming - and narrowly missing owning a Minimoog and eventually prices began to climb. And climb.

Flash forward to the early 2000s, when I finally decided to throw caution to the wind and splurge on a 30-year old Model D. It was in dire shape. The wooden cabinet was battered, the keys needed re-bushing and the pots and switches all scratchy. By that time, I had convinced myself that - as I’d discovered with so many coveted synths - the legend of the Minimoog was probably merely a myth. At least, I’d hoped that was the case as I awaited its delivery. I’d owned many Moogs in my day, but all were cheaper, second-tier Moogs like the Rogue and Opus 3. The Source was pretty cool, but with only a pair of oscillators on tap it wasn’t possessed of what I’d call a mythmaking sound.

Why would I hope to be let down by the sound of the Mini? Because I knew it was going to cost me at least a thousand bucks to have the beaten and bruised thing restored. If the legend was over-played, I could simply pack it up and sell it on, saving my money for something more worthwhile.

When it arrived, I unpacked it, gave it a quick once-over and fired it up.

Much to my simultaneous wonder and disappointment, it was… sublime. This was the sound about which I’d been dreaming for decades. More than that, even in its dire state, it was fun to play. The physical layout, the big, chunky knobs, the solid ā€˜kathunk’ of the rocker switches… it all adds up to something much greater than the sum of its parts.

Now, let me state clearly - I do not think that all Moog instruments are on a par with the Mini. That thing was lightning in a bottle. The Voyager was an elegant machine that took the idea of the Mini about as far as it could go - and it did absolutely nothing for me. The Little Phatty sat in my room for six months and never once made it onto a recording. I found it totally uninspiring (and the physcial design was… not good). In fact, I was not impressed with any of Moog’s ā€˜modern’ offerings until recently. None of them had ā€˜that’ sound.

And then something odd happened. I began to hear some of what I loved about the Moog sound popping up in the company’s ā€˜lesser’ products. Since then, they’ve released a number of great-sounding synths - some wildly expensive (O how I long for you, System IIIP) and some cheap 'n cheerful (Grandmother… wow!)

Now, my opinion is entirely subjective, obviously. I do not deify Moog in any way and some of the stuff they do leaves me scratching my head. Their quality control sometimes leaves very much to be desired (my closest synth-buddy and I both received faulty Grandmothers), and some of the overhype gets on my nerves (claiming Animoog was the first pro iOs synth was insulting to both Korg and VirSyn). I’ve also heard some pretty convincing knock-offs these days, both hard and soft. However, I can’t deny that the Moog ā€˜sound’ is a sound that I value. Not everyone does, and I am still not always sure it’s worth the risks of poor Q+A. I live in fear that my Grandmother’s power supply jack might give out as others have reported… but the sound of that machine is worth it, in my opinion.

I still have that Model D. I had it restored and re-cabineted by Wes Taggart of Analogics. That was a long, long, time ago and it’s now due for another servicing. Nevertheless, it still plays and sounds great!

Is Moog overrated? Sure. That logo is a heck of a placebo for some people. However, the company has created some instruments that have become legendary for very good reasons. That doesn’t make them better than other companies, and there are plenty of great products coming out from lots of companies. Moog are great at being Moog. If you want a Moog-like synth, they’re the obvious first stop on that path.

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i“m not the biggest moog fan, but my moogerfoogers are fantastic. didn“t like the slim phatty that much and i“m not sure about the DFAM, but they have been not that expensive. support was very very good when i needed it. so thumbs up MOOG ! and don“t go to china !

Even their apps are the bees.

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Can a moog sound like A4? Can it do what A4 can? Just saying it’d cost 3x more than A4 if it’d had all A4’s tricks.

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No. Can a Steinway sound like a Yamaha?

I completely agree that an A4 arguably has more ā€œtricksā€ than a Grandmother (or whatever the equivalent is). 4 M32s is 2k? And that can do things an A4 cannot.

But I thought we were discussing sound…

What hardware analog synth isn’t overrated at the end of the day? Atleast with Moog you get something well made from a brand with a rich history and a signature sound.

If you approach it purely price to features then all hardware synthesizers are overrated/overpriced.

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Model D, no.
Everything else, :joy: f^ck yes.

My Voyager was returned twice for poor repairs. Subsequent37 the same and eventually replaced. Minitaur eventually bricked. Moogerfoogers were the noisiest fx I ever owned.

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I use my subphatty on almost every track. It is not for everything, but if it fits it works really good. Rolling off the bottom end isn’t that hard, and most of the time that’s all I have to do…

I do find them somewhat overpriced, but they are quality products.

Routing the bassstation2 through the subphatty is really nice btw :sunglasses:

honestly find these questions kinda silly. the machines are ā€œratedā€ what you rate them, what worth they have to you. for everyone out there saying Moog is over-rated, there’s someone who would claim to sell their first-born before their Model D. likewise, with Elektron and their Octatrack. and there are plenty of people who say Elektron gear is over-rated/over-priced.

try the stuff out, make music with it, enjoy it, or don’t. who cares what others ā€œrateā€ it.

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As we live in a consumerist society of course these questions are open to debate?

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I’d say yes they are fetishised and overrated. But that’s not to say you get a bad quality product. The product is high quality and american built, and I still want their products. Lots of things in our society are overrated. In my opinion no one mans music is worth millions but we have a music industry built on exactly that notion