Hi all,
Hope you’re good!
I have a stylised picture of a synth at home (not sure which one) but it is on the desk on a photo from the Ableton website (below) can any of you kind people tell me what it is?
Cheers in advance
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Realistic MG-1 from Radio Shack. Built by Moog, as it happens.
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Thanks very much - I thought it had a Moogy look to it!
Similar styling to the Grandmother
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I’m sure the similarity is intentional. The Grandmother’s side panels are very similar to those on the MG-1 and the ones used on the similar Rogue (my first “proper” synth back in 1981).
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Hey I had one of those! Sounded surprisingly good too.
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Indeed it did. I like the sound of that era of Moog quite a lot. I used to dream of getting an MG-1. I still have the ‘guts’ of one of my old Rogues from which I plan to eventually build a module for my 5U modular system. The MG-1 had a leg up on the Rogue, though, as it was capable of divide-down ‘polyphony’. Neat synth, really, and still not too expensive on the secondhand market.
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I had that and the CS-01 at the same time, another “consumer-grade” synth that was quite useful.
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Yeah! With a breath controller input, too! Underappreciated, that one.
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Another cool tidbit about the MG-1 is that Paul T. Schreiber, who currently manufactures ultra high-quality Eurorack modules as Synthesis Technology, was largely involved in its design. It’s a very unique (and a bit odd) Moog synth with its strange polyphony and ‘home-market’ qualities.
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Indeed! He was one of the first guys to put modular systems back on the map with his MOTM kits and modules. I have a couple of modules that i need to convert from MOTM format to MU. Neat (and very, very high quality) modules!
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Oh yeah, damn - he made the MOTM format too.
Quite an interesting fellow to say the least, I highly recommend watching this interview
And to stay (slightly more) on topic, here is a really nice and cute demo of the MG-1:
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That MG-1 demo is fantastic. I’d not seen that before!
Mr. Schreiber is one of my favorite “characters” of the synth world. His interviews on Darwin Grosse’s podcasts are great. Schreiber’s got a great sense of humor and his anecdotes about his long experience with synth and computer manufacturing and design are interesting.
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Its interesting to see some of what youre up to and enjoy your synth expertise here as well - when i started getting into music yours was one of the first names i knew, as i read stuff you did designing synth patches and such!
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Thanks, that’s really nice of you to post!
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No, thank you!
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I’m gonna hijack this thread for my own “name that synth” question.
Anyone have any idea what synth Herbie is soloing on from around 14:20? His Minimoog and ARP have logos on the back in the other videos I’ve seen. The whole video is just an amazing slice of the 1970s. Love it so much.
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@Scot_Solida Thanks for solving that so quickly. Size wise it looks like it could be the Grandmother prototype. Very cool. 
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It’s a bit bigger than it looks. It was an ugly industrial looking thing with faux wood veneer side panels encircled in aluminum and a metal mesh ribbon controller. It was meant to be a budget synth and was pretty stripped down with only a single oscillator+sub and a pair of ASR envelopes. It had sample-and-hold (the Mini did not), and a dedicated LFO. However, it sounded good and was a solid performer. I had one for many years.
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