To: analogue@hyperreal.org,
From: Mike Peake peake@pacificnet.net,
cc:
Subject: [AH] Moog Vs. Synthesizers.com
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 21:13:31 -0800
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As the Synthesizers.com system is en homage
to the Moog system (at least in format), it
begs for a direct comparison... Here's a re-
posting of something I put up on TGS, as well
as the Synthesizers.com Yahoo group:
I have a Moog, basically a 15 and a 10 system (two
portable cabinets). A few weeks ago I brought it up
to the Hayward synth gathering (see this forum for
pix etc.). Konkuro, Synthbaron , Cary Roberts and
I spent a few hours comparing aspects of the two
systems, and Konkuro and I spent a while longer
the next day continuing in the same vein.
The Moog 904a lowpass filter and the Arrick ladder
(in the "traditional" response configuration in which
resonance is proportional to Fc) sounded quite alike!
Very much so. The tests weren't detailed enough to
be conclusive (owning and using both would be the
next step) but dang, they were close. The Arrick
tracked a hell of a lot better than my Moog filter
(but then again, it's not calibrated at the moment)
without sounding rigid. The only issue I had with the
Arrick ladder was some self-noise. But for the price,
if you want something that close, you can't beat the
Synthesizers.com ladder filter. You could probably
buy three or four Arrick ladders for the price of a
vintage Moog 904a!
Both filters responded to either an Arrick or a Moog
envelope so similarly.. But the VCAs were different.
The Moog "closes" a bit more quickly, and the Arrick
tails off to silence a lot better. The Moog VCA in
Exponential mode sounded closer but still didn't
have a smooth fade to silence. IIRC, the Arrick
VCA had a bit less trouble with minimum attack
times and produced less clickies.
The Moog and Arrick oscillators, when doing
sawtooth waves, were pretty close indeed, but
you could definitely tell which one the Moog was
due to drift (the Arrick oscillators are very, very
stable- I couldn't imagine needing anything more
stable than that for music and complex FM).
When we switched to other waveforms, the Arricks
fell behind quickly. The Moog sounded grittier and
more aggressive. Neither has a decent sine wave,
however, few oscillators do (the Modcan being an
exception) and you can always self-oscillate and
track a filter if you need a pure, pure sine. The
extra harmonics can produce different FM than
a pure sine, so it's a feature, not a bug ;-)
I liked what I heard, especially considering the
price of a system!
There are always things that you have to take
individually, such as my not liking the configuration
of the CV patching being above the audio patching
on the Arrick (the Moog is the reverse of that) and
the panel graphics. The silkscreen is very even but
look at any straight line; you will see that it is made
up of several sections, each of which have a slight tilt.
Weird. The white on black panels are easier to read
in dim light than the silver on black of the Moog
(looking at my Moog/Arrick system right now; I have
a few Arrick modules in it, such as a Signal Processor
etc.) I don't like how far the jacks stick out from the
front panel on the Arrick compared to the Moog, but
a DIY-conscious person could change this if needed.
The Arrick also dispenses with Moog's S-Trigger
system, which used two-prong Cinch-Jones plugs
and connectors and not the 1/4" jacks found on the
rest of the Moog. My envelopes are modded for the
standard V-Trigger convention as well as with standard
1/4" jacks and a nifty LED which follows the envelopes
voltage output. There is also a tiny button on each to
allow the envelopes to be fired by hand. (Here's a link
to a pic of one of my envelope on Kevin's site.)
http://www.synthfool.com/images/mod911.jpgBR>
The Synthesizers.com system have all of this as
standard on their envelopes.
The Moog produces small voltages, and as such,
some modulations such as oscillator FM are not
very deep. There are "master oscillators" such
as the 921, which have much higher outputs for
modulation, but they are still limited in range.
VCAs can be used to add a 2x gain, but that's
a stop-gap measure. The Synthesizers.com
system produces very wide-range voltages,
allowing for very deep FM and modulation effects,
and if for some reason you're not getting enough
range, there are amplifier and processor modules
to boost things further still!
IMO, the Synthesizers.com system is not a
Moog replacement (nothing is, when you total
the things which end up producing the Moog
sound, such as drift, offset, mis-tracking, the
character of the waveforms, and on and on)
BUT you can't beat the price of the Synthesizers.com
system. To get into a genuinely interesting Moog,
you'll need more than a single cabinet of modules.
You can easily build an Arrick for less money and
not have to worry about restoration (a given with
something that is 30 years old).
I plan on adding more and more Synthesizers.com
modules to my Moog setup, as they are thoughtfully
compatable formats.
Easier,
--
Mike Peake, Your Psychic Friend
_______________________________
Specifications:
"Feels Like Dancing/Wartime" -Neville Luxury
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