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Do we want any Moogs? (Yes: up to the Memorymoog, as #51 to #55) #26

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opened 2026-10-12 03:23:54 +00:00 by bcox · 2 comments
bcox commented 2026-10-12 03:23:54 +00:00
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A question for the owner, not a plan: do we want any Moog instruments here, and if so which?

Nothing has been read for this. The list below is from recollection and is only there to choose from.

What there is to choose from

  • Minimoog (1970). One voice: three VCOs, the third usable as an LFO, noise, a mixer that can be overdriven and fed back from the output, the four-pole transistor ladder low-pass, and two envelopes of attack, decay and sustain whose decay is also the release.
  • The smaller one-voice instruments: the Micromoog and Multimoog, the Prodigy, the Rogue, the Source (which has memory), and the Taurus bass pedals.
  • Polymoog (1975). Every key at once from divide-down tone generators, with a card of shaping for each key, presets, and one resonant filter and a set of resonators for the whole instrument. In kind it sits with the ARP Omni (#22) and Korg's PS family (#24).
  • Memorymoog (1982). Six voices, each three VCOs into the ladder filter, with memory.
  • The modular systems, which are patching and nothing else, and so wait on #7 as the ARP 2600 (#22) does.
  • Later instruments: the Voyager, the Little Phatty and Sub family, the Grandmother and Matriarch, the Moog One. If one of the older ones is built, these are where extra features would come from, as the SEM family took a few of the OB-6's.

What would decide it

  • Which of them the owner cares about, and has played or owns.
  • How many instruments. The Minimoog and the Memorymoog could be one, a voice and N of it, as a SEM and the OB-X are. The Polymoog is something else.
  • What is already here. engine/four_pole_filter.h is four stages with feedback, and the SH-5's own filter is a transistor ladder too; what makes a Moog's ladder sound as it does is how it saturates, which is tone and waits on measurement (#4). engine/analog_oscillator.h and engine/analog_vco.h cover the VCOs. A one-voice Moog built clean would be close to what the SH-5 and SH-101 already are, so its worth here rests on that shaping more than any other instrument's does.
  • The names. "Moog" and "Minimoog" are trademarks that are actively used and defended.
  • Provenance, as for every instrument: manuals and measurement only, nothing from an emulator's code, and the Minimoog has more emulations than anything.

If the answer is yes, this ticket is closed in favour of one for each instrument chosen, in the shape of #15.

A question for the owner, not a plan: do we want any Moog instruments here, and if so which? Nothing has been read for this. The list below is from recollection and is only there to choose from. ## What there is to choose from - **Minimoog** (1970). One voice: three VCOs, the third usable as an LFO, noise, a mixer that can be overdriven and fed back from the output, the four-pole transistor ladder low-pass, and two envelopes of attack, decay and sustain whose decay is also the release. - **The smaller one-voice instruments**: the Micromoog and Multimoog, the Prodigy, the Rogue, the Source (which has memory), and the Taurus bass pedals. - **Polymoog** (1975). Every key at once from divide-down tone generators, with a card of shaping for each key, presets, and one resonant filter and a set of resonators for the whole instrument. In kind it sits with the ARP Omni (#22) and Korg's PS family (#24). - **Memorymoog** (1982). Six voices, each three VCOs into the ladder filter, with memory. - **The modular systems**, which are patching and nothing else, and so wait on #7 as the ARP 2600 (#22) does. - **Later instruments**: the Voyager, the Little Phatty and Sub family, the Grandmother and Matriarch, the Moog One. If one of the older ones is built, these are where extra features would come from, as the SEM family took a few of the OB-6's. ## What would decide it - **Which of them the owner cares about**, and has played or owns. - **How many instruments.** The Minimoog and the Memorymoog could be one, a voice and N of it, as a SEM and the OB-X are. The Polymoog is something else. - **What is already here.** `engine/four_pole_filter.h` is four stages with feedback, and the SH-5's own filter is a transistor ladder too; what makes a Moog's ladder sound as it does is how it saturates, which is tone and waits on measurement (#4). `engine/analog_oscillator.h` and `engine/analog_vco.h` cover the VCOs. A one-voice Moog built clean would be close to what the SH-5 and SH-101 already are, so its worth here rests on that shaping more than any other instrument's does. - **The names.** "Moog" and "Minimoog" are trademarks that are actively used and defended. - **Provenance**, as for every instrument: manuals and measurement only, nothing from an emulator's code, and the Minimoog has more emulations than anything. If the answer is yes, this ticket is closed in favour of one for each instrument chosen, in the shape of #15.
bcox commented 2026-10-12 04:03:22 +00:00
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Not now, at least. Low priority.

Not now, at least. Low priority.
bcox commented 2026-10-12 23:33:02 +00:00
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Decided by Ben on 2026-10-12: yes. This replaces the comment above, and this issue is closed: everything in it is settled, and what remains is in #51 to #55.

The decisions

  • Wanted: Moog's instruments up to the Memorymoog (1982).
  • Not wanted: the modular systems, and nothing later, as instruments.
  • No Moog Vocoder, though it falls inside the dates.
  • Patch memory and whatever only serves it are irrelevant. An instrument known for its memory is here for its voice.
  • Variants are combined where that fits, as everywhere else in this repository.
  • The Realistic Concertmate MG-1 is wanted, with the Rogue.
  • Wired-in presets are fair game. What is wired into a circuit, such as resistor values, and can be seen on a published schematic may be used and may ship. What needs a ROM, stored factory patches included, may not. This is Ben's own line, drawn as someone who is not a lawyer; it is in CLAUDE.md, provenance rules 3 and 4. So the fixed sounds of the first Taurus (#52), the Satellite and Minitmoog (#53) and the Polymoog (#54) may be had from their schematics, and the Source's and the Memorymoog's stored programs may not.
  • Moog's own names are used for now, for directories and programs, so that Ben can tell what each is; the repository is private. Nearly every instrument's name here will have to change before anything is sold, and these with them.

Five instruments

Worked out from recollection and a quick look at secondary sources, with no manual read. Ben found the groupings fine.

Issue Instrument Models it covers
#51 Three VCOs into the ladder, a voice and N of it Minimoog Model D; Memorymoog; Memorymoog Plus
#52 Two VCOs into the ladder, one voice Prodigy; Rogue; Realistic Concertmate MG-1; Taurus II; Liberation; Source; Taurus (the first pedals); Sonic Six
#53 The waveshape-knob line, one voice Micromoog; Multimoog; Satellite; Minitmoog
#54 Every key at once, a card for each key Polymoog Synthesizer (203A); Polymoog Keyboard (280A)
#55 A string machine with a brass section Opus 3
  • #53 may become part of #52, making four. If adding a waveshape knob to #52 is all it takes to cover the Micromoog's line, it merges; otherwise it depends on how much the two overlap. The issues stay separate until one of the two has been built.
  • The Opus 3 is last. Ben doubts it will be much of a challenge and does not care much about it.

The Rogue, the Prodigy and the MG-1, which Ben asked about. The Rogue is a cut-down Prodigy: one contour shared by the filter and the amplifier where the Prodigy has one each, and less choice of waveform, though it has noise and a sample and hold that the Prodigy lacks. The MG-1 and the Rogue are siblings, made by Moog at the same time on much the same voice, and neither is a patch on the other: the MG-1 adds a polyphonic divide-down section and a ring modulator and has no wheels. All three are settings of one voice, #52, and the Liberation wants the MG-1's two additions as well.

Later, perhaps: the Voyager, and nothing else

Ben set a general rule on 2026-10-12, which is in CLAUDE.md under "Decisions made": no instrument that is still in production unless it is a variant of a vintage one, and none whose line began after about 2000. A classic is not shut out by having been reissued.

  • The Voyager is allowed, as a Minimoog reissued with additions, the way the OB-X8 is allowed. Its things would be settings of #51, not an instrument. Not now, and it does not keep this issue open; it gets an issue of its own when it is wanted.
  • The Phattys and the Matriarch are out. They are not variants of a vintage instrument. An earlier version of this comment had them as "later, perhaps".
  • The Moog One is out, with everything else of its kind.

Also left out

  • Prototypes and things never sold, such as the Apollo, the Lyra and the SL-8.
  • The Taurus 3 of 2010, as later than the Memorymoog.

For all five

The ladder filter's saturation and the mixers' overdrive are #4, and these instruments lean on #4 more than any others here: built clean, a one-voice Moog is close to the SH-5 and the SH-101.

**Decided by Ben on 2026-10-12: yes.** This replaces the comment above, and this issue is closed: everything in it is settled, and what remains is in #51 to #55. ## The decisions - **Wanted: Moog's instruments up to the Memorymoog** (1982). - **Not wanted: the modular systems**, and **nothing later**, as instruments. - **No Moog Vocoder**, though it falls inside the dates. - **Patch memory and whatever only serves it are irrelevant.** An instrument known for its memory is here for its voice. - **Variants are combined** where that fits, as everywhere else in this repository. - **The Realistic Concertmate MG-1 is wanted**, with the Rogue. - **Wired-in presets are fair game.** What is wired into a circuit, such as resistor values, and can be seen on a published schematic may be used and may ship. What needs a ROM, stored factory patches included, may not. This is Ben's own line, drawn as someone who is not a lawyer; it is in `CLAUDE.md`, provenance rules 3 and 4. So the fixed sounds of the first Taurus (#52), the Satellite and Minitmoog (#53) and the Polymoog (#54) may be had from their schematics, and the Source's and the Memorymoog's stored programs may not. - **Moog's own names are used for now**, for directories and programs, so that Ben can tell what each is; the repository is private. Nearly every instrument's name here will have to change before anything is sold, and these with them. ## Five instruments Worked out from recollection and a quick look at secondary sources, with no manual read. **Ben found the groupings fine.** | Issue | Instrument | Models it covers | |---|---|---| | #51 | Three VCOs into the ladder, a voice and N of it | Minimoog Model D; Memorymoog; Memorymoog Plus | | #52 | Two VCOs into the ladder, one voice | Prodigy; Rogue; Realistic Concertmate MG-1; Taurus II; Liberation; Source; Taurus (the first pedals); Sonic Six | | #53 | The waveshape-knob line, one voice | Micromoog; Multimoog; Satellite; Minitmoog | | #54 | Every key at once, a card for each key | Polymoog Synthesizer (203A); Polymoog Keyboard (280A) | | #55 | A string machine with a brass section | Opus 3 | - **#53 may become part of #52**, making four. If adding a waveshape knob to #52 is all it takes to cover the Micromoog's line, it merges; otherwise it depends on how much the two overlap. The issues stay separate until one of the two has been built. - **The Opus 3 is last.** Ben doubts it will be much of a challenge and does not care much about it. **The Rogue, the Prodigy and the MG-1**, which Ben asked about. The Rogue is a cut-down Prodigy: one contour shared by the filter and the amplifier where the Prodigy has one each, and less choice of waveform, though it has noise and a sample and hold that the Prodigy lacks. The MG-1 and the Rogue are siblings, made by Moog at the same time on much the same voice, and neither is a patch on the other: the MG-1 adds a polyphonic divide-down section and a ring modulator and has no wheels. All three are settings of one voice, #52, and the Liberation wants the MG-1's two additions as well. ## Later, perhaps: the Voyager, and nothing else Ben set a general rule on 2026-10-12, which is in `CLAUDE.md` under "Decisions made": no instrument that is still in production unless it is a variant of a vintage one, and none whose line began after about 2000. A classic is not shut out by having been reissued. - **The Voyager is allowed**, as a Minimoog reissued with additions, the way the OB-X8 is allowed. Its things would be settings of #51, not an instrument. Not now, and it does not keep this issue open; it gets an issue of its own when it is wanted. - **The Phattys and the Matriarch are out.** They are not variants of a vintage instrument. An earlier version of this comment had them as "later, perhaps". - **The Moog One is out**, with everything else of its kind. ## Also left out - Prototypes and things never sold, such as the Apollo, the Lyra and the SL-8. - The Taurus 3 of 2010, as later than the Memorymoog. ## For all five The ladder filter's saturation and the mixers' overdrive are #4, and these instruments lean on #4 more than any others here: built clean, a one-voice Moog is close to the SH-5 and the SH-101.
bcox changed title from Do we want any Moogs? to Do we want any Moogs? (Yes: up to the Memorymoog, as #51 to #55) 2026-10-12 23:33:02 +00:00
bcox closed this issue 2026-10-12 23:33:02 +00:00
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