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A new instrument: Moog's Micromoog and Multimoog, with the Satellite and Minitmoog #53

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opened 2026-10-12 23:32:36 +00:00 by bcox · 1 comment
bcox commented 2026-10-12 23:32:36 +00:00
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Ben decided on 2026-10-12, on #26, that the Moogs up to the Memorymoog are wanted, with variants combined where that fits, and asked for an issue for each instrument that makes. This is one of five; the others are linked from #26. Not started.

Everything below is from recollection and a quick look at encyclopedia and shop pages, with no manual read; issue #20's list was wrong in several places for the same reason. Find and read Moog's owner's and service manuals before designing anything, put them in docs/references.md, and correct this.

What it covers

One instrument: Moog's other line of small one-voice synthesizers of the 1970s, which is a different voice from the Prodigy's and the Rogue's.

  • Micromoog (1975). One VCO whose waveform is one knob, sliding without a step from a sawtooth through a square to a narrow pulse; "doubling", a tone an octave or two below mixed in; noise; the ladder filter, which the oscillator can modulate at audio rate; two simple contours of attack and release, with switches for sustain and for the release; and a modulation section of one source switch and one routing switch, with a sample and hold among the sources. A ribbon for pitch bend.
  • Multimoog (1978). A Micromoog with a second VCO, on a second board beside the Micromoog's own, sync, 44 keys, and a keyboard that feels pressure, which can be sent to several places.
  • Satellite (1973). A preset instrument: one VCO through fixed voicings chosen by tabs, with a few controls over the filter, the contour, the modulation and the glide.
  • Minitmoog (1975). The Satellite's successor: two VCOs, sync and a keyboard that feels pressure, still presets.

The Multimoog is the instrument and the Micromoog is it with the second VCO off, as the service manuals are said to show. The Satellite and the Minitmoog stand to each other as the Micromoog and the Multimoog do, one VCO and two; with their presets set aside, which Ben has said are irrelevant, what is left of them looks like settings of this voice. That last is the weakest claim here.

To find out

  • Whether this is a separate instrument at all, or more settings of the two-VCO instrument, #52. By Ben's word on 2026-10-12: if adding a waveshape knob to #52 is all it takes to cover these, this merges into #52; otherwise it depends on how much the two overlap. The issues stay separate until one of the two has been built. Recalled as differing beyond the knob: the doubling, the oscillator modulating the filter, the contours with no decay or sustain level, and the modulation's one bus with a source and a destination switch. The manuals say how much of that is real.
  • The Satellite and Minitmoog are in, Ben having found the grouping fine. Without their presets little is left; their presets are wired in and so may be had; see Provenance. Their voicings are said to include fixed formant filters, which nothing here has; the VP-330's choir (#45) wants the same.
  • The waveshape knob. engine/analog_vco.h mixes a sawtooth and a pulse of any width at levels, which may be all the knob does. The manual and a recording decide.
  • Which of the sources the sample and hold samples, and what the routing switch's positions are.

What it does not cover

The ribbon as a ribbon: it is the bender. The Multimoog's and Micromoog's control voltage jacks. Nothing from the Phattys: Ben ruled them out on 2026-10-12, as a line that began after about 2000.

What is already here to build on

  • engine/analog_vco.h, engine/four_pole_filter.h and engine/envelope.h; the ladder's saturation is #4.
  • The Prophet's voice.h runs its filter a few samples at a time under audio-rate modulation, which is what the oscillator modulating the filter needs.
  • engine/ramp_oscillator.h has sub oscillators one and two octaves down, for the doubling.
  • engine/midi.h passes pressure.

Provenance

  • None of the four has a processor or stored patches.
  • The Satellite's and Minitmoog's presets are wired in. Ben decided on 2026-10-12, on #26: what is wired into a circuit, such as resistor values, and can be seen on a published schematic is fair game; what needs a ROM, stored factory patches included, is another matter and stays under rules 3 and 4. So they may be had, read from the published schematics and from nowhere else, with a comment naming each (rule 5).
  • Rule 2: nothing from an emulator's code.
  • The names. "Moog" and the model names are trademarks that are actively used and defended. Ben said on 2026-10-12 to use Moog's own names for now, so that he can tell what each is, the repository being private; nearly every instrument's name here will have to change before anything is sold, and these with them. So, say, instruments/micromoog/ and programs named minimicromoog.
Ben decided on 2026-10-12, on #26, that the Moogs up to the Memorymoog are wanted, with variants combined where that fits, and asked for an issue for each instrument that makes. This is one of five; the others are linked from #26. Not started. **Everything below is from recollection and a quick look at encyclopedia and shop pages, with no manual read**; issue #20's list was wrong in several places for the same reason. Find and read Moog's owner's and service manuals before designing anything, put them in `docs/references.md`, and correct this. ## What it covers One instrument: Moog's other line of small one-voice synthesizers of the 1970s, which is a different voice from the Prodigy's and the Rogue's. - **Micromoog** (1975). One VCO whose waveform is one knob, sliding without a step from a sawtooth through a square to a narrow pulse; "doubling", a tone an octave or two below mixed in; noise; the ladder filter, which the oscillator can modulate at audio rate; two simple contours of attack and release, with switches for sustain and for the release; and a modulation section of one source switch and one routing switch, with a sample and hold among the sources. A ribbon for pitch bend. - **Multimoog** (1978). A Micromoog with a second VCO, on a second board beside the Micromoog's own, sync, 44 keys, and a keyboard that feels pressure, which can be sent to several places. - **Satellite** (1973). A preset instrument: one VCO through fixed voicings chosen by tabs, with a few controls over the filter, the contour, the modulation and the glide. - **Minitmoog** (1975). The Satellite's successor: two VCOs, sync and a keyboard that feels pressure, still presets. The Multimoog is the instrument and the Micromoog is it with the second VCO off, as the service manuals are said to show. The Satellite and the Minitmoog stand to each other as the Micromoog and the Multimoog do, one VCO and two; with their presets set aside, which Ben has said are irrelevant, what is left of them looks like settings of this voice. That last is the weakest claim here. ## To find out - **Whether this is a separate instrument at all**, or more settings of the two-VCO instrument, #52. By Ben's word on 2026-10-12: **if adding a waveshape knob to #52 is all it takes to cover these, this merges into #52**; otherwise it depends on how much the two overlap. The issues stay separate until one of the two has been built. Recalled as differing beyond the knob: the doubling, the oscillator modulating the filter, the contours with no decay or sustain level, and the modulation's one bus with a source and a destination switch. The manuals say how much of that is real. - **The Satellite and Minitmoog** are in, Ben having found the grouping fine. Without their presets little is left; their presets are wired in and so may be had; see Provenance. Their voicings are said to include fixed formant filters, which nothing here has; the VP-330's choir (#45) wants the same. - **The waveshape knob.** `engine/analog_vco.h` mixes a sawtooth and a pulse of any width at levels, which may be all the knob does. The manual and a recording decide. - **Which of the sources the sample and hold samples**, and what the routing switch's positions are. ## What it does not cover The ribbon as a ribbon: it is the bender. The Multimoog's and Micromoog's control voltage jacks. Nothing from the Phattys: Ben ruled them out on 2026-10-12, as a line that began after about 2000. ## What is already here to build on - `engine/analog_vco.h`, `engine/four_pole_filter.h` and `engine/envelope.h`; the ladder's saturation is #4. - The Prophet's `voice.h` runs its filter a few samples at a time under audio-rate modulation, which is what the oscillator modulating the filter needs. - `engine/ramp_oscillator.h` has sub oscillators one and two octaves down, for the doubling. - `engine/midi.h` passes pressure. ## Provenance - None of the four has a processor or stored patches. - **The Satellite's and Minitmoog's presets** are wired in. Ben decided on 2026-10-12, on #26: what is wired into a circuit, such as resistor values, and can be seen on a published schematic is fair game; what needs a ROM, stored factory patches included, is another matter and stays under rules 3 and 4. So they may be had, read from the published schematics and from nowhere else, with a comment naming each (rule 5). - Rule 2: nothing from an emulator's code. - **The names.** "Moog" and the model names are trademarks that are actively used and defended. Ben said on 2026-10-12 to use Moog's own names for now, so that he can tell what each is, the repository being private; nearly every instrument's name here will have to change before anything is sold, and these with them. So, say, `instruments/micromoog/` and programs named `minimicromoog`.
bcox commented 2026-10-17 04:08:10 +00:00
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Merged into mini-PRD (#52) in 15dd6f5: the Micromoog and Multimoog are settings of it, with doubling, the oscillator on the filter, drone, the bend and red-noise modulation sources, width modulation and pressure routings added. The Satellite and Minitmoog are left out; Ben does not want them.

Merged into mini-PRD (#52) in 15dd6f5: the Micromoog and Multimoog are settings of it, with doubling, the oscillator on the filter, drone, the bend and red-noise modulation sources, width modulation and pressure routings added. The Satellite and Minitmoog are left out; Ben does not want them.
bcox closed this issue 2026-10-17 04:08:10 +00:00
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