In his latest Noir Et Blanc Vie, host Stephen Fitzgerald offers his take on 20 years of the Moog Moogerfooger line of effects.
The video is part history, part audio demos and part a personal take on the Moogerfoogers.
If you’ve used a Moogerfooger, share your thoughts on them in the comments!
There are actually three versions of the MuRF. The original and the Bass MuRFs are preprogrammed. The MIDI MuRF has both regular and bass bands, midi controllability and pattern edits. Oddly all three models seem to go for about the same price range. I have four Maxifoogers and three Minifoogers. Love em.
I always called the Moo-ger Foo-ger
Is it Moe-ger Foe-ger
Or
Moe-ger Foo-ger
It’s Moog, like vogue. Once and for all.
The MF-102 ring modulator is one of my favorites. There was a crappy combo organ that I sold for 200 bucks and the MF-102. Best deal I ever made. Wish I could have gotten a MiniFooger ring mod, but I they are already gone.
I have put everything imaginable through the MF-102. There are some field recordings that are just asking for it.
The phaser is gorgeous. A lot of phaser pedals seem to be voiced for guitar, but the MF103 works wonders on synth signals as well (of course). Unfortunately, the Clusterflux flanger/chorus is not true stereo, as is suggested in the video. It can be configured in a couple of ways, but stereo is achieved by for instance routing the dry signal to one output and the wet signal to another output. In addition, dry and wet signals can be phase inverted. While this kind of stereo might work on stage, in a production, you will quickly run into mono compatibility problems. As far as I know there are hardly any true stereo chorus pedals out there.
In my opinion, the Moogerfooger to get is the MIDI MuRF. I know the delay is the most sought after, but in the comparisons I’ve heard, I never liked the dark sound of it. The MuRF itself is a unique effect, but controlling it with MIDI makes it so much more usable. You can for instance trigger every filter with a MIDI note, turning any static sound into a tempo synced sequence of bell like resonances. I only wish the LFO on it had a wider range, and that there was a way to control the amount of resonance.
I have all three Murf models. Good stuff!
I own ring, phaser and chorus, all are truly amazing. The ring for drums and synths, phaser for bass and pads and the cluster is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard, quite noisy but loving it to bits. Only think I wish is a mix knob for the phaser.
Hi John, have you tried using your Clusterflux with MIDI? There are a ton of hidden functions. You can even play it like a synth.
Release them as eurorack modules I say.
https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/10/17/should-moog-make-a-complete-eurorack-modular-system/
I’d just like to brag: I have all ? except the special super limited ones… Love the delay, love them all, the most boring is the filter…. Midi murf is a crazy unique thing… Cluster flux is superb the tones out of that are really amazing.. there is so much u can do with that one… Yea the best is cluster and delay… Followed by midi murf… The other ones are a little more basic but do one crazy thing each… Like freqbox and the ringmod… The phases sounds superb as well.
I feel like the “cult status” is artificially built by user that sell them at expensive price, and by these kind of videos. They are good pedals, but not special.
Which ones have you worked with?
Believe it or not but I have six of them, the phaser, freqbox, ringmod, the delay (MF-104z, plus a pair of their rack 500 delay, which are, more or less, lunchbox version of the 104M), Cluster Flux, and the Midi Murf. I’m not selling them, as I said they are good tools. But they do NOT worth the price some are going for now.
I have the Ring Mod, Filter, Clusterflux and Phaser.
The Phaser is my favourite out of them all – I own 5 phasers – Ibanez Sound Tank (excellent and cheap), MXR Phase 100 (amazing on bass guitar), EHX Small Stone (instant Jarre), Source Audio Tri-Phase and the Moog. The Moog has that classic Wendy Carlos Clockwork Orange vibe that none of the others manage to get. It also works on everything really well.
The Filter is the least used one I own. The Ring mod also works as an amazing tremolo. I’m on the fence about the clusterflux and find mine is a bit noisy.
I’m still after the Freqbox but it’s low on the priority list at the moment.
Id love the Delay too but not at those crazy prices.
the MF-103 Phaser and MF-104M Delay are stupendous. Seriously musical and truly worthy of the Moog name and the premium prices they command. They’ve wonderful expressive additions to my Voyager XL, especially with pedal and CV control. If you don’t take advantage of all the CV and pedal control options, you are missing a huge reason why these pedals are so incredible.
I luckily got the 104M delay before it doubled in price. Also bought the phaser, clusterflux and ring mod back then too. What kills me is I don’t have the MIDImurf, and at the current prices and availability I never will.
The filter seems over-priced too, but maybe some day… I use the BS2 filter instead for now.
I bought a ring mod using gift cards from my old work that were given as a parting gift. Will never sell that one. I bought the delay in one of the “we found more chips and can make the 104m’s again” phases (I think they’ve done that 3-4 times now, I think mine is from the 2nd bunch of those in late 2016 or early 2017. I ordered the 104m as soon as I heard they were available and the dealer I bought it from said I bought 1 of the 2 they were available to get their hands on. I will probably sell the 104m eventually, it’s very dark. I much prefer digital delays or a RE-210 space echo. Wish I woulda had the cash for a 103 or 101 before they stopped making them.