We have not seen any official announcement on this yet from Moog Music, but European synth retailer Turnlab has shared that the Moog One uber-synth is now discontinued.
“Moog One is now Discontinued (EOL),” according to Turnlab. “We were quick with sharing it. Guess the news will find its way online soon…”
The Moog One was introduced in 2018, and was Moog’s first polyphonic hardware synth in more than three decades. There are two versions: the 8-voice Moog One, originally priced at $5,999; and the 16-voice Moog One, originally priced at $7,999. Both offer synthesis capabilities not found in any previous Moog keyboard.
Essentially three independently addressable polysynths in one, the Moog One tri-timbral architecture lets you assign, split, layer, and stack voices, with up to 48 oscillators in Unison mode. Each synthesizer features its own step sequencer, arpeggiator, and effects processor.
The Moog One features a sound engine that they describe as ‘the most advanced architecture ever conceived for a Moog synthesizer.’
Per voice, the Moog One features:
- Three analog voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs);
- Two independent analog filters (a Variable State filter and a Moog Ladder Filter) that can be run in series or parallel;
- A dual-source variable analog noise generator;
- An analog mixer with external audio input;
- Four LFOs; and
- Three envelope generators.
The combination of the Moog One’s tri-timbral architecture, deep analog synth voice and high-end effects engine make it an extremely capable instrument. Here’s a Moog One improvisation by synthesist Lisa Bella Donna that showcases the instrument’s performance capabilities:
Note: We have not seen any official announcement on this yet from Moog. We will update this, as we learn more.
For me the big question is will the next one be called TWO or 1.2 – or 1a?
Well, the real question would be:
Is Moog still the same company after the InMusic take cover?
It hasn’t been the same since Bob Moog sold it in 1970, has it.
The original R. A. Moog, Co. was profitable in only one year, 1969. Bob was brilliant, but he wasn’t a brilliant businessman.
It will be Moog Two and it will have a small partnership with Soma Labs
moog one might well be replaced by the moog muse
Unaffordable for the average Joe like me…maybe price is one of the factors on why they need to discontinue production.
The Moog One is probably the most successful mega-synth ever made. Moog sold thousands of them at $8k+ a pop. How many CS-80s or Jupiter 8’s do you think were made?
There’s only so many people that can afford these megasynths, though, so it was inevitable that sales would slow down, after a few years.
How much do you think these are going to sell for now that they’re discontinued?
At $8k and stuffed with proprietary circuitry, I think I’d prefer something less astronomical. I wonder what 8 Raspberry Pis working in tandem could do? I loved my Moogs, but now, I have 6 ways to get that resonant ladder filter growl going. The Muse looks like a more real-world instrument, if you have a jones for twisting the filter cutoff knob. We’ll see soon enough.
I almost pulled the trigger on One (pun intended) several times, but I always held off for a couple reasons: 1) quite a few owners kept mentioning bugs and issues (especially the early tuning problems). For THAT much money, nobody should be expected to help beta test the thing. 2) Even when they were still $8k, I could create a really excellent list of 2 or 3 alternatives and get more “synth for my money” going that route. After the price jumped even more to around $10k (after chip shortage and pandemic-induced inflation), and the company was bought out, the appeal decreased even more.
All that said, some lucky folks who were thinking about selling theirs will see the resale value crank back up, if this is truly discontinued.
This thing is great but I can’t help think that you could buy a few cheaper synths and midi them together for a similarly awesome experience.