Moog Realistic MG-1 Mods

This video, Lackan110f, demos a set of mods for the Moog Realistic MG-1 synthesizer, a (relatively) inexpensive Moog keyboard that was sold by Radio Shack in the 80’s.

The MG-1 is a bit of an oddity, because it combines a stripped-down Moog monosynth with a basic polyphonic organ.

This Realistic MG-1 synthesizer has been modded with a sustain pot, overdrive, PW/PWM, FM, LFO speed, low octave, poly vibrato and more. This turns the rather inexpensive MG1 to much more powerful monosynth.

28 thoughts on “Moog Realistic MG-1 Mods”

  5. Well I found the link to the page referencing all of the mods, that stuff is all Greek to me, where is a good place or person to pay to have the mods done, preferably in Los Angeles?

    1. To be fair, most of these don’t seem too hard to achive; Largely extra pots, and and the odd relatively simple additional circuit. Doesn’t seem too invasive, in the scheme of things.

  6. I’ve been trying to find one of these in not terrible condition for over a year for a reasonable price. This article isn’t helping!

    I will say, these have notorious issues with the sliders failing due to melting dust foam hardening to the insides. New old stock of sliders used to be available as a pack but I believe now those are all out so you have to source them one or two at a time or get really luck that someone is selling one that’s already have them replaced, or removed the foam before theirs got destroyed.

  7. I have an MG-! and would love to have these mods done. I am in the L.A. area. Let me know if/whereI can hire someone to have these done. Thanks.

  9. I recently restored a Moog Rogue – which is similar to this in most respects. Pretty easy job, but the sliders are spendy to obtain. Did a full tear down, cleaning, and rebuild of the keybed as well.

    You have to be super careful desoldering on these old boards as the foil trace can easily be damaged. The good news is that none of it uses board vias, so you can jumper easily.

    All other parts are not bad at all – Foam was easy to clean up – though labor intensive.

    I would not be adverse to modding out an MG if the price was right. But I live in Wyoming, so i would all be through the mail.

    1. Well, first off – buying an MG-1 that needs to be cleaned, possibly have some parts replaced, possibly need a re-capping, for sure needs the sliders cleaned and maybe fully replaced – IS NOT a cheap way to get a Moog sound.

      If that is what you are after, then a Minitaur or Werkstatt might be a better option.

      1.) You have to buy a MG-1 – so figure between 300 and 500 depending on condition etc. These almost always have not be serviced or cleaned out, if they have been then expect to pay even more for that luxury.

      2.) If is needs cleaning and removal of the black foam gunk, then that’s hours of labor and it may indicate that it will need most or all of the slide pots replaced. If the sliders need replacement – that’s at least 150 or so for the sliders alone….and more labor. Also this gunk is CORROSIVE as hell — so some component leads on the PCB may need to replaced due to this alone.

      3.) It would benefit from having the power regulator ICs and caps replaced – good news is all these are available and relatively cheap. If major circuit ICs are faulty, then they can be hard to find and spendy – some are 45 bucks or more.

      4.) Sometimes they need replacement keys – these are around $15 a piece – and you generally then need to buff out all the keys with a polishing compound and a bench grinder so that they are all a consistent color and gloss. Even if it doesn’t need keys – these old synths really benefit from a key buff as it drastically improves their appearance….and since you likely need to do 5.) anyways…

      5.) The keybed has a buswire/copper contact system that oxidizes with age and usually needs to be cleaned up — not too tough but it requires removing the keybed and fully dissembling it, ie removing all the keys. Not tough but lots of labor.

      6.) The actual mods here are pretty cheap parts wise and a few hours of labor.

      So in the end – all the above would at least double and likely triple the cost of an eBay, or wherever, purchased MG-1.

      At that point you might even consider a Moog Sub for a bit more.

      Again – paying someone to refurb an old synth IS NOT a budget conscious option. You only do it if you value that specific synths sound. The MG-1 does have some unique things going for it that may make it all worthwhile.

      As a comparison my Moog Rogue resto cost me:

      1 – Moog Rogue on eBay – unrestored and uncleaned – $465.00
      2 – Three replacement keys – $45
      3 – New power supply – $12 plus $8 ship from Jameco
      4 – Full set of replacement sliders, Knobs, and slider caps – $150 plus $8 shipping
      6 – Replacement caps, ICs, power jack, etc – $20 or so from Mouser
      7 – Labor – at least 16 hours counting buffing keys, desoldering and soldering, cleaning black foam gunk Figure labor at $12@hr or so and that’s super low honestly – $192

      So total – is in the neighborhood of $900 – not cheap, if I didn’t do the labor myself.

      A fully refurbed – beautiful Moog Rogue goes for 750 to 850 right now – and that’s without knowing for sure what has actually been done to it. I know what’s good on mine.

          1. Also, If it’s new, still in the box….I would bet cash that it has the black foam decaying inside and will need a full cleaning.

            However, if it has not been used a lot, the sliders may not have the gunk don in them yet.

            If that’s the case, DO NOT move them around until the foam is all removed. Doing so is almost guaranteed to get that crap inside of them.

  11. Hi and thanks for watching! All these mods are fairly simple, and most of them are found on the moog-website linked to above. The only more complex mods are multi trigger (have to build a small circuit) and the sustain pot (have to build an even smaller circuit).

    The really hard thing is to fit all this into the narrow space under the hood. Hence the placing of the PWM-switches for example.

    As for the faders – check out Sam of Syntaurs YT-demo of how to clean Odyssey-faders, this is the exact same way you will have to clean the MG1-faders. Desolder, open, IPA (alcohol) and a fine grade sandpaper for the metal parts. Finally you will have to use a fair amount of silicon grease to get the right feeling back. MG Chemicals 8462 is my favourite.

    And the song in the beginning is the MG1 multi tracked.

    No other sound source used. 🙂 Cheers.

    1. This method of cleaning up the sliders does work.. but is extremely time consuming. I found it actually cheaper, or rather, more worth my time to just fully replace them all.

      Alpha still makes all of these same sliders today. The only issue is that they are special run items that you have to order in huge batches…like 5000 or so. This means that most places won’t stock them and most synth stores can’t sell 5000 of them.

      So they are expensive….

  12. this was the first synth i owned… even tho its cheap it sounds bad ass.. especially the sync sound – some of the most aggressive tones ive ever heard on a synth, from just the raw output

  13. thanks for the list of mods and extra tips but allot of people in the thread have never opened up a synth before like myself and don’t know anything about electronics etc…. we are asking for information on where we can pay to have these mods done. Does anybody have any information that would help those of us who are not equipped to do these easy mods, please?

    1. See my post above –

      Refurbing an MG-! even without mods – is not as cheap a synth option as most hope.

      If you find a super cheap one or have one already…then it’s affordable..if you do the work yourself.

      Paying someone to do it — well that will add up depending on how much need to be done.

  14. All saying that it is NOT a cheap way of getting a Moog is right – unless you can do it yourself.

    I did this as a hobby project: each fader takes approx 15 mins to desolder, open and clean and then solder back. So there alone you have 4-5 hours of “tech-time”.

    Making all the mods are approx 30-60 minutes per mod (if you know what you are doing) and there is around 20 mods done here. So that is around two days full work. Drilling holes and making an overlay is at least 4-5 hours…

    I guess I have put 30-40 hours in to this, at least. So it is NOT a job you hire a tech to do. Its a DIY-thing for your own amusement.

  15. I have been planning on servicing/modding my MG-1 for some time, but did not know about all of these mods! I’ve seen the modular inputs that Analogue Solutions does, but this little guy is fully tricked out. I don’t think I’ll be doing ALL of them, but I am really excited about it now. Lackan you did a really impressive job!

    To those looking to mod their synths like this: you’re basically taking a simple old synth and adding double the features through extra holes here and there. It’s essentially a new synth! Maybe you should just put that money into a synth designed with all of those features. Not only are you totally customizing a vintage (albeit budget) instrument, but the ergonomics of all the squeezed-in knobs and switches and the super weak box its built in make the project seem less worthwhile.

    That said… I’m going to do some of them, because I want more out of my synth and know about electronics. I’m also in Los Angeles and would be willing to take on some extras projects, though I’d like to do mine first to see how long it takes.

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