Moog One – A Polyphonic Synth Story

Moog recently trademarked the name ‘Moog One’ for use with synthesizers and keyboards.

Moog Music has long been rumored to be working on a next-generation polyphonic synthesizer. And they recently trademarked the name ‘Moog One’ for use with synthesizers & keyboards.

Now a post on Gearslutz suggests that ‘Moog One’ is the name for a powerful new polyphonic synthesizer. According to the post, the new synth will be available in August, with an 8-voice version priced at $5,999, and a 16-voice version priced at $7,999.

Features (Unofficial):

  • Highlights:
    • 3 VCOs per voice
    • 3 part multitimbral – 3 synths in 1
    • Knob per function
    • 4 LFOs per synth with easily assignable modulation
    • Arp and sequencer (per synth)
    • Clock sync
    • Assignable CV ins and outs
    • Lots of i/o for routing synths and effects
    • Eventide reverbs built in
    • Unrestricted number of presets
  • Oscillators – create complex waveforms
  • Noise – Dedicated envelope for transient shaping
  • Filter
    • State variable filter AND Moog Ladder Filter
    • HP, LP, BP or notch
    • link filters together for ganged sweeps
    • assign sources to SVF ladder or both in the mixer
  • Envelope
    • 3 envelopes (amp, filter, and assignable)
  • Easily assignable mod matrix
  • Sequencer and Arp
  • Effects
    • True bypass effects
    • effects per synth and a master effects bus
    • 2 assignable macro controls – customizable per patch
  • Vocoder
  • Modulation
    • Easily repeatable mod matrix routings
    • 4 LFOs – 1 button destination routing
    • Fine tune and create complex modulation via transforms
    • Easy assign performance controllers
    • XY pad for expressive control

Note: While the Moog One has already been widely and wide-eyedly discussed, at this point, it’s a tantalizing story posted in a forum, rather than a product that has been officially announced.  Moog has not announced either a ‘Moog One’ or a new polysynth, and does not generally comment about unreleased products.

67 thoughts on “Moog One – A Polyphonic Synth Story”

  1. “State variable filter” Who invented this and when? Is that still a Moog? Still handmade and matured in oak barrels wth fully discrete circuits? The price will highly suggest this but the truth lies in China. 🙂

  2. The prices are extreme!! I have owned a few moogs but to see a poly moog at that price really keeps it out of the reack of most musicians. Sounds interesting but for the few and not the many.

    1. Moog was the first keyboard manufacture to sell a state variable filter in modular form in 1968. It was called the 904ABC not only could it do Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, and Notch the bandwidth of the Bandpass was under CV control. Moog had it 7 years before Oberheim, 5 years before EML and 3 years before Arp’s 1047.

  3. > 8-voice version priced at $5,999,
    > and a 16-voice version priced at $7,999.
    > Sequencer

    lame. not interested, because it won´t be multitimbral. that´s for sure. i have more fun with my roland fa-06.

    1. It’s multitimbral. But I wouldn’t put too much faith in this rumor. In fact, I probably wouldn’t report rumors like this on a website either.

      As far as state variable goes, lots of modular had them. Maybe Steiner was the first? Or Emu?

      State variable just means all outputs available at once, not that you blend between them with a pot or that there is a switch.

      For example a modular filter with a separate output jack for LP, HP, BP etc.

      1. as a fan of return to forever i purchased the ring modulator pedal. now i need a fender rhodes and chick corea´s skills. 😉

    6. it fukkin spells it in the second line of the specs, tripart multi. how hard is it to read the actual fukkin post before you proclaim to us all you are not interested on a non existent synth. but what do i care, do keep embarrasing yourself, fantastic job on that front.

  5. 6-8 thousand dollars? Sorry not interested at all.

    After almost 45 years of owning synths, the thrill is all but gone for this old dog when it comes to this type of gear. I can make sounds from anything with the current arsenal of gear I own. I can go on Youtube and within minutes get anything I want to mangle and twist. My iPads with 100’s of apps open new sonic doors everyday. I bought and still own many of the flag ship heavy weight synths and TBH, I use them less and less each day.

    JMO’s but my iPads have sonic worlds I haven’t even begun to fully explore, so no interest in this, and absolutely no interest at 6-8 grand.

    1. Definitely hear you about the quality and playability of ipad synths. Great sounds and fun times a million. You can walk down the street with headphones and play what sounds like a classic synth. And cheap enough so you don’t feel them hanging over your head. I’m selling hardware synths primarily because PPG WaveMapper for ipad has hypnotized me. 🙂

  6. And in related news, Music Group Inc. is preparing a lawsuit against all parties involved. Including yo momma. This is the BBC.

  7. 5 years ago the most expensive synth in production was the voyager 10th anniversary edition. the retail price was €15,000. moog became the most decadent company on earth, thanks to people like marc doty. *facepalm* they think they are ppg, ned, or fairlight. guess what: they are not.

    1. What does Doty have to do with it? He never worked for Moog.

      The Bob Moog Foundation is not the same thing as Moog Music

      1. get this: synthtopia is an in-kind donor of the moog foundation, according to
        https://www.moogfoundation.org/about/partners-donors/
        Definition: In-kind donation, also called gift in kind, refers to the provision of goods or services to an organization, such as office equipment, computers, and software or administrative and financial support.
        interesting discrepancy: eric persing gave (at least) $250,000, korg only $5,000.
        hmm…

        1. So what.

          The Foundation is not the same thing as Moog Music.

          Pretty sure Doty doesn’t work for Synthtopia either. In fact he doesn’t even work at the Foundation anymore, but at Buchla.

    2. Yes and look at that dinosaur, you can pick one up for £2250 these days they are so unpopular.
      The Moog that is.

  8. Why are the whiners ignoring this bit: “While the Moog One has already been widely and wide-eyedly discussed, at this point, it’s a tantalizing story posted in a forum, rather than a product that has been officially announced.”

    Anyway, thanks for telling us all you have no interest in this speculative thing. That’s great to know.

  10. Why are we making a big thing of something some guy said on gearslutz? If I said Tom Oberheim was working on a 16 voice poly, would synthtopia repeat my claims?

    1. Well…. there’s also the matter of the pictures of PCB boards matching the specs pretty dang close. Get strapped in for Moog to (hopefully) finally go Poly again!

  13. I think the price is fair given their history of extremely high quality, but then any price they ask is none of my business. I hope they could get 10K or 15K for one if the market will bear it.

    However, I think this is one person’s fantasy spec and has no truth to it.

    2. That would have to be a pretty small wall. I challenge you to build 5U synth with the specs listed above for anywhere close to $8K. Don’t forget keyboard, wheels and power.

  16. Nice Star Wars tie-in.

    If this is true, Moog is obviously aiming this poly synth at people with money. They had no trouble selling their uber expensive System 55s and the expensive Minimooog D reissue

    For those of us who are financial mortals,
    I’m afraid that the Behringer D is quite operational. It is usable in your pitiful little band.

    1. “I’m afraid that the Behringer D is quite operational. It is usable in your pitiful little band.”

      This cracked me up! – Thanks

  17. I think Eventide reverbs is the dead giveaway that this thing is not ever going to be real. 8 grand worth of discrete analog circuitry with a built-in digital sheen box. but y tho?

  19. Are you kidding e?! I can build a Eurosynth that will do way more and sound better with that amount of money. Moog please don’t become like Elektron!

    1. Then perhaps you should build it and sell it. 8 voices doesn’t come cheap, even in eurorack. Don’t forget the case, power, keyboard and wheels.

    2. You cant build a 16 voice programmable one with a really good performance keyboard 3 arpeggiators 3 sequencers 3 effects mod matrix etc etc etc. No Way! Unless you are a genius. Are you?.

  20. $6000 and $8000. Who are they making this for? I mean dam. So many will discuss it but no one will be able to afford it.

  22. It’s fake because the specs are too good to be true. That price is very close to what it would cost from them though. X’D

  24. Known about this for almost a year now. Industry people have played the prototype. The only news to me was the multitimbrality and effects,. Glad it’s priced high to make it more exclusive, will go nicely with my code, 008 etc. 48 unison oscs!

    1. Jeez, if you’re going to sell your soul for a synth, at least make sure its the 16-voice, $8k model! Or ask for 2 8-voices, see what they say. Not any old soul is worth buying, so you should take the offer as a compliment.:P

  26. Well well, so Moog (allegedly) *has* been listening to the mobs clamoring for a new ‘Polymoog’ of some sort. If this is true, people are going to get what they’ve all but bellowed that they wanted, good and hard. $6000-$8000 is pretty large change for mere mortals. Frankly, I’ll have to hear the vaporous SOB before I go all goony over it. I love this stuff, but I also believe in diving into a synth for six months to a year. You don’t get the goodie otherwise. If a new Polymoog appears, it’ll obviously be impressive, but there’s one thing it’ll never achieve: satisfying people’s legendary romance with the first one.

  27. Specs are one thing, sound is everything. If it sounds good enough it will sell. Not in shitloads, but hopefully enough to make it worth while for Moog. But – the mini reissue did not sell very well. Neither did the large modulars. But some got them, and that may have been sufficient for Moog – given the price. The first synth to compare the Moog One with – that springs to mind – is of course the Omega and Code synths.

    Uli’s version of the model-d had preorders way above the number of minis ever made – including the reissues. So hate aside – Behringer pleases more musos than Moog has ever been able to.

    Oh – and state variable filter.. I think I first saw one on the old Synthacon from Steiner Parker way back.

  29. Going from memory, a Minimoog cost about $1.600 in 1972. I ran this through the CPI calculator- this is equivalent to $9,794 in 2018 $. I think that we are living in a golden age for synths- prices have never been cheaper. Obviously, not everybody can afford $6K or $8K for a keyboard, but some can. For the rest of us, there are a lot of bargains out there. I couldn’t afford to buy a Minimoog so I built and gigged with a PAIA synth in the early ’70s.

    1. You can always tell the noobs, because the first thing they always complain about is always price.

      Everybody with real experience playing quality gear knows that you get what you pay for, and the pro gear market is pretty small compared to the market for musical toys.

      Not saying that everybody needs a $6,000 synth, but pros have been spending that sort of money on gear for 50 years, and Moog and a few other companies like Yamaha and DSI are the only ones making gear at that level.

      1. correct. not to mention the fact its all deductible also that the VAT is to be deduced aswell. i seriously doubt that most posters here paid taxes in their life.

  30. Here’s another comparison. When the DX7 came out in 1983, it listed for $1995. It was rare to find one at this price– they were so hard to get, most people paid over list. $1995 = $5,132 in 2018 dollars. (I think that I am addicted to the CPI Calculator). For years, Yamaha sold their flagship synth at that $2K price point. I paid $2200 for my Motif XF6 in 2012. The point is, Yamaha sold a ton of DX7 synths at that price.

  32. While this prices it out of my interest, I don’t think they are asking for an unreasonable amount of money, given the specs. However, I’ll stick with Sequential for Poly stuff, keep riffing on my Subseq37 for the mono. Still curious how it’s going to sound though.

  33. Marketing 101….tell everyone pre-release its likely to be $6-8000…then upon release list it as $5-7000 and people will rejoice in how cheap in reality it is!! haha

  35. Why are you all upset about the price? The Minimoog which is a mono synth is 3.6k. how much would you expect an 8/16 voice would cost?

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