This Is Not The Polyphonic Moog Synth You Were Looking For – But It Sounds Great

In this video, Dan Ward of GAK tries out using polychaining to create an 8-voice polyphonic Moog synthesizer.

Ward uses polychain mode and 8 Moog Music SUBsequent 37 CV synths to create the polyphonic monster. As he plays, polyphonic notes are spread across the 8 monophonic synthesizers, allowing for full 8-voice polyphony. 

The result sounds great…..but the $14,400 price tag, not so much.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

29 thoughts on “This Is Not The Polyphonic Moog Synth You Were Looking For – But It Sounds Great”

  1. I’ve tried to polychain my Little Phatty and my Minitaur but I always get issues, after a few notes, they share the same note leaving a silence every two notes. I’ve written to Moog about this a couple of weeks ago and didn’t get any answer… 🙁

    1. Bruv…its because it only works from 8 synths and up, that is part of MOOGs business plan. I used to have 7 voyagers…and had the same issues you have, Both 5 more and voila!..I think it is completely worth it.

      PS Oh yeah I live in my mind inside of a barrel, so everything above just happen in my mind 😉

    2. Don’t you need to be using synthesizers that are the same model, or at least desktop/racktop versions of the same synth?

      I think you’d run into big problems with the Little Phatty and a Minitaur, because they’re such different designs. Plus, the Minitaur has won’t play notes above something like C5, so that could jack things up, too.

      Maybe the Little Phatty and the Slim Phatty would work?

    1. “$14,392 for an 8-voice analog polysynth seems like a reasonable expenditure….”
      From posts like this we understand why Moog (the synonymous of the word “stealing”) is still in music business. Some people never learn.

  3. I don’t understand the situation with moog as every part of their synths now are impressive ( I made the mistake of buying a voyager rack and It was not a satisfactory synth)
    I hope they do venture into polyphony as the Sub 37 etc are pretty much perfect .

  6. Dear Moog,

    Please make a smaller/cheaper desktop version of the Sub37 (a la the Minitaur). Then this wouldn’t be such a ridiculous dream.

  8. Ya know…a good chorus, delay, and reverb pedal goes a long way and isn’t nearly as expensive. The Sub 37 already puts out a very fat sound and I think would be very muddy if all eight sounds were used at once. Half the time he was only playing a few notes or arpeggios at a time.

  9. I bought a Moog Minitaur from you a few weeks ago…until then I hadnt really got the whole Moog thing, but they just sound different…great demo but now I have to save my pennies for a sub 37…grrrr

  10. > but the $14,400 price tag, not so much.

    I dunno. Prolly less than a used SEM-8 at this point. Takes up 6 times the space but comes with stable oscillators. 🙂

  11. Does make you wonder: how inexpensively could Moog make/market a Sub-37 voice expansion box? A Sub-37 in a small-as-possible box with no controls and only midi in, midi thru and audio out for I/O. Maybe usb for updates.

  12. Here we go with that “polyphonic Moog” idea again. I get it, but its really a holy grail thing. They addressed it pretty well with the Memorymoog, IMO. I got to fiddle with one for a day on a weird vacation. Having owned a MiniMoog, I honestly felt like most of the tone was intact, but playing it polyphonically led to too much mud. Bob’s original idea was a solo mono voice whose every aspect could be addressed. Its an oboe, not an organ! 😛 The good ensemble sounds I heard from the Memorymoog are quite easy to build these days. I suggest focusing on why you want a poly Moog. Animoog makes a lot more sense. Play that, download Memorymoon for the poly sounds and call it good. Let Moog be the unique, employee-owned company that it is.

    1. Wow! What are the odds of getting to fiddle with a Memorymoog on a weird vacation? I’ve been on numerous vacations and never came across a synth. Of course, my vacations weren’t weird.

      1. Tim, weird is the word. I was staying with a friend for part of my vacation and one of his friends had a friend who just turned out to possess a Memorymoog. It all came around in a music conversation, when he piped up “I think I have one of those.” Some relative stored it with him upon leaving for college. He cranked it up and it was surprisingly stable after its first tune-up. The last thing I had expected was that! It was a fun couple of hours and I learned a lot from it. A LOT of great synths are lurking in people’s attics and garage sales….

  14. I’d rather have multi-timbral usability. My buddy has a Sub 37 tribute edition and a Dave Smith OB-6 module. I have a Minilogue, Reface DX, and Ultranova. They are all great synths & what they all have in common is the mono-timbral functionality. That is also the real shame. I wish they were at least two part multi-timbral. That is where the Roland JD-Xi shines, being 4 part. Same for the Blofeld, Circuit, & Korg Electribe (new).
    Having experienced my buddy’s modern analog legends, I must say, the solid build quality is really where they excel. And sure they sound cool, but honestly, not enough to sway me to buy them before getting more bang for my buck. I just think to myself ‘one part multi-timbral for around $1500 a pop’…I could either double my afore mentioned single part hardware or spring for an Octatrack (super useful and it’s own thing).
    To each their own, I understand that.

    My buddy and I are doing a Knight Rider intro theme cover. I find myself reaching more for the Lennar Sylnth1, Korg Legacy Mono/Poly, & Legacy M1 more than the single part Tribute Edition.

    1. I have a Roland FA-08 and a Sub 37. They both have their strengths, but the Sub 37 with all its tone and hands on control is pretty amazing. It’s easier to explore analog sounds than the Roland. I bet the other control heavy Roland’s have a similar experience.

    2. Would love to see more of this as well, especially on the OB-6! Analog Keys seems to be out front here but maxes out at 4 voices so…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *