Synthesist & producer Matt Johnson (Jamiroquai) has shared another look at the Moog One, making the case that, in his opinion, nothing comes close to it.
In the video, Johnson demos a variety of his custom patches for the Moog One and shares his thoughts on some of the features that he’s using in his patches.
Are the tuning issues resolved with firmware 1.4?
Great question man! I think it at least qualifies as “interesting” that a synth company who has been ridiculed that all of their modern versions of their legacy synths sound “too stable”, yet Moog is now the same company being scrutinized for a lack of tuning accuracy ability. It remains a valid point for such a costly item but at the same time also remains valid social commentary for synth peeps. Absolutely nothing against your comment. I’m just curious as a synth fan of the fickle nature of synthesizer fanatics like us. Would it be better if it was locked to the .0001 Hz with a “slop” function, or is is *better* for lack of that necessity? What do you think? I dunno, but I still want one BAD; Ultimate modern Moog.
Well, you more often do have different tuning requirements when you go poly vs mono.
That Dave Smith recent slop function as you call it sounded good to me (the one that affects envelopes as well).
About the video, the “all is analogue” statement is funny. No, Sir, it’s not. 😀
The problem really is that users were seeing a semitone shift in the bass end, so pretty rubbish if you want to play a chord with both hands and your right hand is in G and the bottom in F sharp. It’s not just a bit of tuning here and there, its enough to ruin a performance.
or to make it more interesting if you can use this in creative way.
i think what “Thomas White” suggested is that in 20 years a “moog one clone” will maybe mimic this “original” behavior 🙂
we have plugins that make the pitch slagish, add noise, jitter or just make things sound like a bad vinyl/tape recorder. so what ever you consider a fault or an issue can be suited after if someone will “use it” successfully somehow.
> or to make it more interesting
No it doesn’t make it more interesting.
This is a $7000+ synth. One would expect that it was tuned correctly by default… this isn’t 1970 anymore. Even a Jupiter 8 in the 80’s didn’t have tuning issues. This is a manufacturing defect. Some people like you or “Thomas White” are trying to pass as a feature because “Moog”. It’s dishonest.
except for the fact that it does stay in tune and has done for some time now…
i was talking about how defects can be seen as unique characteristic
you taking it waaay to far and seriously, especially if you don’t own a one
btw, they fix this quickly and everybody happy.
Yeah sorry gadi that kind of logic is why Moog get away with it. It isn’t a feature. Some random drifting could be considered a useful feature but not when it’s hitting a semi tone higher or lower than the note you play. That doesn’t make it interesting it makes is crap.
i was highlighting how a defect can be seen as a unique characteristic in the long future.
i’m not talking about whatever the tuning problem is a “shame” or not. i don’t have any moog and i don’t care.
Do you have one Digdog? Because I do, and it stays in tune.
I did yes but returned it. Anyway if you’re talking about the tuning ‘fix’ then you’d know all it does is slowly bend the note into tune. Or have they done something new ? I’m genuinely interested because I’d like one again.
1.4 fixed this tuning issue with the oscillator compensation calibration.
it was almost a year ago and from what i can see nobody complains.
it’s a shame because this great feature is lost forever 🙂
“or to make it more interesting if you can use this in a creative way.”
lol
I don’t see this as any different than the updates that Korg had to make to the Prologue’s tuning algorithm.
As companies roll out a new polyphonic analog synths to a broad range of users, the range of what can be considered ‘normal’ variation from synth to synth and from voice to voice grows. And with 1000 synths out there, you’re going to find more variation than with a 10 prototypes.
Both companies have addressed this analog variation effectively by updating their tuning algorithms, and you don’t see anybody complaining about tuning on either synth anymore.
Tuning variation is an issue that vintage VCO polysynths never addressed that well. But modern analog polys do a great job of it. Both the Moog One and the Prologue now nicely balance the ‘liveliness’ of analog against sounding ‘in tune’.
The king in this regard is probably Sequential with the P5, where you can ‘dial in’ how much ‘vintage’ you want. This idea has been around for a while, but it seems like Sequential has figured out how to intelligently implement it.
Greatest analog synth, maybe. But not the greatest synth.
why not? it’s the greatest for him, are you going to argue with his subjective preferences?
You are arguing with Bill’s subjective preference
not really, I didn’t stated anything
I can be smartass too 🙂
Whats your favourite?
The greatest synth ever is the Rabid Bat 2300 XL-1.
bitwig! 🙂
Matt is one of those people who were kind of meant to play an $8k-10k synth, so we know what we’re missing. I’ve happily owned a few Moogs, so I’m drawn to the IDEA of a Moog One, but as beautiful as it sounds, its also a bigger undertaking than other polys. I don’t feel shortchanged. My attention is already divided between 2 hardware synths, 2 controllers and about 30 softsynths. Hooray for first world problems, huh?
Good conventional sounds, no more no less.
I am sure there are oodles of nonconventional sounds to come from the Moog Onee for decades to come. The sound capabilities are almost endless and I am sure Moog will update it to make even more crqzy sounds possible.
some wants to make everything smaller in their heads so it will be easier to process.
the higher the price the more challenge it’s for them
It’s strange how some people delight in being small minded
I keep listening to the bit starting at 3:42 – I want the rest of that song
Alesis Andromeda