What Sounds Better – A Vintage Minimoog Vs The Modern Reissue?

In his latest video, UK producer Andy Whitmore shares a comparison between a vintage 1979 Minimoog vs a 2016 Minimoog Model D reissue.

While Moog went to tremendous lengths with the Model D reissue to recreate the production techniques of vintage Minimoogs, there are still differences between a 50 year-old instrument design and a newly manufactured instrument that can impact the sound.

Is it simply the aging of components over time – or something more? Check out the head-to-head comparison and share your thoughts in the comments!

44 thoughts on “What Sounds Better – A Vintage Minimoog Vs The Modern Reissue?”

  2. It is NOT the aging of components, which generally is an urban myth (that for some reason gets repeated online ad nauseum).
    I had the good fortune of side-by-side comparing a 1974 Minimoog with the reissue. The 1974 sounded exactly like on the early Kraftwerk records, which when recorded the Minimoog (and its components) were new. Playing the reissue, I had to work much harder getting the same sounds, and then I could only get 80% there.

    1. How could you only get 80% there with a Model D reissue when most people get 95% there with any random Model D plugin? It’s not like the Minimoog is a work of magic, it’s a fairly simple piece of kit.

        1. OK, but you say it’s so different (20% is quite a gap) but don’t go into how or why you concluded that, which seems like bait itself. You could at least be specific about the differences you observed.

          1. What I did leave out, is that the Kraftwerk records of the 70’s is the golden standard in my book (for synth sounds, and otherwise) . The old Minimoog has more internal saturation than its modern counterpart. More instability. And while this was considered something to combat back then, more and more people (including myself) appreciate these qualities today. Many modern synths just sound too clinical to me. They’re too polite, and lack personality. The old Minimoogs just sound more musical and magical to me. They’re more rough around the edges. Same with the old Oberheim polysynths, compared to the new OB-X8. Seems like it’s impossible to recreate that in modern synths. Despite attempts at “Vintage” knobs etc. which only emulates inacurracies in stuff like envelopes and pitch, but not internal saturation, which is the crucial differentiator, if you ask me. Maybe modern components are just too accurate. I don’t know, I’m not a synth builder.

            1. You seem to completely ignore the fact that the Minimoog you hear on old Kraftwerk records is not pure, but has been processed with EQs, compressors, modulation, reverb and delay, was recorded and overdubbed on tape and eventually pressed on vinyl. Even if you had the same Minimoog that Kraftwerk used, you would never make it sound 100%, unless you had access to all the other gear that was involved. That raises the question how exactly you are able to qualify the accuracy of the reissue, when you can’t really compare it to the dry sound of the 1974 Model D.

              1. I repeat: “The 1974 sounded exactly like on the early Kraftwerk records”. In spite of processing. But this conversation is over to me. As so many other threads on this planet, when men are “discussing”, it becomes a pissing contest.

                1. A contest that you started with your wild claim that you couldn’t get closer than 80% to a 1974 Model D with the reissue. I don’t buy it.

            2. You do realize you have slipped down the very slope you posted about. Your comments are nothing more than OPINIONS, based on some subjective love you have for the nostalgic… “standard in my book”, “sound to clinical to me”, “if you ask me”, “more musical and magical to me”.

              Me, me, me when put thru a Moog filter comes out blah blah blah.

            3. Hi Telstar, as electronic builder in last 50 years, you have point about components tolerances become better 🙂 In the past tolerances be 5 or 10% or worse while for this time and age better materials and better ways to manufacture and better PCB and better soldering, these be 1 – 5% but most far below 5%.

      2. The thing is people THINK they get 95% there….when it isn’t even close. I got the Behringer version that people praise and it was so lifeless.

    2. there were several revisions of the original. the reissue is supposedly based on a rev.2 but really it should be seen as it’s own revision. it’s like comparing a prophet rev 2 to a prophet rev3.3 or something. they’re different synths and shouldn’t be expected to be identical. that being said I prefer my rev.3 mini to the reissue, but the reissue has its own strengths.

  3. because the mini has such an easy design and is easy to repair, id never purchase a remake and allways aim for the original, they are nearly the same price anyway..

    1. I was born in Buffalo and I was friends with Bob Moog. I bought my mini Moog used in 1976 from my music store in East Aurora, New York when he lived there. I still have it today. I also have a PolyMoog. (I also have a Behringer Poly D sitting next to my intake Mini!) Recently I purchased the softsynth version of the Minimoog from Universal and Audio and I run it through my Apollo X8P interface. Now that’s the comparison I think we need to do!

      1. Cool, David. I was in your store with my son when he was 2. I was babysitting that day, and the gal who was working there looks at me and says, ‘you think you need to change something?” So I had to leave and go change him out in the parking lot behind the store. He’s 25 now and does sound for bands. I’d like to think that store made an impression on him. Cause I know it made an impression on that store. We were lucky to have Bob Moog and Billy Sheehan I always say!

    2. I feel like people use this argument for so many things, plugins vs. hardware, originals vs. reissues. I agree with the sentiment at face value but it ignores the most important part: it isn’t about the listener experience, it’s about the musician. If the musician can hear or feel the difference they will be more inspired and that will come through in the performance and that is something surely the listener will hear and care about. you can sit all day and dial up the exact sound in a plugin but would you have written the same riff with it as the hardware? of course not. is one better than the other? probably not, just different. but depending on the player, touching a living, breathing analog synth can be a very inspiring experience that can’t be replicated.

      I have an original model D and the reissue along with softube model 72 and UADx Minimoog and they’re all phenomenal instruments and each has their strengths. but I prefer to play the original any day.

  6. I was glad to sell my Vintage Minimoog: it cost a fortune to get it cleaned and play in tune, it still stank, and it sounded really coarse and unrefined.

  9. The new ones use completely different internal construction and have some design choices that will make them last not nearly as long as the old ones.

  10. Sorry, but I’m not a dolphin, so I can’t hear the difference. I started with a Minimoog and they both sound like Moogs to me. These arguments are cousins to the people who played their LPs backwards, claiming Satan was sending us hidden messages.

    1. Hahaha…what a fabulous comparison, and I’m in full agreement. As an aside, I was raised in the Baptist church and we used to have to sit through backwards recordings of stuff to show us that Led Zepplin worshiped Satan. I still joke with my friends about how their album supposedly said, “My sweet Satan” over and over.

  11. most of the time the reissue had overload switch turned on.. providing a slight saturated audio from the vintage.. not a proper comparison.. sounds also were not compared accurately

  13. I repeat: “The 1974 sounded exactly like on the early Kraftwerk records”. In spite of processing. But this conversation is over to me. As so many other threads on this planet, when men are “discussing”, it becomes a pissing contest.

  14. Which sounds better: a Minimoog tattooed over both teats or an Xpander over one of them? Ooo, how about an entire ARP 2500 on your back?

  15. Trying to do a comparison this way is ridiculous. There is no way one can view this video and not be biased in their opinion.

  16. These comparisons are fun, but also silly. Line up ten Mini Moogs and they’ll all sound different. Also, I can’t remember offhand what year the reissue is modeled after, maybe the second one, but at a glance it looks like that vintage Moog is an old OSC board. I compared my later model vintage to my reissue and they were a lot closer than those two in this video. I have a friend that owns at least 10 of varying years. That would be a fun video to line all those up and compare them, but calibrating all of them before would be a chore. In the end Mini Moogs sound awesome even the reissues. Playing one is a joy, like a real Wurlitzer or B3, you feel them beneath your fingers and they’re so musical that they nearly play themselves.

  18. More than either of those synthesizers, I enjoy the sound of that much money rattling around in my bank account that I won’t spend on a Moog.

  19. Always nice to see the occasional “I have both” this week Minimoog comparisons. In the mix and in person both are fantastic. So much comes down to what you do with it. What a time we live in : )

  20. It’s pretty evident, the filter resonance on the old one is more present, especially as you open the filter. In the new one it almost disappears. Now of course it could be that the oscillators are hitting harder the filter but overal the new version sounds brighter if not distorted. Btw i never had an i never will get any of these classic synths, i find them saturated in use and given their specific signal path, result. I don’t see the use for a minimoog in 2022, unless it is something one discovers in his grandpa’s garage.

    1. “I don’t see the use for a minimoog in 2022, unless it is something one discovers in his grandpa’s garage.”

      I don’t understand that attitude.

      As I’ve noted elsewhere – a monkey can play a new sound on a new synth design and be impressed by its novelty. Making new sounds and interesting music on a classic instrument, though, is more of a test of a synthesist and composer.

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