Hacker News Reader

Comment by leviathant | Hacker News Reader

When I was younger, I always felt like Moogs were expensive, maybe even overpriced. Last year, I was in Asheville, NC for the Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Festival, and took the opportunity to tour their factory, which by no coincidence is in that same town.

It really changed my perspective on things. There are a couple dozen people there who design, assemble, inspect and repair everything right there in that little shop. Sure, you can get a reproduction Korg MS-20 for $600, but there was something charming about seeing exactly who puts together a Moog Voyager or Sub 37 - the latter of which I pre-ordered this year, and I never pre-order anything.

It's well worth seeing if you're ever in Asheville - but the tour is typically only open during the week, during regular business hours.

View on HN

On the flip side, you have DSP-based manufacturers of synthesizers who are selling their products for >$2.5k, whereas the true cost is really more like $300. The synthesizer world is just as prone to the economies of luxury and privilege as any other consumer, non-essential device.

(Disclaimer: worked in the synth business for decades.. its a truly heinous world if you peek beneath the covers for too long. Smoke, mirrors, deceit .. its all there, being applied, in the never-endless pursuit to 'market to the cool and gullible..')

Moog is a little like Apple. Their hardware is more expensive than the competition but the build quality is amazing and their synths are a pleasure to use. They also hold their resale value very well so they're a good investment for the long term.

Moog also happens to do bass sounds better than anybody else. You'll find Moogs in most serious hip hop and dance music studios.

Moog having the best sounding bass is absolutely subjective. You can't sum up dozens of analog synthesizers brands by one sentence like this. Some prefer DSI, some prefer Vermona and so on.

Also it's a question of generation. Today's Moog synths sound a little different to the older generations, generally are more precise, cripy compared to warm vintage tones.

Two things concerning Moog:

* It is pronounced /ˈmoʊɡ/ mohg.

* They did monophonic synths only besides the Polymoog.

Sure bass sound is subjective. A bunch of other synths also do bass very well. I'm sure a lot of people still keep a Waldorf Pulse around just for its ridiculously fat bass.

Personally I'll go for a Moog if I need a guaranteed huge, warm bass sound though.

The Memorymoog was polyphonic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorymoog

Reply on news.ycombinator.com