From CR11853@swt.eduSat Feb 4 13:59:24 1995 Date: Fri, 03 Feb 1995 17:29:27 -0600 (CST) From: CR11853@swt.edu To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Memorymoog vs. OB8 I was wondering how some of you felt about these two instruments. I have access to both and can see the benefits and drawbacks of both: Memorymoog OB8 _______________________________________________________________ 6 note polyphony 8 note polyphony 3 OSC per note 2 OSC per note 4 pole filter 2 or 4 pole filter 4 KB modes Page two commands 1 LFO (+OSC 3) 2 LFO (Wheel and programmable) 100 memory locations 120 memory locations Value display Split and Layer modes Difficult to service Easy to service IMHO, the Memorymoog seemed to have a bright and gritty sound and the OB8 has a warm and clean sound. Any other thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated since these are both very powerful analog synths. Craig Robinson From vance@netcom.comSat Feb 4 14:00:26 1995 Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 01:02:15 -0800 From: Vance Gloster To: CR11853@swt.edu Cc: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Re: Memorymoog vs. OB8 IMHO, the Memorymoog seemed to have a bright and gritty sound and the OB8 has a warm and clean sound. Any other thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated since these are both very powerful analog synths. The MemoryMoog is like having six improved MiniMoogs (MiniMoogs use their third oscillator as the LFO while the MemoryMoog has an additional LFO). To me there is no comparison in the sound. The Moog is much thicker. In comparison the OB8 sounds very thin to me. But the thickness of the Moog can sometimes be a problem. The thick patches do not leave much room in the mix for anything else. Listening to the MemoryMoog playing a single note in unison mode (18 oscillators) can be a near-religious experience. The MemoryMoog has a front panel LED test mode that is very entertaining (for about 20 seconds or so). On the other hand the Moog has its difficulties. It is much heavier and larger (a pain in the butt to lug around). The oscillators are not as stable as those in the OB8. About once every 6 months or so I need to do a procedure from the service manual to keep the oscillators linear. This requires me to look at the front panel in a mirror while adjusting pots inside. There is a retune button that automatically retunes all the oscillators (I use this a lot when I play live), but if there are big temperature changes this does not completely solve the problems. I am one of the few who actually has the factory MIDI setup. It is very lame. It responds to all channels all the time. The only MIDI messages it responds to are key up, key down, and patch change (not even modulation amount!) There was someone who made an alternative MIDI interface a few years back. I talked to the president of Moog at the time (I bought my MemoryMoog *new*), Thomas Rhea, PhD. He called MIDI a "fad". A year later they were out of business. Despite these frustrations with management and design engineers at Moog, there is nothing in the universe that sounds like the MemoryMoog. If you are not faint of heart, go for it! -Vance Gloster vance@netcom.com From fEEd@maroon.tc.umn.eduMon Feb 6 12:06:48 1995 Date: Mon, 6 Feb 95 09:39:41 CST From: fEEd To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Re: Memorymoog vs. OB8 On Sat, 4 Feb 1995 01:02:15 -0800, Vance Gloster wrote: >The MemoryMoog is like having six improved MiniMoogs (MiniMoogs use >their third oscillator as the LFO while the MemoryMoog has an >additional LFO). Umm, this is true for the most part. I am not sure if I consider the filter as much of an "improvment" on the Minimoog, especially when you adjust it from the front panel and get all that lovely scanning. :/ Also, I am not sure I would call fixing the classic Minimoog ENV glitch an improvement or not. I will agree with you about the VCO\LFO change being a major improvement. Sounds like someone has been reading old Moog adverts! ;> >To me there is no comparison in the sound. The Moog >is much thicker. In comparison the OB8 sounds very thin to me. Well, to my ears the ob8 can be pretty thick as well. Put it in unison mode, and detune OSC2 AND detune all the voices (via page 2). Now, that shit is fat. Now pan each voice in a different direction via the pan pots on the side of the beast and put the LFOs on voices 4-8 out of phase and you will REALLY give the headphone trippers something to deal with. >Listening to the MemoryMoog playing a single note in unison mode (18 >oscillators) can be a near-religious experience. Do what i described above and see how close to true oneness you become. >The MemoryMoog has a >front panel LED test mode that is very entertaining (for about 20 >seconds or so). Agreed. >I am one of the few who actually has the factory MIDI setup. It is >very lame. Add me to this list. Its not just a memorymoog, its a memorymoog+! ;> >The only MIDI messages it responds to are key up, key down, and patch >change And locks up if it recies anything else. A MIDI filter fixes this. >Despite these frustrations with management and design engineers at >Moog, there is nothing in the universe that sounds like the >MemoryMoog. I agree with you there, but there are few that sound like a OB8 as well. Don't get me wrong, my MemoyMoog,ob8, and ms20 will be buried with me! Rob -- mANnA/>tEMpESt<\fEED/>DBN<\fEEd@maroon.tc.umn.edu/>robw@ivi.com "FILTER MAINTENANCE- After every 100 hours of operation apply a sine wave to the output of the FILTER to back flush the trapped overtones to unclog your filter." - EML 101 Manual From fEEd@maroon.tc.umn.eduMon Feb 6 12:13:58 1995 Date: Mon, 6 Feb 95 09:57:22 CST From: fEEd To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Re: Memorymoog vs. OB8 On Fri, 03 Feb 1995 17:29:27 -0600 (CST), CR11853@swt.edu wrote: >I was wondering how some of you felt about these two instruments. I have >access to both and can see the benefits and drawbacks of both: I have both and might be able to help out a bit. > Memorymoog OB8 >_______________________________________________________________ > 6 note polyphony 8 note polyphony Not that big of a deal to me since I usually have them in unison mode anyway. ;> > 3 OSC per note 2 OSC per note A big advantage here goes to the memorymoog. Not only does it have 1 more OSC but it has a a true MIXER for its OSCs which you can overdrive with very nice results. The ob8 on the other hand has only off\one for one of its OSCs, off\on\1/2 level for its other and only on\off for its noise source! It is not that bad but a true mixer would have been nice. > 4 pole filter 2 or 4 pole filter I love both the filters on these machines, so I have no pref here. The ob8 output level seems to drop quite a bit more than I would expect when in 4 pole mode. > 4 KB modes Page two commands The page 2 commands of the ob8 are GREAT. Quantized modulation, voice detuning, LFO phase shifting, etc all make for a very programmable synth. > 1 LFO (+OSC 3) 2 LFO (Wheel and programmable) The 2 LFOs come in handy on the OB8, that is for sure. I have always found the 2nd one to be kind of a pain in the ass to work with tho. > 100 memory locations 120 memory locations feh. all i can say here is I hate trying to hold down 5 buttons at once when trying to store a patch in the ob8's A-B-C-D 8 memory location. ;> > Value display Split and Layer modes The value display on the memorymoog is quite nice. I love it that when you change a parameter on the memorymoog you can still see what the parameter was originally set at. Very nice. It also comes in handy when it is warming up and it registers that the parameters are starting to drift! ;> > Difficult to service Easy to service Agreed. Right down to the lights on every ob8 voice card that light up when played. One added note, the ob8 arpeggiator is quite a bit nicer than the Memorymoog, the ob8 having programmable traspositions and all. >IMHO, the Memorymoog seemed to have a bright and gritty sound and the OB8 >has a warm and clean sound. I guess you could say this, but I feel you could be just as right if you said it vice-versa. These are 2 of the most programmable analogs around people, you can get them to do just about anything you want. Rob -- mANnA/>tEMpESt<\fEED/>DBN<\fEEd@maroon.tc.umn.edu/>robw@ivi.com "FILTER MAINTENANCE- After every 100 hours of operation apply a sine wave to the output of the FILTER to back flush the trapped overtones to unclog your filter." - EML 101 Manual