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The downside? Well, Minimoogs didn't stay in tune very well. In
fact it was customary to arrive at least an hour and a half early to the
gig to turn the unit on and let it warm up to stability. And they weren't
programmable, a feature which Bob Moog has had the fortune to
introduce on his new Minimoog Voyager released in 2003. On the
original Mini. one could almost never get the exact same sound one
had the night before.
Although polyphonic synths like the Prophet, and later sample
playback keyboards like the M1, almost killed off the Minimoog, it did
survive in studios, long after production ceased in 1982, due to the
constant demand for the bass tone you could produce with it.
"Minimoog bass" became a staple of funk, techno, electronic and
dance music.
The sound never really went away, ever. In its heyday, EVERY
heavy group, from Styx to REO Speedwagon to Rush to Pink Floyd to
Yes and countless others, used the Minimoog.
Sadly, Bob Moog passed away in 2006. But his company, Moog
Music, lives on and thrives, as does the Minimoog, now reincarnated
as the Minimoog Voyager.
OH YEAH, I ALMOST FORGOT – ABOUT THIS VOICE –
This sound is the classic Minimoog dual-oscillator open filter
sawtooth sound, As with many of the Moog sounds in "Vintage Keys",
Assignable Knob 1 controls portamento time, and Assignable Knob 2
controls release, imitating what the controls on the real Mini did. And
yes, pitch bend range is set to a fifth, as it was on the original. This is
the sound used for the lead on Rush's "Tom Sawyer", as well as REO
Speedwagon on their hit "Ridin' the Storm Out".
Note: Assignable Function Switch 1 adds classic Minimoog
"overdrive" or "overload" sound, a saturation type of effect activated
by feeding the mini's output(via a splitter)back into the external input
on the rear panel, overdriving the oscillators. Assgn. Function Switch
2 emulates the effect of switching the Minimoog's Osciillator 3 to be a
control source as well as an audio signal, leaving the keyboard
tracking switch (switch B) on, and feeding the output of Oscillator 3 to
the modulation mix.
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