MATRIXSYNTH: MOOG Minimoog Model E


Wednesday, March 14, 2007

MOOG Minimoog Model E


Note Model E, not D. This is "The Welsh Minimoog" manufactured by Alex Winter's MOOG Music in the UK, referred to in the previous post. The other "non-MOOG" Minimoog E was Don Martin's Minimoog often referred to as the Donimoog (previous posts). Don Martin owned the rights to the name in the US until Bob Moog won the name back in time for the Voyager, however in the UK the Voyager was released as the Voyager by Bob Moog (more info in the previous post).

Image and details pulled via this auction

Details:
"You're looking at a Minimoog Model 204E Analogue Synthesiser - the 'Welsh' Minimoog!

It is in mint condition - I am the sole owner from new, when I bought it in 1999. It has never left the house. It is also fully functional - all controls, switches and keys work perfectly. It comes with the original manual and power cable.

There are one or two 'gremlins' in the system, which were present when I bought it, but they didn't concern me enough to address. I feel I should mention these so as to make the buyer aware!

- there is a slight 'tick' noise which can be heard periodically whilst playing. The below sound demo shows it at its worst. I've no idea what causes it - I know that Moog Music Ltd. had a number of 'bugs' to iron out, so I suspect this is one of them. It's never really bothered me.

- plugging in a set of headphones and lowering the headphone volume to minimum will result in a humming sound. This sound is only audible in the headphones and does not occur with the main outputs (high or low).

My reason for selling is because I've had it eight years and feel like a change.

So what is a 'Welsh Minimoog' then? Moog Music Ltd., based in Caerphilly, Wales was set up in the 90's to reissue Moog Modular parts before setting out to recreate the classic Minimoog... with a few enhancements! From what I understand, only five Minimoog Model 204Es were made before the company went under. I was lucky enough to acquire one (cost £1500 at the time!).

The improvements are as follows:

- Ultra-stable oscillators - these have yet to go out of tune in eight years.
- Transpose switch - the range of the keyboard has now been increased by +/- 1 octave.
- Digitally-scanned keyboard
- PWM on Oscillators 1 & 2 when they are set to Square/Pulse waves. Osc 3 in LFO duties provides modulation.
- Multiple Triggering - the envelopes can be set to multiple triggering, in addition to the original's single triggering.
- MIDI - the Minimoog Model 204E features MIDI built-in (not a retrofit).

The picture below is of the actual synth and by following the link below to my 'music' page, a set of demos that I recorded can be found at the bottom of the list.

http://www.soundclick.com/greenalsatian

Here are some other demos that I recorded, including the 'tick' - this was from a test in which I taped down a note for half an hour - the 'tick' only occurred once, but the frequency of it can vary.

http://media.putfile.com/Minimoog-Tick
http://media.putfile.com/Camel-esque-Lead-Noise-Filter-Mod
http://media.putfile.com/Minimoog-Stranglers-esque
http://media.putfile.com/Minimoog-Devo-ish-Bass
(if the links go down, they are mirrored here)

Here is a link to the review of a pre-production model on Sound on Sound. The issues mentioned in the review were resolved on the production model.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct98/articles/minimoog204e.html"

1 comment:

  1. A Donimoog sold last week on Ebay.

    ReplyDelete

To reduce spam, comments for posts older than one week are not displayed until approved, usually same day. Do not insult people. For items for sale, do not ask if it is still available. Check the auction link and search for the item. Auctions are from various sellers and expire over time. Posts remain for the pics and historical purposes. This site is meant to be a daily snapshot of some of what was out there in the world of synths.

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