MOOG MINIMOOG D (1971)

 

The Minimoog is the most famous and classic monosynthesizer ever built, and after nearly 40 years, it is still sought-after for the powerful and fat sound.

Also called "D" as the fourth model out of a production of prototypes invented by Bill Hemsath and of course Robert Moog.

KEYBOARD 44 keys with beautyful wood case. Main panel features 6 selectors, 15 switch tabs and 21 knobs- on the left side 2 wheels for modulation / pitch + 2 tabs for EG decay.

Rear panel terminal connectors:
- audio mono out (high impedance)
- audio mono out (high impedance)
- signal input (for external processing)
- VCO control CV input
- VCA control CV input
- VCF control CV input
- S trigger/gate input.

VOICE cult monophonic synthesizer based on subtractive synthesis.
The voice structure is a simpler and portable version of the Moog modular systems with hard-wired signal routings removing previous patch cords systems, especially optimized for live performances.

STRUCTURE: the panel is split in 4main parts:
1 - VCO oscillators
2 - VCF filter
3 - VCA amplitude
4 - voice mixer.

 

OSCILLATOR VCO voice is composed by 3 VCO oscillators + 1 noise circuit in the so-called OSCILLATOR BANK :

	VCO1	VCO2	VCO3
Level mix	yes	yes	yes
Detune	-	yes	yes
Octaves	LO 32' 16' 8' 4' 2'	same as VCO1	same as VCO1
Waveforms	tri / saw/ sqr / wide pulse / narrow pulse / saw-tri	same as VCO1	tri / saw/ sqr / wide pulse / narrow pulse / saw reverse

ENVELOPE EGs :
1- EG VCF: 3-segments ADS + release
2- EG VCA: 3-segments ADS + release.
TECH: a release segment can be added for both VCA and VCF simply pressing the relative tab button, then release segment gets the same value as the decay.

FILTER resonant lowpass at -24 dB/ octave filter with cutoff Frequency and contour amount around the Q point for resonance emphasis.
Extra VCF functions:
1- external process input
2- key tracking with 2 modes.

 

 

LFO VCO3 acts as a low frequency modulator "LO" , relative frequency rate is defined by the modulation wheel. The LFO has 2 destinations:
1- VCO pitch
2- VCF cutoff
NOTE: switching VCO3 to LFO mode deactivates the VCF keytrack function.

 

 

CV there are 3 inputs for external tension controls at 1V/Oct + 1 gate control:
1- CV VCA loudness
2- CV VCF filter
3- CV VCO pitch.
Gate system is a less-commond S-trig, a negative inverted switch trigger variant.

 

PERFORMANCE:
- Glide function with low priority system, as it does not retrigger the EG during Legato play.
- EG decay switch with gate mode.

RELATED FAMILY:

	MOOG MODULAR -after all they are the spiritual fathers! VIDEO with keith Emerson
	MINIMOOG VOYAGER- reissues from 2002 more flexible signal path, Midi, memory for patch and setup, very good filter but somehow the sound is not so close to the original. The voyager exists in dozen of limited editions, colors and wood quality + a rackmount edition "RME" VIDEO
	STUDIO ELECTRONICS MIDIMINI - an original Minimoog in a rackmount box plus some extra goodies made by Studio Electronics, a company now producing analog rack synths VIDEO
	MINIMOOG VOYAGER XL - a kind of super voyager king size with patch controls VIDEO
	CREAMWARE MINIMAX ASB (2006) a digital clone based on virtual analog modeling - 12 oscillators (3 per voices, max 3 voices polyphony).

 

VST PLUGIN / SAMPLED VERSION there are some free and commercial samples set:

	name	price	link	demo
	minimooge VA	free
	arturia minimoog V	$$
	GFORCE minimonsta	$$

AUDIO DEMO

Back in Bach PFM impressioni delayed with MF104Z random noises and modulations Ave M.

Soudcloud MINIMOOG D

YOUTUBE VIDEO CLIP SELECTION History of the Synthesizer Bob Moog demonstration Demonstration

mimì the synthcat playing with Minimoog :)