Finally got to check the One out at Chuck Levin's this week along with a Matriarch. This was an 8 voice model which is maybe the better benchmark for minimal fan noise. Barely perceptible other than the obnoxious initialization roar which happens every power up. But after that I had to put my ear up to the back to hear the fans at all and the room was pretty quiet at the time- cool. I wasn't that thrilled with the keybed, particularly the skinny topped textured black keys. Also left me wondering how well you can control the velocity on busy runs. It's probably fine once you get used to it but why should I have to? Ditto for the wheels although I think those are more easy to adjust to. I really liked the touch pad. Based on other comments I've read I'm not sure how exacting you can get with it. But it does feel nice and should work well for simpler applications at a minimum.

As everyone seems to attest to the interface is second to none. Picked up on the mod assignment scheme immediately and it can't get any simpler - absolutely wonderful. Not a big user of multi patches (up to 3) but this also looks like straight forward assignment. I did get thrown for a bit on nothing responding as I was "focused" on the wrong "synth".

Functionally this synth seems to have it all. It's a programmer's dream and I was able to get around very quickly. I spent less than a minute on presets with the sales guy helping me to get to live panel mode. For me being a programmer geek this is the only way I can evaluate a synth to my satisfaction. I spent an admittedly inadequate 20 minutes rolling my own. My initial impression-it just didn't grab or inspire me. I have no doubt that beautiful awesome sounds are there to be had once getting past the learning curve and digging in- one of my favorite past times. No need to convince me of needing more time....

Despite that I felt that this is not a synth that needs to be tamed but rather needs the goodness extracted out of it. That's just not what I want out of analog. I want attitude and balls straight out of the starting gate. Over driven, pushed, acidic, fizzy and even a degree of harshness that can be subtracted out to taste without feeling left wanting. I'm not doing movie sound tracks or beautiful sound collages which is where I think this synth would excel. Of course sound is so personal and subjective. But I'd say my biggest reservation is that despite all the One does both sound-wise and functionally it doesn't bring anything new to a well equipped synth studio. It certainly could help consolidate a number of synths - depending on the synths of course. As always it comes down to what you already have and where you want to go.

Matriarch Tangent:

If you're wanting a non-programmable semi modular mono with vintage Moog sound look no further. This thing has attitude and then some. She belches, gurgles, burbles and coughs up phlem for days. All while grabbing her crotch at the same time. My kinda woman.

You need to cut back the Viagra.

If that's the Matriarch, consider the One the pastor's daughter. A good girl. Mostly.

Crazy ‘bout Elvis.

loves horses, and her boyfriend too.

Am I a bad boy, cause I don’t even miss her?

Played the One at the store for a bit recently. It really is a wonderful synth — the interface totally redefines what a polyphonic analogue can be. Just awesome. And it’s smooth, and versatile, and beautiful.

But...

The Memorymoog will rip your balls off.

Markyboard has put my sentiments into words. It’s a great tool, but nothing that makes me giddy.

Nothing I miss.

That pretty much says it all; the One needs a more powerful basic tone to start from. "Balls" is a great subjective term. If they made an 8 voice Matriarch...

Poor Moog. They can't win.

Well, I would certainly need some time with an $8000 synth before I can determine if it will work for me. All I know is that I was more taken by the tone of the Matriarch on initial playing than I was with the One. Just like the Prophet 6 (and later the OB-6) grabbed me immediately, while all of the DSI Curtis chip-based synths didn't. Also, I have learned never to judge a synth on demos alone, gotta get my hands on it, which is why I am very interested in the Black Corp.'s Xerxes, but haven't preordered it yet. Still waiting to see if Roland/Studio Electronics has something up their sleeves...

I have both the Matriarch and the One - as well as the 2 DSI synths mentioned above. The Matriarch is the one that leaps out for raw tone, in large part because of the CP33 mixer. That thing is magic, and preferable to me to something like the Multidrive on the Sub series, which is also very cool.
The One's charms reveal themselves over time, and those charms could not be more different than those of the Matriarch. If you are going to hold down one key and marvel in the wonderful gritty tone, the Matriarch wins. I love that thing and it is not going anywhere. I don't tend to really desire that in a poly synth. You can absolutely get grit on the One by running the filters in series and hitting the mixer hard, and with 48 oscillators at your disposal, you can hit it pretty darn hard. But it's forte is definitely not gnarly distorted sounds. A micro brute can do that just fine. It is a vast playground, and a wonderfully expressive performance instrument.to be explored over time. It also sounds wonderful. You just can't switch it on and have it sound like a Model D without having your hands on it for a while, and even then, what is the point of that? It is its own thing. It also has inserts, and you can run it into an amp, or a Leslie, or a pedal if you want more dirt. If I could change anything it would be making the mixer closer to the one in the Matriarch, but with less drive than that one to accommodate the polyphony, and replacing the digital effects with something like the stereo delay in the Matriarch and with the amazing drive of the MF-104M, which can be subtle, or less subtle.
My OB-6 and Prophet-6 almost never get touched these days, unless I need to bring something small out of my studio. They are fine instruments, both of them. Not dissing them at all, and the OB-6 filter in particular is spectacular. Plus they both respond to Poly-Aftertouch, which the One does not (at least yet). Nonetheless they are both potentially on the chopping block. I did get a box called the LFE to expand their capabilities,(adds LFO's EG's and Modulation sequencer assignable to all CC or NRPN parameters by parameter name) but I have not had a chance to explore it in any detail. Adding more and different modulation capailities to both of those synths might put the shine back on them for me, and who knows, maybe the One will get a break for a few weeks.

I'm hip. It's a lot of coin for something one is on the fence about. For me it makes sense. I don't own much hardware any more and I never owned a flagship poly.



The Matriarch has an outstanding tone. I pressed one key and went "Ooh." Knowing a theoretical Moog poly was in discussion but not knowing if it would really materialize, I took a good hard look at the P6 and OB6. While the OB was the one I thought I'd love, it was the P6 that I spent more time tweaking. It's a lovely instrument.

Yeah, I literally had a dream last night that I was at NAMM and trying to order a One from a dealer (?) on the floor- but then I woke up and again realized that they hadn't implemented polyAT over MIDI yet!



Probably in a year or so (roadmap depending) I will pull the trigger, but a lot can/will happen over that time.

I wanted balls in a rack. Moog didn't have anything but the rebuilt Voyetra 8 is what I got.
Sucker slapped my OBX and Code 8 so bad they were sold.
MemoryMoog and Moog One are both great synths but Voyetra and MemoryMoog are unequalled in the balls department.
I just wanted the biggest fattest sound that needs no tubes or delays, canyons, cathedrals.
Just sizzling fat hair partin’ waveforms.
Only does about six sounds, but I dont need 100 weaker ones.

Oh, no, that's not what I meant! The ONE is certainly a winner — it's a helluva machine, to be sure.

I'm just speaking from the utterly jaded viewpoint of a man who lucked his way into owning way too many vintage Moogs, (including a LAMM). Any new offering has a high bar for me to lust for it.

I was pretty sure I was going to love the ONE — and I do, for it's possibilities and interface. But I'm not wanting to give up the LAMM for One.

You'd think that Nick from SonicState would know the proper pronunciation of "moog."

I doubt he speaks Dutch.