InMusic buying Moog?

[MathOfInsects]

I think @ProfD's point might be something along the lines of, this is not actually a boutique item any more, particularly 50 years later, except to the extent that there are people willing to pay as if it were just (or primarily) for the nametag. 

[ksoper]

I heard back from my friend at Moog.  She works upstairs in the development, sales, and management area.  My note to her was not particularly prying, though I said I hoped that the cheery mood in the press release was shared by everyone there.  I'm paraphrasing her response:  It's been crazy with the transition but everyone is glad that Mike is finally able to retire. Direct quote:  "And we are still able to be here. A lot to be thankful for."    

 

My wife and I are discussing going out there to pick up my Voyager.  If that happens I'll have a chance to speak with Steve Dunnington and see what I can find out, if anything.  He may not be allowed to discuss it in other than general terms.  

 

My association with Moog is deeply personal as well as professional, so this transition is hard for me.  It's the romanticism described by Nick Batt and much more.  When Bob and Dave Van Koevering brought a non-functioning Voyager to Summer NAMM in 2001, I got to speak to them both about it and went home breathless.  My wife, who doesn't miss a clue, called Moog and put in an order for a Signature model in Cherry.  That Christmas I got a MiniMug and a note from Steve Dunnington saying that production was behind but they'd get it to us asap.  In October of 2002 it was ready and Beth and I drove out to pick it up.  I was the first buyer to make the pilgrimage. Mike Adams had just taken over as president and he stopped the production line so that the people who built it could hear it played.  Up until then all anyone heard were bleeps and squawks.  There's youtube video of this day that I've posted before. I got to speak with Bob about it.  A great day. 

 

In 2005 when Bob passed I was on tour. I got a call from Mike Adams who asked if I'd be willing to perform on the Voyager at Bob's memorial celebration on 8/23. I had a gap in my schedule and was, indeed, able to fly to Asheville and play in front of family, friends, and luminaries of the synth world including Wendy Carlos.  The Moog company was grieving Bob's passing, moving that same weekend into their present facility, and throwing together a memorial befitting the man who changed music. Those folks were fried to a crispy crunch.  In the midst of all that they built me a thank-you gift, the first MF104Z delay pedal. It has no imprinted serial number. It has a torn corner of an envelope address label with "1" written in pen and the bottom was autographed by Mike And Steve.  

 

One year later I got a call from someone in marketing asking if I could put together a Moment of Moog, a short electronic piece that would be sent out to global news services commemorating the first anniversary of Bob's passing.  Much like the memorial performance, I had a day off in between shows and was able to record the tracks at Robot Speak in San Francisco. It got mixed in my hotel room.  

 

In 2013 I got a personal note from Mike Adams. They were in the dreaming stage of the development of the One.  There was a questionnaire attached with general design questions (layout, how many octaves, how many osc, lfos, envs, etc).  I attached a two-page letter of additional notes.  These questionnaires were sent to 25 people in total, a combination of artists, engineers, retailers and more, with an NDA attached. Things I asked for:  standard Moog layout, ultra-quality key bed and construction, a mod matrix where everything modulated everything, 3 oscillators, a SVF along with the Ladder, and some sort of fx unit, digital or analog. I wanted a ribbon controller across that beautiful piece of wood above the keys. 6-8 voices would've been fine for me as plenty of great music had been made on fewer voices. I suggested they read the Andromeda manual for inspiration.  At the time the KC was hot and heavy on the Solaris, so I thought Moog should probably see what Bowen had done with it.  

 

Although I can't quote it exactly, Mike's note used language that suggested that the release of the One would be it for him and he was looking to get out on a high note. 

 

I didn't hear anything for a while.  They had nothing to show me at Moogfest 2014 other than the Keith Emerson clone!  

 

When Beth and I went to pick my One up in August of 2019 many of the initial bugs had been worked out.  Geert Bevin gave me a two-hour demonstration.   Mike Adams and Joe Richardson watched me play and when I was done Mike asked me what I thought.  I said, "I feel as though you made it for me. It's everything I asked for times three."  By then Moog had shipped 2500 Ones.  This number is in line with other flagship polys--3300 Jupiter 8s, 2000 CS-80s, 800 Oberheim 4-voices, 800 OB-Xs and 6000 Prophet 5s. I don't know how many more Ones have been shipped since I bought mine until the production line stopped.  It'll be hard to top the Prophet.  

 

 As I'm very close to the One I don't want to think of it as the synth that killed Moog. It may be, as Nick Batt and his panel discussed, a perfect storm of events--supply chain problems, a lawsuit, unionization attempts, and, to be fair, an ambitious and expensive flagship released too late to catch the modern poly madness. By the same token they must've made a killing on the Grandmother, Matriarch, and Mother 32 line. And again, the company has been for sale for a while.  My understanding was that the employees would eventually be able to buy out Mike's 51% but I guess he wanted to retire and have some money in his pocket.  It's his right.  It was his company.  Without Mike Adams, there would be no Voyager or anything that came after it.  ~22 years of guidance gave us an amazing line up of gear that included many affordable pieces and a few ridiculous ones.  I am personally indebted to Mike and I wish him health and happiness. 

 

My hope is that inMusic does the right thing.  My friend at Moog is upbeat about it.  I figured she'd get while the getting was good so something must've happened to convince her to stay.  Hopefully I'll get to see for myself in a couple of weeks.   

[Polychrest]

Some big-picture context here.

 

[ksoper]

My friend at Moog waved me off of picking up my Voyager in person. Folks I knew were going to be away for an inMusic "retreat." She herself would be in and out of the office. I had the tech invoice me for the work and told him we might come out to see the Biltmore at Christmas. He said hopefully things will have settled down by then.

 

Meanwhile they do have some new products in the pipeline and they've built their 20,000th Grandmother. 

 

What I found particularly disconcerting, though, was the company name on the invoice:

 

InMusic MMI Acquisition LLC

 

Rolls right off the tongue. 

[analogika]

Well, fuck. 

 

Stick a fork in it, I guess.

https://synthanatomy.com/2023/09/inmusic-has-fired-a-large-portion-of-the-moog-staff-a-sad-day-for-synth-industry.html

 

What a shame. 

[ProfD]

There's no official press release yet. 

 

If/when it becomes official that Moog staff has been laid off, it will be a bummer indeed. 

 

However, I doubt that many of us will be surprised wherever inMusic takes the company.😎

[ksoper]

5 hours ago, ProfD said:

There's no official press release yet. 

 

If/when it becomes official that Moog staff has been laid off, it will be a bummer indeed. 

 

However, I doubt that many of us will be surprised wherever inMusic takes the company.😎

 

I sent an email to my friend at Moog after reading this. It immediately bounced back mailer-daemon style. 

 

Yeah, well... 

[GRollins]

In three-part harmony...this time with feeling:

 

I.

Told.

You.

So.

 

In my Moog One mini-review a couple of years ago, I said it was over. The One was a hollow shell of what it could or should have been and the Moog store was in disarray in many ways. I could feel that something was off. As you may recall, I had a number of people tell me how wrong I was, that the One was a great product, and was selling like hotcakes...blah, blah, blah, woof, woof, woof. I stuck to my guns.

 

Nota bene: I take no pleasure in the loss of Moog. I own four Moog products (if you'll pardon me including my Big Briar theremin in the list) and love them. But...that doesn't make me blind to the fact that the company lost its way.

 

In some alternate universe, someone with deep pockets and a proper understanding of the market--e.g. Roland, Yamaha, Korg...--would buy the company and at least hold the line, if not innovate and move ahead. Sadly, we do not live in that universe.

 

So...five or ten years from now, when the Moog name has been dragged through the mud, we can all take up a collection and buy the remnants for pennies on the dollar and begin the long, slow, painful process of rebuilding the tattered reputation of one of the best synth companies, ever.

 

Thanks. You've been a great audience. Have a safe drive home.

 

Grey

[ProfD]

Moog went dormant for a number of years before it was resurrected.

 

Bob Moog the founder is gone. The company had a great run.

 

The old, reissued and current Moog products will still be around regardless of what inMusic does with the name. 😎

[AnotherScott]

Now they can bring back the Alesis Micron/Akai MiniAK and sell it a third time, now with a Moog name on it.

[HammondDave]

F**k these foreign corporate takeovers.   How to ruin a good name.  I bought a Mini Moog when they first came out in the early 70’s. What a great product. Well, thank you for your historic mark on music.  

[ProfD]

3 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

Now they can bring back the Alesis Micron/Akai MiniAK and sell it a third time, now with a Moog name on it.

I certainly hope not. That would be a travesty.🤣

 

Don't get me wrong, the Alesis ION/Micron were cool boxes but they don't deserve a Moog tag. 

 

Considering how inMusic abandoned Alesis synths...I don't think we have to worry about them bringing it back.😎

[jerrythek]

2 hours ago, HammondDave said:

F**k these foreign corporate takeovers.   How to ruin a good name.  I bought a Mini Moog when they first came out in the early 70’s. What a great product. Well, thank you for your historic mark on music.  

Dave,

 

Not that I'm going to defend/support them, but InMusic is American... located in Rhode Island.

 

Jerry

[The Real MC]

1 hour ago, jerrythek said:

Dave,

 

Not that I'm going to defend/support them, but InMusic is American... located in Rhode Island.

 

Jerry

 

So was Gibson Guitars when they took over and ruined OpCode, Oberheim, and other beloved brands.  At least Tom got his Oberheim trademark back when the top brass was replaced at Gibson.

[Jim Alfredson]

The Moog One did not kill Moog. 

Cheap knockoffs killed Moog. Their current product line is pretty great. The Grandmother is a wonderful synth. The Sub37 is the best value for those that want the Moog sound with all the fixin’s.  

Cheap knockoffs killed Moog. You can thank B***inger for a race to the bottom.

 

InMusic has hired some really good people to head their synth department. I can’t say who at the moment, but they are respected across the industry. Let’s see how this plays out. While I feel bad for the employees in Asheville, NC this might be what the brand needed to stay alive in the current marketplace.

[CyberGene]

5 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

Cheap knockoffs killed Moog. You can thank B***inger for a race to the bottom.

Indeed. If it wasn’t for the €600 Poly D, Moog would’ve sold millions of €6000 Model D reissues. 

[Jim Alfredson]

12 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

Indeed. If it wasn’t for the €600 Poly D, Moog would’ve sold millions of €6000 Model D reissues. 

 

The Sub37 is far superior to anything B***inger offers and doesn’t cost all that much more. If that’s too much, The Grandmother sounds almost the same as my ‘74 Model D and is even cheaper than the Sub37. As I’ve argued before, there are other alternatives to supporting a shitty company like B***inger.

 

But for better or for worse, they own the low end of the marketplace now, which might seem like a good thing to you. However, what actually happens is that it further divides the marketplace into super low-end and super high-end, with hardly anything in the space between, which is where a lot of the innovation occurs, especially from smaller manufactures. Moog offers plenty of great value in that middle space, including the aforementioned products which are nice products with a lot of very useful features. But they can’t compete with the bottom of the barrel cheap shit. 

[CyberGene]

8 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

The Sub37 is far superior to anything B***inger offers and doesn’t cost all that much more. If that’s too much, The Grandmother sounds almost the same as my ‘74 Model D and is even cheaper than the Sub37.

As a matter of fact I agree with you about that. However many people, me included, wanted an exact replica/reissue of the Minimoog. Personally I hate presets on a pure analog machine which is why I rejected the Sub 37 at the time. You can’t disagree that making it without memory and presets would be the equivalent of a Minimoog (with added features on top). Grandmother was not yet available. And it sounds like a Minimoog where they overlap but it lacks some stuff. Moog would’ve made a lot of money if they offered a Minimoog equivalent. And affordable for the common folk. But they didn’t. Are Roland and Studio Electronics paying royalties to Moog? And how come the steppy filter knob makes for a better replica than the Behringer replica? You’re mad at Behringer and I get it, many people do. I don’t like them either. I have only one synth, the Model D because that’s the only quality replica of the Minimoog, yep, it is. But blaming Behringer for Moog’s stupid decisions? How come one can expect for a hand-soldered US manufactured synths (by some hipsters) to sell well is beyond my comprehension. And with no real innovation, just reusing great Bob Moog’s legacy forever. No way. 

[Jim Alfredson]

It’s funny that you say they have no innovation and then get mad at the Sub37 for having features that the original MiniMoog doesn’t have. It reminds me of this scene from the Simpsons.

 

 

[analogika]

32 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

 

The Sub37 is far superior to anything B***inger offers and doesn’t cost all that much more.

 

The Sub37 hasn't been available for while now but it was twice the price of Behringer's most expensive synth (the Deepmind 12). The Subsequent37 is two and a half times the price of the most expensive Behringer synth (the Deepmind). 

A thousand dollars isn't "all that much" in some worlds, but it is a thousand dollars. 

[CyberGene]

11 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

It’s funny that you say they have no innovation and then get mad at the Sub37 for having features that the original MiniMoog doesn’t have.

Having presets has hardly been an innovation since Prophet 5, no?

[jerrythek]

1 hour ago, The Real MC said:

 

So was Gibson Guitars when they took over and ruined OpCode, Oberheim, and other beloved brands.  At least Tom got his Oberheim trademark back when the top brass was replaced at Gibson.

???
 

I was only correcting Dave’s use of the word foreign.

 

???

[analogika]

Just now, jerrythek said:

???
 

I was only correcting Dave’s use of the word foreign.

 

???

 

Mike was agreeing with you. 

[Jim Alfredson]

1 hour ago, analogika said:

 

The Sub37 hasn't been available for while now but it was twice the price of Behringer's most expensive synth (the Deepmind 12). The Subsequent37 is two and a half times the price of the most expensive Behringer synth (the Deepmind). 

A thousand dollars isn't "all that much" in some worlds, but it is a thousand dollars. 

 

It’s still available brand new from Sweetwater, Musician’s Friend, etc. And you can usually find it for around $1300 on sale.

 

1 hour ago, CyberGene said:

Having presets has hardly been an innovation since Prophet 5, no?

 

I thought we were comparing it to the original Minimoog. Your argument is that they are “just reusing Bob Moog’s legacy forever” is simply not the case when you look at the product line. The Sub37 specifically has looping envelopes, onboard arp / seq, velocity and aftertouch, duo mode, multi drive saturation circuit, lots of modulation sources / destinations, MIDI sync, multi pole filter, etc. I mean, it has pretty much every feature you could ask for in a monosynth. But your issue with it is ‘patch storage’. Then don’t use patches? 🤷‍♂️

Or just keep using the Poly D, I don’t care. But there is no doubt that B***inger’s cheap crap is affecting the market. You may think it’s a positive thing. I don’t for the reasons stated above. We will see more and more independent, smaller companies fail because they cannot compete with B***inger’s gross business model. But hey, at least we’ll have cheap knock-offs of 40+ year old designs instead of actual quality and innovation. 👍

 

Modal just went insolvent. I worry about companies like Arturia. Will we have truly innovative products like the PolyBrute or MatrixBrute when the dust settles and B***inger owns the entire synth world?

[CyberGene]

4 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

The Sub37 specifically has looping envelopes, onboard arp / seq, velocity and aftertouch, duo mode, multi drive saturation circuit, lots of modulation sources / destinations, MIDI sync, multi pole filter, etc. I mean, it has pretty much every feature you could ask for in a monosynth. But your issue with it is ‘patch storage’. Then don’t use patches? 🤷‍♂️

That was not my point. 
 

So, a Minimoog on steroids, as you yourself described it, the Sub 37 costs €1500

 

Minimoog D reissue costs €6000

 

I don’t want the added features. I don’t want all these things you describe. I already have enough modern synths with all these features. I wanted a Model D. I’d purchase it for €1500. But it wasn’t there. Moog thought it’s something special for collectors and snobs only. And now they get laid off. And that’s Behringer’s fault. OK 😀

[Jim Alfredson]

You still don’t have a Model D.

[CyberGene]

2 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

You still don’t have a Model D.

I hope that gives some sleep to the laid off employees. 

[Jim Alfredson]

1 minute ago, CyberGene said:

I hope that gives some sleep to the laid off employees. 

 

Maybe they can move to China and work in the B***inger factory for 50 cents an hour.

[CyberGene]

1 minute ago, Jim Alfredson said:

Maybe they can move to China and work in the B***inger factory for 50 cents an hour.

Is that a critique of modern world economy? Because virtually anything nowadays is made in China or other low wage countries. How much do you think an iPhone would cost if it was made in USA?

[analogika]

13 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

 

It’s still available brand new from Sweetwater, Musician’s Friend, etc. And you can usually find it for around $1300 on sale.

 

No. It is not. At least not at Sweetwater and MF.

The Sub 37 was discontinued SIX YEARS ago. If there's really any stock still around, that really speaks volumes to moog's ability to move inventory, doesn't it? 

And $1300 at blowout pricing was still a decent cut above the TWELVE-voice Behringer Deepmind ($800). 

I'm not picking Behringer's side here. But I am calling you out on incorrect information you use to support your standpoint. 

My gut feeling is that Behringer is not the cause of moog's troubles. The people who weren't going to buy a minimoog for $6000 probably weren't, either. You don't convince Behringer customers by hiking prices upwards 50% overnight, as moog did in August 2022 here in Europe. 

I know a LOT of small companies had serious component supply issues and massive cost explosions during Covid that, along with personnel issues, broke a lot of backs. 

Behringer was big enough and located strategically to be able to weather that, although they were far from unaffected.