Moog Muse - Cat's out of the bag!

[JoJoB3]

1 hour ago, Jim Alfredson said:

Neither is an analog synth. They have analog filters, but everything else is digital; envelopes, oscillators, LFOs, etc.
 

Ah, very true (still though  )

[The Real MC]

On 8/5/2024 at 11:08 PM, Jim Alfredson said:

I can't think of any analog synthesizer where the sound continues after you change presets. Remember, you're dealing with very limited polyphony: 8 voices in the case of the Moog Muse. A modern digital workstation like the Kurzweil K2700 has 256 voice polyphony.

 

Alesis Andromeda.

[Jim Alfredson]

6 hours ago, The Real MC said:

 

Alesis Andromeda.

You are right. I almost wrote that in my initial post but couldn't remember if it did or not and was too lazy to connect mine to check. But I just did connect mine and... you're right.

[wei]

On 8/12/2024 at 2:28 PM, kpl1228 said:

Maybe this will push the OB-X8 to drop their price. Not likely though.

actually... the price for the OB-X8 was dropped. the keyboard is now $3999, and the desktop is $2799. 

[Jim Alfredson]

On 9/3/2024 at 9:06 AM, The Real MC said:

 

Alesis Andromeda.

I haven't used my Andromeda in a long time. I forgot how good it sounds. I've been enjoying it since pulling it out yesterday.

[HammondDave]

8 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

I haven't used my Andromeda in a long time. I forgot how good it sounds. I've been enjoying it since pulling it out yesterday.

 

When you forget how good your keyboards sound could mean that you have too many keyboards~. LOL. How many are you up to, Jim?  PS. Always enjoy watching your videos fixing some of those relic synths.  Very cool!

[Jim Alfredson]

12 hours ago, HammondDave said:

 

When you forget how good your keyboards sound could mean that you have too many keyboards~. LOL. How many are you up to, Jim?  PS. Always enjoy watching your videos fixing some of those relic synths.  Very cool!

I honestly don't know. It's insane in here right now. I would say I have at least 60 synthesizers. Granted, most are not functioning and I'm slowly going through them and fixing them. But I need to start selling my duplicates. I have five ARP Omnis, five ARP Odysseys, three ARP Avatars, two Chroma Polaris, etc. It's a bit out of hand.

[David Emm]

23 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

I honestly don't know. It's insane in here right now. I would say I have at least 60 synthesizers. Granted, most are not functioning and I'm slowly going through them and fixing them. But I need to start selling my duplicates. I have five ARP Omnis, five ARP Odysseys, three ARP Avatars, two Chroma Polaris, etc. It's a bit out of hand.

 

THREE ARP Avatars?? We need to start a GoFundMe page for Jim. He needs professional help with his hoarding issues.

[HammondDave]

43 minutes ago, David Emm said:

 

THREE ARP Avatars?? We need to start a GoFundMe page for Jim. He needs professional help with his hoarding issues.

The first step is giving away all his keyboards until he owns only one of each type. (Oops. From an owner of three Mellotron’s maybe that’s not such a great idea)

[ProfD]

On 9/5/2024 at 10:36 PM, Jim Alfredson said:

I honestly don't know. It's insane in here right now. I would say I have at least 60 synthesizers. 

Providing a refuge for any synths that might have been stray cats is admirable. 

 

I'm curious to know of a synth rescue with the most interesting story i.e. pulled from a burning building or found in the trunk of a car at a salvage yard or residing in the attic of an old lady's house.😁😎

[Jim Alfredson]

14 hours ago, ProfD said:

Providing a refuge for any synths that might have been stray cats is admirable. 

 

I'm curious to know of a synth rescue with the most interesting story i.e. pulled from a burning building or found in the trunk of a car at a salvage yard or residing in the attic of an old lady's house.😁😎

The ARP collection is basically such a story. Last summer I was contacted by the local used music store about a house in downtown Lansing that they were going through on behalf of the sister of a gentlemen who passed away. This guy was a hoarder of books, DVDs, CDs, effects pedals, and synthesizers. The house was tiny and it was floor to ceiling packed with gear, but it was also falling down around the gear. Holes in the walls and ceilings, holes in the upstairs bathroom floor, basement was wet, etc. The guy slept on a tiny twin bed jammed in the corner of one of the bedrooms which was packed with boxes of books. It was sad, really.

They had gone through about half of the things and claimed what they wanted for the resale shop. This included a Mellotron M400, three Roland TR808, two Echoplexes (including the rare tube one), and boxes of vintage effect pedals. Morley wahs, Mu-Tron Bi-Phases, every old EHX pedal you can imagine, and multiples of all of them. It was insane. They also took an ARP Solina in great condition, an EML 400 system, an EML 100 system, and some other things. But there were still over 20 instruments they didn't want to deal with. That's where I came in.

There were three ARP Omni IIs (I already had three... gave one away to my studio owner friend's young intern who is trying to get into repair), three ARP Avatars WITH the pickups (amazing), four ARP Odysseys (two white mk I, one black mk I, and one mk III), another ARP Solina in rough shape, ARP ProSoloist, Korg MonoPoly, the two Chroma Polaris, an ARP Quartet, Korg 700, a Hammond Auto-Vari 64 drum machine, Korg 01/w, and an ARP Sequencer. I bought them all for a song because they all need work. All the ARPs are suffering from bad sliders (not just bad, totally immovable), everything was sitting out gathering dust from the plaster falling apart on top and around them, the MonoPoly was in the wet basement, etc. 

So far I've fixed the MonoPoly, the Solina, the mk III Odyssey, one of the Omnis, and both Polaris. I need to sell one of the Polaris, the Omni, and the Odyssey. I'm keeping the MonoPoly, the Solina, one of the Polaris, and one of the Omnis. Oh and the ProSoloist of course. 

In the last year I've picked up a Korg 770, an Emulator II, a Moog Grandmother, Ensoniq ESQ-1, two Ensoniq EPS, two Juno 106 (sold one), Juno 6, a PolyBrute, MiniFreak, an RMI piano, an Akai AX80, and most recently an Akai AX60. Everything was non-working so acquired on the cheap, except the Arturias which I bought new. I have fixed all of them except the RMI.

I am also working on things for clients. I have three Wurlitzers to do, three Rhodes, a Korg PS3100, three more Juno 106's, a Crumar Orchestrator, another Crumar I can't remember at the moment, a Korg PolySix, and an Oberheim OB8 all waiting for service. Oh and an original SEM. And a Korg string machine, can't remember the model at the moment. I'm a bit behind.  I did just finish a CS80 I had for a year, though.

In the last two weeks I repaired a Juno 106 and a Juno 6 as well as adding two speed motor control to a Leslie 22H, all for Theo Katzman from Vulfpeck, repaired a C3 and 122 at a church, tuned five pianos at a private Catholic school, tuned five other pianos for individual local clients, fixed this AX60 I just picked up, installed the action in an 1890 Kimball straight strung grand piano that I refurbished (new hammers, new felts, regulation, etc.), installed the action in a 1918 Beckwith player piano that I refurbished (new hammers, new felts, new dampers, regulation, etc.) and tuned the piano, restrung the bass section on a 1928 Steinway A, and I almost finished a Wurlitzer 203 with a sluggish action (needs new hammer tips all around; mice have been eating them). 

I have people contacting me almost every day about repairs. There's one other guy in Michigan doing vintage synth repairs. He's in Detroit. I have people calling me from as far away as Traverse City (3 hour drive away) because there's nobody doing this stuff. I have people sending me small things from across the country like Florida (the SEM) and Missouri (DrumTraks... fixed that one). And of course I work on organs, Leslies, and acoustic pianos as well.

I need an assistant.

I've purposefully pulled back from gigging in October to try and get through my backlog. I've also stopped taking work for the time being.

So if any young people are reading this, learn electronics repair! I charge $65 an hour. Knowing the basics of acoustic piano repair is invaluable as well for Rhodes and Wurlitzers. Hell, just learn to be a piano technician. Not enough of those anymore either. I'm the youngest one in my area and I'm 47!

[ProfD]

39 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

The ARP collection is basically such a story....house in downtown Lansing that they were going through on behalf of the sister of a gentlemen who passed away. This guy was a hoarder of books, DVDs, CDs, effects pedals, and synthesizers.

Figured as much.😁

 

I know of a similar guy here. Whenever he passes away, someone will have to clear his house.

 

Amazes me how hoarders can afford so much stuff.  Of course, it's easier to so if one chooses to spend their inheritance, salary or pension on a bunch of stuff.

 

Hoarding is really a mental problem. instead of helping people, capitalism turns it into a reality TV show.🤣

 

Otherwise, it's great that someone like yourself is able to rescue gear and restore it back to working order.

 

Maybe an appreciative client will come along to buy the gear that goes up for sale and put it to good use.😎

[David Emm]

Okay, now I have the bigger picture. Doing regular work as well as slowly resurrecting vintage pieces that will find a future home in eager hands makes you a demigod. As the old saw goes, boys admire bravery, but the one who can make his own fireworks is exalted above all others. Those who lust after vintage synths should take note of Jim's righteous $65/hr. fee. You have to budget for that in much the same way you need vet insurance for your dogs & cats. Got to take care of The Precious!

[ProfD]

Laid hands on the Moog Muse yesterday.  Felt sturdy and well built. 61 keys. Dual filters is a nice touch too.

 

The Muse gave me vibes of a souped up Matriarch or a cut down Moog One.

 

The Muse sounds good. I realize the Moog name carries a premium.  But, there are poly synths that cost less and sound just as good or better.😎

[YashN]

That man was definitely an ARP fan. 😀

 

AX-60 has a few flaws that are damaging to the sound, some of which are fixable. There's some mods from Tauntek too. It can be converted to a Hybrid configuration with the relevant Akai sampler. The flexible split options + Arpeggiator make it more powerful that a lot of appreciated synths of the time like Rolands. Heck, even modern poly analogue synths often don't have that kind of flexibility.