So I picked up a Moog Little Phatty...

[5Lives]

Hello,

I picked up a Moog Little Phatty the other day because after reading all the posts and opinions on the analog vs. soft synth debate in so many forums, I just had to know for myself (I didn't grow up playing analog synths, so I had never really heard the "sound" first hand). I got the LP at the discounted price of $1200 (incl. tax), which is pretty steep in my opinion considering it is a monophonic synth, so I wanted to explore what made it worth that price and what my ROI was going to be.

I compared the LP to Zebra, Fabfilter Twin2, Minimonsta, Massive, FM8, and Sylenth1 (I own the first two, for the rest I used demos). Firstly, I don't mind tweaking knobs on screen with a mouse, but I must say that the user interface of the LP is fantastic. Very easy to understand and use in my opinion. In terms of the sound, it is nice and smooth and thick, even when overdriven. However, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't necessarily better sounding (which is personal preference anyway), just different sounding from soft synths.

Here is a comparison between the LP and the synths I listed above (not necessarily in the order I gave). The goal wasn't to get all the synths sounding exactly alike (I am definitely not a great sound designer), but to see if the LP distinguished itself so greatly when compared to other synths that it made it worth the cost (to me). In my opinion, it does not. If I won the lottery, I may keep it just to have a different type of sound, but it certainly wouldn't become the only synth I would use (even just for bass and lead lines - it seems to have a limited scope for sounds).

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=f2eb ... f6e8ebb871

I will say that after this comparison - I like Zebra even more, am not a huge fan of Sylenth1 (cool sound, but seems to be bit of a one trick pony - need to spend more time with it though), and really need to read the manual for Massive

Thanks for reading - hopefully somebody finds this useful,
C

[hseiken]

Usually, the biggest complaint about digital/virtual synths is aliasing.

Since an analog synth is not being resampled at the digital rate of encoding and dealing directly with electricity itself, you won't hear high notes sound fuzzy, they'll sound just as smooth and clear as middle C does no matter where you play.

However, the filters are what make the analog units generally sound fatter, assuming the circuitry is in place. I wouldn't spend 1000+ dollars for a single note at a time either, even for analog. You should've gone and snagged a used analog synth off ebay. There's plenty under 1000 bucks (poly synths too!)...

[WMP]

Take a single oscilator of the Phatty say a saw tooth, do the same with Zebra.

Have the filter fully open on both.

Now play a very very low note, and do the same with a very high note.

Hear the difference?

[rob_lee]

Take a single oscilator of the Phatty say a saw tooth, do the same with Zebra.

Have the filter fully open on both.

Now play a very very low note, and do the same with a very high note.

Hear the difference?

I don't have Zebra but like hseiken said:

Since an analog synth is not being resampled at the digital rate of encoding and dealing directly with electricity itself, you won't hear high notes sound fuzzy, they'll sound just as smooth and clear as middle C does no matter where you play.

i'll +1 on that one

Rob

[zerocrossing]

IBTL!



I've been saying this exact thing for a long time now. I've got pretty good ears and an audio engineering background, so I can listen and know what to listen for and I've never heard the analog "magic" people speak of. Like Hell, I wish it was real, but it's just fantasy. There's only sound you like and sound you dislike. Wait, scratch that. There's only sound that works in your music or sound that doesn't. No fabled "heat shimmer" will save your music.

That said, analog synthesis is a very mature technology and soft synths are often clumsy toddlers in comparison. Just because the Moog Phatty isn't your cup of tea doesn't mean there's not a analog hardware synth that might be for you. I keep hearing demos of the Alesis Andromeda that simply sound fantastic. A little while ago I picked up a DSI MoPho and I love it. When you just listen to it's OSC being filtered in a moderate way, it's nothing special, but when you over drive it you get a really nice in-your-face tough little tone that doesn't use a cycle of your CPU. I had an older computer then and that was important, but now that I've upgraded my machine I probably would have just purchased the much cheaper and great sounding Olga.

Also, check out Sawer. Right now for raw sounding subtractive synth sounds it's quickly finding a place in my VST folder as a favorite.

It's also one of the reasons I'm avoiding Synth Squad until there's a demo. All I hear is "analog analog analog!" from it's devotees. I don't want analog, I just want a good sounding synth with an interesting personality.

[randyandyvandaman]

I won't get into the debate about analogue or digital, but I to have gone back to some hardware. When the first demo sounds came out from the newly released Largo, I said to myself that I had heard some of these sounds before, and yes I did and that was in the Micro Korg Xl which I subsequently bought. My main reasoning was that I also needed a vocoder. I am not much of a tweaker and do actually own some of Rob Lee's banks for Sylenth. The filters and oscillators in
the Korg are wicked. I think that both analogue and digital serve a good purpose in everyones kit and each to there own. Its also what each individual can afford.

Cheers

[Urs]

Take a single oscilator of the Phatty say a saw tooth, do the same with Zebra.

Have the filter fully open on both.

Now play a very very low note, and do the same with a very high note.

Hear the difference?

Unfortuantely the LP's filter doesn't open up that well... the Moog's oscillator always sounds a bit more muffled than e.g. Zebra's.

[jupiter8]

Take a single oscilator of the Phatty say a saw tooth, do the same with Zebra.

Have the filter fully open on both.

Now play a very very low note, and do the same with a very high note.

Hear the difference?

Unfortuantely the LP's filter doesn't open up that well... the Moog's oscillator always sounds a bit more muffled than e.g. Zebra's.

[Happy Frog]

Is the debate between analog and digital or VA's about aesthetics, I don't follow, and I'm not a fan of the drift people refer to, I have an SH101, and what Urs's said about the filter with his and other synths I demoded, I find to be a selling point on VA's over hardware, JMO.

Peace.

[kritikon]

Must admit I haven't played with one of the new Moogs. I was never that enamoured of Moogs, though I like lots of other analogues.

Do people still find themselves playing prog rock solo wankery on Little Phatties? That was always the trouble with Moogs - they bring out the worst in keyboard players...I could never understand why.

[Shy]

Unfortuantely the LP's filter doesn't open up that well...

Funny.

[5Lives]

I don't think there needs to be a debate between analog vs. digital. In my opinion, we should just include analog in the same set as digital - it is a different sound, just like different digital soft synths have different sounds. Now, is that sound worth the price tag?

I will admit that sound is not necessarily the only reason to pick up a hardware synth - like I mentioned above, the physical user interface is appealing. That still doesn't justify the 4x as high price for me personally.

Luckily, Dave Smith is putting out some intriguing new synths for more affordable prices (MoPho and Tetra). Of the sound examples I heard though, they sounded a bit harsh (or some would say aggressive). Still, if aliasing in soft synths are so noticeable, even in a mix (personally I don't think they are that bad), there are some new options.

To each their own of course.

[Urs]

Unfortuantely the LP's filter doesn't open up that well...

Funny.

Exactly! At some point is finito. It doesn't go higher.

[jupiter8]

Usually, the biggest complaint about digital/virtual synths is aliasing.

Since an analog synth is not being resampled at the digital rate of encoding and dealing directly with electricity itself, you won't hear high notes sound fuzzy, they'll sound just as smooth and clear as middle C does no matter where you play.

You're not seriously suggesting all digital synths suffer from aliasing,are you ?

Because it kind of sounds like it.

[Shy]

Of course it goes higher. I stopped at a point that there's still something for us humans to enjoy.