I took my first plunge into analogue synths this spring when I purchased a minilogue XD. It was the most budget friendly option I could find and it was KORG, so it checked all the boxes. I've really enjoyed learning more about subtractive synthesis and it's been a lot of fun experimenting with the keyboard. I was even OK with the mini keys.

Last week I was out running some errands and was able to stop by a Guitar Center for a few minutes. I knew they didn't have a great keyboard department but I thought it was still worth dropping by. What I didn't realize is that I would be able to play a Moog Grandmother in their store. I spent nearly 30 minutes being amazed with the sounds coming out of that machine. Monosynths have not really appealed to me in the past but I loved playing that board.

I get back home, fire up the mXD and play it without the same thrill. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Two nights ago I decided to use my Krome EX to play the mXD via MIDI so I could use the larger keys. And there it was... The keys! Now, I will say that I still think the Grandmother had a better overall sound but using normal size synth keys on the mXD was a complete breath of fresh air. I know it shouldn't be that way but it really seems like the keys made a difference to me in the expressiveness and enjoyment of the instrument.

After playing the Grandmother I'd heavily shifted my eye towards a Matriarch and had set my mind on getting one. Now that I've used the mXD with the larger keys I kind of think a prologue would do the trick, for now at least. And at half the cost of the Matriarch.

Not sure why I spent time typing all that - just sharing my experience I suppose. :)

I keep closing my eyes and hoping the mini-key plague will go away. At one time the only mini-keys you would find would be in the toy department in Woolworths. :cry:

Hey, they didn't sell CZ-101's and DX100's at Argos back then, so there were music shops with hi-tech gear featuring the odd mini-key wonder... :thumbup:

desmond wrote:Hey, they didn't sell CZ-101's and DX100's at Argos back then, so there were music shops with hi-tech gear featuring the odd mini-key wonder...

I'm going waaaay before that! :lol:

The CZ-101 was the start of the rot IMHO. :tongue:

Hmm, what about the Yammy CS01 strap-on..?

desmond wrote:Hmm, what about the Yammy CS01 strap-on..?

Again - long after the age of common sense... :lol:

(Eyes his Casio VL-1...)

Hmm, When did the stylophone come out :lol:

Didn't the mighty Yamaha GX-1 have a mini key keyboard on the top layer?..

:bouncy:

The GX-1 has a slightly smaller keyboard on top, however nothing like recent abominations!

Hey, I'm new here: Trying to attach one of my GX-1 jpg images with no success. The "Img" box doesn't appear to let me .... any advice ? Thanks!

The keys are partly it, but your impression of the Grandmother ( which applies to most Moog’s) is correct. They have a sound, and that’s why they still sell so well, and nothing else sounds like a Moog. I’m quite left field in my tastes, but I’ve always had to have a Moog in my studio, I’ve said this many times, but a Moog is the only synth I play that has the richness of an acoustic instrument, and that’s in the Grandmother too.
I have a Grandmother, and a Matriarch, don’t mess around, get the Matriarch, it’s so inspiring, Korg's etc have their uses, great, but if you were so attracted to the Moog, there is a reason, I hope you get one, you certainly won’t regret it.

horiprod wrote:Trying to attach one of my GX-1 jpg images with no success. The "Img" box doesn't appear to let me .... any advice ? Thanks!

The forum doesn't allow attachments to be uploaded directly but you can upload your image to somewhere such as imgur.com and then link to the image by placing its URL inside the 'img' tags like this:

Code: Select all

[img]http://some.website.or.other.com/image_filename.jpg[/img]

Chevytraveller wrote:Didn't the mighty Yamaha GX-1 have a mini key keyboard on the top layer?.. :bouncy:

Tue - which sounded like a mouth organ, no matter what setting you chose! :lol:

Arpangel wrote:The keys are partly it, but your impression of the Grandmother ( which applies to most Moog’s) is correct. They have a sound, and that’s why they still sell so well, and nothing else sounds like a Moog. I’m quite left field in my tastes, but I’ve always had to have a Moog in my studio, I’ve said this many times, but a Moog is the only synth I play that has the richness of an acoustic instrument, and that’s in the Grandmother too.
I have a Grandmother, and a Matriarch, don’t mess around, get the Matriarch, it’s so inspiring, Korg's etc have their uses, great, but if you were so attracted to the Moog, there is a reason, I hope you get one, you certainly won’t regret it.

Thanks for this. I had never had an opportunity to play or a hear (live) a Moog before this and I was afraid my attraction to the sound came from reading too much hype online. It's nice to know that my reaction to the instrument was appropriate! I'm going to stick to my original plan of trying to pick up a Matriarch at some point - hopefully sooner rather than later. Thanks again!

The Elf wrote:

Chevytraveller wrote:Didn't the mighty Yamaha GX-1 have a mini key keyboard on the top layer?.. :bouncy:

Tue - which sounded like a mouth organ, no matter what setting you chose! :lol:

Could be worse, might have been a banjo

Arpangel wrote:The keys are partly it, but your impression of the Grandmother ( which applies to most Moog’s) is correct. They have a sound, and that’s why they still sell so well, and nothing else sounds like a Moog. I’m quite left field in my tastes, but I’ve always had to have a Moog in my studio, I’ve said this many times, but a Moog is the only synth I play that has the richness of an acoustic instrument, and that’s in the Grandmother too.
I have a Grandmother, and a Matriarch, don’t mess around, get the Matriarch, it’s so inspiring, Korg's etc have their uses, great, but if you were so attracted to the Moog, there is a reason, I hope you get one, you certainly won’t regret it.

Great to hear the OP's tale of discovery on their journey through the world of synths,

Firstly, let's clear one thing up once and for all - Mini keys are a foul mutation spawned by the Dark Lord in the pits of Mordor.

As primarily a guitarist who learned piano as a kid, with not really enough keyboard skills to get a poorly executed half baked job done, synths mostly been much of a muchness for me since I started out messing about on a DW 8000 with a CZ101 plonked on top (horrid, horrid, HORRID mini keys!) in 1980something. For the past couple of decades I've been happy enough loading up some softsynth, trawling the presets, tweaking a few nobs here and there and tinkling away on any old (full size keyed) controller keyboard, or a piano action one for piano parts.

Last year I aquired a Minitaur, primarily for use by Mrs Fishnish who is a bass player and tinkerer who had built herself some MIDI bass pedals. Good grief, this is the entry-level Moog? These things should come with a health warning - Not only is it fully capable of destroying all verterbrate life forms within a 2km radius with its low frequency sonic attacks, but it's such fun having immediate direct control of the sound on the front panel. Even though I'm no synthesist, this thing just feels nice and produces a huge rich sound. It has led me into a hopeless cycle of analogue addiction and GAS. I am now really worried that experimenting with the Minitaur might even lead me into more serious problems, like Euroracks and modular thingys.

And it doesn't even have a keyboard!