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MemorymoogArticle from Music Technology, January 1989 |
Intended to be their finest moment, Moog's "ultimate" polysynth proved problematic and unreliable - yet it won many devotees. Steve Howell recalls the sound of analogue.
After the runaway success of the Minimoog and prompted by the arrival of practical polyphony, Moog attempted the obvious - a polyphonic Minimoog. But what happened to the Memorymoog?
At a yet more advanced level, the Programmer allows you to ran diagnostic checks of faults or to assist in the calibration of the tuning with out the need for extensive test equipment. You can also program your own security code that prevents sound hackers from gaining access to your sounds, Interestingly, the Memorymoog was the first synth to not only display the current value of a control setting whilst editing a sound, but also display the original value. In this way it's also possible to compare edited sounds with the original version, a feature that was not to become available on any other synth for at least two years following its launch, and even now is absent on many.
There's also an arpeggiator. In these days of mega-track MIDI sequencers, the humble arpeggiator is often forgotten but they have their uses and the Memorymoog's arpeggiator was better than most with a variety of modes to choose from.
On the negative side, the old Memorymoog is not without faults, Firstly, tuning. With 18 oscillators to take care of, it in not uncommon for the instrument to go out of tune regularly. But having said that, its also fair to say that these tuning anomalies were no worse than most guitars. The Programmer makes it possible (even easy) to disable any rogue voice that would not tune up for some reason - a facility that led some to speculate on Moog's own confidence in their instrument.
But I suppose one of the major shortcomings of the Memorymoog was that, by 1980, keyboard players had come to expect layering and split facilities that were standard on synths like the Jupiter 8 and Oberheim OB series. The Moog had none of these. Arriving two years before the apocalyptic MIDI standard, there was no means of external sequencing and (rather foolishly) Moog didn't even include a CV/gate input for monophonic control from a sequencer - instead they provided a CV/gate output to control other monophonic synths. Had they chosen to include inputs as well, a simple MIDI/CV converter would help bring it in line with today's sequencing marvels albeit monophonically. However, Moog did see fit to update the Memorymoog to the Memorymoog+ which, as well as having a simple MIDI implementation (just note on/off) also had a small (and relatively useless) sequencer. Updates are available for an original Memorymoog to convert it into the enhanced version, although you may find it preferable to convert it using an upgrade developed by third parties that may include MIDI reception of pitch-bend, mod wheel, aftertouch, velocity and patch changes as well. Such an upgrade would cost in the region of £200 or so and turn the Memorymoog into a MIDI monster, acting as perhaps the ultimate programmable analogue synth module.
In conclusion I'd say the Memorymoog was "too little, too late" from one of the all-time great synth manufacturers. Had it come out around the same time as the Prophet 5 or Oberbeim synths, I believe it would have wiped she floor with them, but in 1980 it was just too late for a six voice synth with no split or layer facilities and a price tag that was more than double the DX7's around the corner. That's not to say that there is anything intrinsically wrong with the Memorymoog - quite the contrary. I'd call it filth and purity in one instrument. Comparing the Moog with an Ensoniq synth (which has a very similar voice architecture), the Moog almost always produces a richer, more vibrant and "warm" sound. Similarly, many people describe the D50 as the ultimate synth for pad sounds - they obviously have not heard the silky-smooth textures of a Memorymoog in action.
Current secondhand costs are around £400 for the basic Memorymoog and £700 or so for the Memorymoog+ with its bare MIDI spec (not bad considering it weighed in at over £2,000 in 1980). Anyone in the market for a Minimoog could do well to check out a Memorymoog as it was Moog's original intention that the Memory should be a poly Mini. They even went as far as to analyse the sound of a number of Mini's in their attempts to find out the secret of its sound. That the designers who conceived and built the original Minimoog didn't entirely succeed only adds to the Mini myth. But the Mini is more limited in modulation facilities than the Memory, which is polyphonic and will remember all the sounds that send Minimoog owners searching for old patch charts. In these days of thin digital sounds, the tone of the Memorymoog comes as a welcome relief to this author's ears and comes as a highly recommended secondhand buy, especially at current prices.
MIDI updates for the Memorymoog are available from (Contact Details)
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Retrospective (Gear) by Steve Howell
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