INSIDE THE MOOG GRANDMOTHER,

July 18, 2022 § Leave a comment

… OR: I AM GLAD HUMAN BEINGS ARE CAPABLE OF MAKING THESE THINGS SO THAT I CAN USE THEM.
I have said this a few times already: I am by no means a nerd, I have no background in anything remotely resembling the set of skills needed to build a synthesizer, but I do believe in educating myself and in the power of just marvelling at beautiful, truly well-made things. I will always be in awe of the fact that it’s *people* who have thought out this wonderfully complex and novel way of making sound, and found the means to turn their ideas into a reality, which we lay people can subsequently use.

1. General view of the board (right-hand top board, that goes from Utilities to the VCA/Spring extremity – the board above is the one that sits below and connects to Outputs at the back) – photo Jana Moreno/Mas Acoustics

I loved visiting the Moog factory when I performed at the Moog Soundlab back in November 2017 (cf my A Flame Variations EP recorded over there, to mark the end of the production of Moogerfoogers), and some of that magic was recaptured last week when I visited Mas Acoustics, Moog’s distributor and repair partner in Spain, on the occasion of my Grandmother needing a revision for scratchy pots. Mas Acoustics happen to be located in a small town north of Barcelona, so this was just perfect, and I asked Juan Berlanga, in charge of repairing units, if he could leave my unit open: not only did we need to doublecheck the new pots worked fine, I also wanted to see if perhaps we could do something to the reverb tank as my way of playing can be quite percussive and I sometimes felt I was getting a bit too much spring sound (the tank was smaller than I thought, and in the end, we decided against doing anything to cushion it, for fear of killing a sound that works so well).

2. Top of Filter and Envelope – photo Jana Moreno / Mas Acoustics

Even though my understanding of these boards is extremely partial, I’m happy I can recognize the basic parts, and I figured that those of you who actually understand this stuff would enjoy looking at the innards of this amazing synth, so here goes…

Tantas gracias a todo el equipo de @masacoustics, Juan Berlanga en particular por la reparación y el trato inmejorable, y Jana Moreno por las fotos 1-6! Also massive thanks to @moogsynthesizers for their amazing gear and support, Jason Daniello @orgatroid in particular and Jack Burton.