Sampling a MOOG

  • Thread starter Thread starter Giganova
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Giganova

Giganova

gimmi your mic!
I love the MOOG sound. I want it -- I need it! But here's the catch: I can't afford MOOG. :mad: Most of my synth have "MOOG sound banks", but they don't sound like the real thing, of course.

So here's the solution: I could either rent a MOOG for one day, and record every single note with different filter settings, and later load the samples into my soft sampler (Kontakt). I could assign every key on my MIDI keyboard a different note, so I could "virtually" play a real MOOG.

Alternatively, I could just get one of the many MOOG sample CDs off Ebay for 30 buxx or so, and do the same as above (sampling with Kontakt).

Which approach do you think would deliver the better sounding results?
 
Giganova said:
good point, even though its still $200.
Click to expand...

A Moog sample will NEVER sound right.

Analog synths always had their oscillators runnning wheather you kit a key or not. That is why hitting the same note twice never sounded the same. That won't happen if you keep triggering the same sampled waveform.
 
agreed. Do you think a sampled MOOG will sound better than a VST? I figured it would be fun sampling the real thing. Since I don't trust these sample CDs (who knows what they actually sampled?), I thought about doing it myself in 24/96.
 
I just posted this link http://www.hollowsun.com/vintage/index.html in another thread. If you want to hear what moog samples would sound like in your sampler, you can go and download some free ones to try out.

The Moog Modular V soft synth gets my vote for an affordable solution to the quest for a good, reliable and flexible Moog sound. In my opinion samples are simply too rigid to emulate the complex sounds of a Moog.
 
I have a Creamware Pulsar soundcard and a Microkorg. About two weeks ago there was a free update of the Pulsar software and to celibrate you could buy any one of their plug-ins for half the price. So I bought their Minimax (for 99 euro) which is a great emulation of the minimoog and I use the Microkorg as a midicontroller so I can happily twist and turn knobs in realtime :cool:

I think this will be the closest I'll ever get to playing a real minimoog (and it's close enough for me).
 
That's right. A sample of almost any instrument will not sound 100% realistic - at least with today's technology - especially samples of acoustic instruments like piano, guitar, violin, horn etc. There are just too many nuances and subtleties involved the creation of an acoustic sound.

A sample of an analogue synthesizer sound will have its own set of artifacts that make the sound unrealistic. Voltage controlled analogue synthesizer circuits are not 100% stable and will sound slightly different on different days. Also, a lot of the character that one can achieve from playing vintage analogue synthesizer is gained from fiddling with the knobs and sliders in real time.
DTB
 
There's a few MiniMoog softsynths coming out in the near future, one by Arturia and another by GMedia/Ohm Force. Issue 74 of Computer Music Magazine has an exclusive demo of the Arturia VST, though I haven't had time to check it out.

I think ultimately, a soft synth will give you more versatility, and no looping problems. Sampling, agreed, would be fun, but would only leave you with a certain pallette of sounds. If I recall, I remember seeing a big yellow VA synth in your studio photos. What is that, and why isn't it working for you?
 
Best bet to get the closest you can to a Minimoog sound on a budget is the Waldorf Pulse. 3 meaty DCO's thru a powerful 24db analog filter. 250 bucks on the used market now. Great synth.

If you have more cash the Studio Electronics SE-1 is an amazing Mini clone. About 800 bucks.

Or you can buy a Minimoog for about 1500 bucks.

There's the low/mid/high options. :)
 
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