Moog Music has a new hardware synth inbound, as revealed in the Super Bowl halftime show with Usher on Sunday night, and via electronic music personality Andrew Huang.
Show of hands: how many people watched the Usher show, and wondered what synths were there, and caught the Moog presence, but completely missed this? Or was that just me? (I mean, we sort of were all watching, like, Usher. Abs beat synths?)
There’s just one top-down view of the whole instrument – plus while you’re transpotting, maybe you can figure out what the second synth rig is on the lower right-hand corner. (I’m out. My eyes hurt.) But this appears to be an all-inMusic setup.
Close up: Sub 37 on the right with the Minimoog Model D (bottom); multicolor Matriarch on top left, and … the new thing bottom left, with a Moog One.
Andrew Huang has one (this is the first I’ve heard of it). He doesn’t say much – “Thanks Moog Music for giving me some early play time with it. Excited to share more when it launches – I think people are gonna flip over this!” But we get enough hardware images for you to easily speculate. “Chord mode” of course is the big item as it suggests polyphony; the rest looks very Matriarch-y (visually), and we see two oscillators (which doesn’t tell us much).
Updated: One more shot, from Jexus / sounds-for-synths.com (note the custom white bodies on all the synths at the show):
This would also be the first major hardware release since the acquisition of Moog Music by gear conglomerate inMusic. Given the time required for engineering and design, those processes, of course, started long before that acquisition. But this could give us a clue as to how Moog will handle manufacturing and assembly going forward.
The Usher & friends show, for its part, was stunning – and the new record is pretty gorgeously produced and mixed. (Also, can we pause and consider – dynamic range is back in pop, despite the viral images you see. Bob Katz, you got your revenge. You still get loudness and presence and now more than ever, heavy bass, but it’s great to hear that. And Usher is a force.)
I do hear some Moog-y sounds, too, I think.
Anyway, that may or may not satisfy Moog fans. But live show techs will absolutely get a kick out of watching the setup.
Also, I miss Keyboard and the days of putting new instruments on physical covers. (I was lucky to cover the Minimoog and even get a centerfold – literally.)
In other news, Octave One carry more synths to every gig and their crew is – they have no crew.
Previously: