MOOG SLIM PHATTY
Posted on Thu 10 March 2011 in entries
Hot on the heels of the Voyager XL comes an offering at the other end of the scale. It’s the most portable and most affordable Moog synth yet…
The compact Moog Little Phatty keyboard caused something of a stir when it was first released. It offered a lighter array of controls than its big brother, the Voyager, but was still every part a fat-sounding and versatile Moog synth. Moog has since turned its shrinking ray beam on to the Little Phatty itself to bring us the Slim Phatty, an even smaller offering but with exactly the same sound as its bigger brother. All the bass bin-endangering analogue of the Little Phatty but sans keyboard and sans impact on the wallet!
MOOG SLIM PHATTY - UNDER THE HOOD
Inside the ‘Slim’ are two variable waveform analogue Moog voltage-controlled oscillators, a genuine Moog voltage-controlled 24dB filter with ‘Overload’ (an overdrive to beef up the sound even more), two ADSR envelopes and a modulation bus with MIDI-syncable LFO and an arpeggiator standing by.
Around the back of the Moog Slim Phatty you’ll find a USB connector for easy computer-control, and as well as your standard MIDI In/Out/Thru ports you’ll find your non-standard control voltage inputs for pitch, filter, volume and gate for your analogue keyboard, Moogerfooger pedal or modular synth that may be hanging around.
Next to all those is an audio input. Yes, that’s right, an input. Now you can put external audio through that genuine Moog filter and it sounds every bit as good as you’d expect. Try it filtering drums with the overdrive enabled… ace!
MOOG SLIM PHATTY - FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Apart from all the ins and outs, the first thing you notice when you clap eyes on the Moog Slim Phatty is the colourful array of light-up push buttons and the multi-turn encoder knobs on the front panel. Each of these endless encoder dials are surrounded by LEDs to let you know what value it’s set to. This endless feature means that they can perform double duty depending on which of the buttons you’ve selected underneath.
In use the Moog Slim Phatty sits happily behind a master keyboard but can also be rackmounted. And, best of all, wooden side cheeks are available in case you’re getting a yearning for retro cheek chic.
MOOG SLIM PHATTY - IN ACTION
So let’s get down to business... how does it sound? Well, like a Moog! Which is to say warm, fat, glittering and squelchy. The Moog Slim Phatty also crammed with presets so you can play it right out of the box. If you want more voices, it can be chained to Voyagers, Little Phattys (or other Slims) to build a polyphonic Moog system!
There are many synths out there with more complex ‘features’, built-in effects and a labyrinth of menus and control but that’s not what the Moog Slim Phatty is about. In spite of its simplicity (and perhaps as a result of it), the Slim Phatty is the most astonishing sounding and usable synth we’ve come across and we defy you to disagree!
Every sound has a use and drips with character and inspiration. You’ll be surprised at the range of sound you can coax from such a carefully selected feature set, not to mention those two oscillators. You can get fatter, thicker sound from this duo than you can from any other virtual analogue synth and their three oscillators plus effects.
Moog is justifiably the king of analogue synthesis and the Slim Phatty shows why! Give it a try in our synth showroom today and were sure you’ll agree with us!
MOOG SLIM PHATTY - SPECS
• Price: £699*
• Oscillators: Two ultra-stable voltage-controlled
• Filter: One voltage-controlled low-pass (24dB/oct)
• Envelope generators: Two ADSR assigned to filter cutoff frequency and volume
• Connections: Audio out, Ext. audio in, Pitch CV in, Filter CV in, Volume CV in, Keyboard Gate in, MIDI In/Out/Thru, headphone out, MIDI over USB
• Dimensions: 43.1 x 11.5 x 13.5cm
• Weight: 2.6kg
* Prices from 1st March 2011 - please note that prices are subject to change in the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0FQ9HmPKI&feature=player_embedded#at=176