Moogs - know your stuff??

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makdaddy

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if you think you do then check my post i the classifieds (not sure that was the correct place to put it, but hey its there now!)

okay, ive copy n pasted it below to save you tha forum hopping.

Alright Guys n Galz, a couple of years ago an old friend was nice enuff to hand me down a Moog Polymoog....nice i know, but basically it was taking up room in his house (this synth is a beast) and he was re-decorating n stuff but back on topic *ahem* now he had been given this Moog as a faulty unit and had spent a year or so fault finding on this baby until he had cracked it & also he sourced a the replacment part from RS - sorted

Then he gave it to me....yipeee, with an email on paper of the p/n from RS and details of the VCA board (i think) which had the faulty component.

Then i moved house & i lost the email with the repair details.....doh, doh & double fucking DOH!! anywhoo i had kinda lost hope of ever getting this monster working & the other day whilst checking the Sound on Sound Classifieds, i clocked an ad for a guy who wants a non-working polymoog - but i dont know how much its worth!!

anyone have any ideas? OTT i know your a self confessed Moog Head! anyone care to put a rough price on it? i have trawled tha net trying to get some kind of idea but with no joy, its aesthetically (sp.?) okay, no legs or pedal and is model no. 3333 so its one of the later production models that i gather was a tad more reliable than the 1st run.

Help!!! imak x
 
The first thing to ascertain is whether it is a "Polymoog Synthesizer" or a "Polymoog Keyboard".

The Polymoog Keyboard was a stripped down version of the Polymoog and offered little in the way of sound-shaping. They were never particularly popular even in their day. The Polymoog Synthesizer wasn't much better in terms of sonic possibilities, but at the time [1975 - 1980] there weren't many polyphonic synths on the market so it sold ok. When the yamaha CS-80 came out in '77 it all but finished off the Polymoog cos it offered a much fatter sound and enormous synthesis possibilities - as well as a touch-ribbon and better oscillators. The Polymoog sounds kind of reedy and thin by comparison. The Korg PS-3100 came out in '77 too, and the unfavourable $/£ exchange rate meant that an American manufactured synth had no chance of competing with the new Japanese exports.

If you want to hear a really good example of the sound of a Polymoog, track down a tune called "January February" by Barbara Dickson or "Its So Funny" or "Wired for Sound" by Cliff Richard. Alan Tarney [who wrote and produced those tunes] was a Polymoog devotee and plastered it over the top of everything he did in that late 70's period. Its a kind of wiry, hollow sound. Not that brilliant IMHO.

I nearly bought one for £300 a few years back [cos I thought it'd make a fantastic piece of studio furniture] but on the day I went to see it, it had just blown up for the third time that month and I decided against it. The fact that yours is shafted doesn't surprise me at all. To somebody that wants one to repair I'd say you would be fortunate to get more than £300 for it in it's current state. They're not that rare and not particularly sought after. If you had the "PolyPedal Board" to go with it you'd have a bit of a rarity - they add significantly to the playability of the thing and are very hard to find these days - and could expect to get a lot more.

If it is a "Polymoog Keyboard" you'd be lucky to get £150.

This is a Polymoog Synthesizer;

moopolybro.jpg


and this is a Polymoog Keyboard [Note the right hand panel is completely blank];

moopolykbrdbro.jpg
 
hey OTT, thanks for your insight & knowledge dude - muchos appreciation!!

I have a Polymoog Synthesizer BTW & i checked the SOS classifieds yesterday afternoon and the guys ad has gone....bollocks (stupid 1 month timelimit), and i didnt jot his number down either :(

ho well, maybe one day someone will get some joy outta the beastie eh.

:peace: imak x
 
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