Anyone else left completely uninspired by the slim/little phatty?

Though the classic Roland synths have always the greatest appeal to me, I've always loved the Moog sound too. Like any synth geek, I dreamed of one day being able to afford a Mini. Now with the introduction of the Slim Phatty, the Moog sound actually looks like an affordable option. So, I tried one out a while back with admittedly high expectations, and I was completely disappointed. Yeah, it has the moog sound, sort of. It just felt like it was really lacking something. I've played a mini and a source before, and they gave me a nice moist feeling in my pants. The phatty didn't.

I thought maybe it was just my fault in not knowing how to coax proper sounds out of it, so I checked out some youtube videos and found those to display the same basic qualities: dull and uninspiring. One of my favorite artists also recently got a little phatty and started using it as their main synth, and when I saw them live the other night, I thought the sound was not as good as other times I'd seen them. All of the lead lines sounded distinctly of the little phatty, which just came across as thin and empty. Yuck.

Am I the only person who feels this way? Why is everyone so crazy about these synths? Is it just a difference in taste? Am I crazy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZnvu_VETR8&fmt=18

I was pretty meh about them too. Then I decided I kinda wanted a MicroMoog. I found this demo of the LP just doing "Moog" stuff and yeah basically it sounds identical to a MicroMoog.

So I think the meh is psychological. The fact that its the cheapo option for plebs who cant afford a Voyager. The fact that the interface sucks (1 knob for cutoff and resonance?), the fact that every douchebag pop reggae keyboardist who plays at the local bar went and bought one as soon as they came out etc....

if one has to rely on youtubes to be inspired buying a piece of gear, well.. im just playing with a computer

there is not troll

  On 5/1/2011 at 12:20 AM, analogue wings said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZnvu_VETR8&fmt=18

 

I was pretty meh about them too. Then I decided I kinda wanted a MicroMoog. I found this demo of the LP just doing "Moog" stuff and yeah basically it sounds identical to a MicroMoog.

 

So I think the meh is psychological. The fact that its the cheapo option for plebs who cant afford a Voyager. The fact that the interface sucks (1 knob for cutoff and resonance?), the fact that every douchebag pop reggae keyboardist who plays at the local bar went and bought one as soon as they came out etc....

I don't like the sound in that video either. Actually, I checked out some micromoog videos, and you're absolutely right: they do sound almost the same. The micrommoog sounds like ass too. Compare either of them to videos of the source or the mini and there is a big difference. Even just the basic saw osc wide open sounds way better on the source,voyager, or mini. Definitely not just psychological. I'm not a fan of that phatty/micromoog sound at all.

  On 5/1/2011 at 12:20 AM, mohamed said:

if one has to rely on youtubes to be inspired buying a piece of gear, well.. im just playing with a computer

As bad as some youtube videos can be, I generally find that if you watch a handful of them featuring a particular piece of gear, you can get a very good idea of how that piece of gear typically sounds and performs. I've never bought a piece of gear and thought, "Wow, this box sounds totally different than on the youtube demos." Regardless of how far you are able to push your gear to get new sounds out of them, a 303 is still going to essentially sound like a 303, a minimoog is still going to sound like a minimoog, or a Juno60 is still going to sound like a Juno60. If you don't like how it sounds after watching a dozen youtube videos, than you''re not going to like how it sounds in person.

I don't know. I've recently bought a slim phatty, I started using it in my projects really quickly and easily. I find it pretty versatile (even though the interface and the specs makes you think otherwise) even though I use it mostly for basslines.

I've heard numerous people playing moog synths, but never really played with another other moog. on my side, I don't think it sounds thin at all, gotta love it actually.

anyways, I guess I'm not really helpfull here, but just wanted to share my little positive experience with the slimphatty.

  On 5/1/2011 at 1:31 AM, MrSparkle666 said:

  On 5/1/2011 at 12:20 AM, mohamed said:

if one has to rely on youtubes to be inspired buying a piece of gear, well.. im just playing with a computer

 

As bad as some youtube videos can be, I generally find that if you watch a handful of them featuring a particular piece of gear, you can get a very good idea of how that piece of gear typically sounds and performs. I've never bought a piece of gear and thought, "Wow, this box sounds totally different than on the youtube demos." Regardless of how far you are able to push your gear to get new sounds out of them, a 303 is still going to essentially sound like a 303, a minimoog is still going to sound like a minimoog, or a Juno60 is still going to sound like a Juno60. If you don't like how it sounds after watching a dozen youtube videos, than you''re not going to like how it sounds in person.

i don't think so. once i've had the occasion to be into a room full of synths, there were a moog, a virus, a nord lead, and many others i can't even remember the names, and the few keys i pressed.. there was no comparison to the any tube i always seen. totally another feel. judging a synth from the screen of your computer is the apotheosis of no sense.

Every few years I'll go into a music store and try a bunch of their synths, and to be honest from the 10-20 mins I've spent with the moog synths I didn't really find them to be that great, it just seemed to have all these bells and whistles but didn't sound great. The prophet 8 though, I thought was pretty solid. If I had money to buy a brand new synth it'd definitely be the prophet 8, even if it isn't as complex it just sounds so good. The only brand new synth I've ever bought was the MS2000B and I definitely think it still holds up to a lot of the newer synths today.

Realistic MG-1, oh how I love the MG-1.

saw pfunk last weekend and the ms2000 sounded pretty good on Maggot Brain. definitely analogue enough for gigging

later the dude did a wakemaneqsue pitch bender solo with a "moog" patch on his fucking Fantom or whatever and it sounded not even remotely mooglike

  On 5/1/2011 at 3:42 AM, analogue wings said:

saw pfunk last weekend and the ms2000 sounded pretty good on Maggot Brain. definitely analogue enough for gigging

 

later the dude did a wakemaneqsue pitch bender solo with a "moog" patch on his fucking Fantom or whatever and it sounded not even remotely mooglike

I've always liked the sound of the ms2000. It's definitely not fat sounding, but it has a nice cutting, aggressive quality that works well in a lot of contexts. At that show I saw the other night, the band that opened for the artist with the little phatty used 2 ms2000s as their main synths. I honestly thought they sounded better. If I were forced to choose one, I'd pick the digital korg over the moog slim/little phatty. Blasphemy, I know.

  On 5/1/2011 at 5:18 AM, MrSparkle666 said:

  On 5/1/2011 at 3:42 AM, analogue wings said:

saw pfunk last weekend and the ms2000 sounded pretty good on Maggot Brain. definitely analogue enough for gigging

 

later the dude did a wakemaneqsue pitch bender solo with a "moog" patch on his fucking Fantom or whatever and it sounded not even remotely mooglike

 

I've always liked the sound of the ms2000. It's definitely not fat sounding, but it has a nice cutting, aggressive quality that works well in a lot of contexts. At that show I saw the other night, the band that opened for the artist with the little phatty used 2 ms2000s as their main synths. I honestly thought they sounded better. If I were forced to choose one, I'd pick the digital korg over the moog slim/little phatty. Blasphemy, I know.

2 MS2000s == digital synth heaven, IMO. When you connect them together you can have the second become a slave, and it doubles the polyphony. One thing I've always wondered is if you can connect the MS2000R (rack version) to the MS2000B (keyboard version, which is what I have), because if so some day I'd get an MS2000R for that feature! But yeah the fact that the microkorg is the same architecture is pretty solid on Korg's part, so as long as you understand the synthesis routing of the MS2000 you should be able to use the microkorg to it's fullest...

I don't understand the Phatty's interface mostly - the whole one-knob-per-section kills half the joy of (usually control packed) analogue synths for me.

  On 5/1/2011 at 6:10 PM, futureimage said:

I don't understand the Phatty's interface mostly - the whole one-knob-per-section kills half the joy of (usually control packed) analogue synths for me.

Reducing the amount of knobs, or other mechanical interface parts, is one of the easiest ways to reduce cost and keep the size small when designing a piece of hardware. If it had a full interface with a knob for every parameter, it would probably add an additional $100 to $200 to the retail price of the unit, if not more.

Not that i don't agree with you in principle.

  On 4/30/2011 at 11:56 PM, MrSparkle666 said:

Am I the only person who feels this way? Why is everyone so crazy about these synths? Is it just a difference in taste? Am I crazy?

1. the knobs light up when you turn them

2. it has moog written on it

it's just a stripped down moog product, yeah. the interface can be limiting, of course, but it pleases me. I mean, you can get really good at switching parameter. really, to me, the one-knob-per-section concept is alright and can quickly become intuitive. too bad you ugys don't like it as much as I do.

I'd be all over the Slim Phatty if not for the crappy interface. I don't mind the one-knob-per-section thing (or even one-knob-period, as I love my ATC), but they should have made them endless encoders instead of those cheesy pots. I don't care if they're analog, they feel like shit and having to "find" the value every time you change functions totally kills it for me.

  On 5/2/2011 at 1:22 AM, children r r future said:

I'd be all over the Slim Phatty if not for the crappy interface. I don't mind the one-knob-per-section thing (or even one-knob-period, as I love my ATC), but they should have made them endless encoders instead of those cheesy pots. I don't care if they're analog, they feel like shit and having to "find" the value every time you change functions totally kills it for me.

yes, at first I wanted them to be endless encoders... but with the choices they give you, it's alright. from manual: "In SNAP mode, the parameter will ‘snap’ instantaneously to the current potentiometer setting. In PASS-THRU mode, the parameter value stays constant until the potentiometer passes through the current val- ue. In TRACK mode, the parameter value moves in the same direction as the knob is rotated (left or right) until the value and knob position are identical. To change modes, use the CURSOR button to highlight the parameter, then use the VALUE knob to set the new parameter value.

the default TRACK mode gets smooth and with the visual feedback, you don't really have to "find" the value... or maybe I haven't really understood your statement, lol.

all old synths are kinda limited . this is just moog doing an an old school synth right?

  On 5/2/2011 at 2:00 AM, arbee said:

yes, at first I wanted them to be endless encoders... but with the choices they give you, it's alright. from manual: "In SNAP mode, the parameter will ‘snap’ instantaneously to the current potentiometer setting. In PASS-THRU mode, the parameter value stays constant until the potentiometer passes through the current val- ue. In TRACK mode, the parameter value moves in the same direction as the knob is rotated (left or right) until the value and knob position are identical. To change modes, use the CURSOR button to highlight the parameter, then use the VALUE knob to set the new parameter value.

 

the default TRACK mode gets smooth and with the visual feedback, you don't really have to "find" the value... or maybe I haven't really understood your statement, lol.

TRACK mode actually sounds really cool. I've never seen that implementation before. So, what happens if you switch to a patch and the stored setting is at, say, 105 (on a scale of 0 to 120) and the knob is set to, say, 5? What happens if you want to turn down the parameter? Does it snap travel all the way from 105 to zero over 5 increments as you turn the knob or does it work some other way I'm not understanding? It seems like it would work well if you are passing through the intended value but not so great if you are going the other way round, no?

Actually, I don't really mind the interface on the phatty. My beef is with the sound alone.

Thanks for the warning. I was considering one of these for a cheap slice of the 'Moog' sound but I think I'll pass now.

I always felt the knobs didn't have enough travel and they don't have quite enough resistance for my tastes. And I guess the pass-through mode is what I mean about having to "find the value." All of the the options - snap, pass-through, and track - seem like compromises to me. Track, as it has been described here, honestly makes no sense to me. I guess I'd have to try it to see how it works. Still, I'd have much preferred one super-encoder and a couple of performance controls over the current arrangement.

I will agree that the Phatties leave me feeling a little cold as far as the sound goes, but I always put that down to the interface. It just lacks the immediacy to be much fun. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of my ATC and a knobby controller... maybe pairing a Slim Phatty with a controller is the way to go..

can you saturate the filter on a Phatty?

I used to own a Minimoog. It was so wet and analog. Very Juicy. Juiciest thickest synth ever. Limited though