Moog Sound Studio

B
undle reviews are
rare for us, but
Moog’s new Sound
Studio sets are a
little different.
Each kit packs two
instruments from
the company’s semi-modular Mother
range with everything you need to
start, from a stand and cables to
guides and games. In Moog’s words,
“just add headphones”.
The Sound Studio bundles come
in two varieties, both contain a DFAM
percussion synth, paired with either a
Mother-32 or the more recent
Subharmonicon. The Mother-32 is
the more straightforward monosynth,
while the Subharmonicon is geared to
non-traditional harmonics and
polyrhythmics, so is naturally more
leftfi eld. Both bundles offer plenty of
scope for experimentation and
adventurous patching though.
The synths themselves come with
the usual manuals and power
supplies, but the bundles include a
variety of accessories to help them
work together. There are a pair of rack
ends to create an angled two-tier
stand, which comes with an
attachable patch lead holder – a nice
addition. There’s even a small phillips
head screwdriver included, to help
you put it all together.
The kits also come with a
compact summing mixer, which
doubles as a power hub for the two
synths meaning they can be run from
a single wall socket. The mixer
actually has three power outputs,
handy should you want to add a third
‘Mother’ to your setup in the future.
Audio-wise there are four jack inputs,
switchable between mono or stereo
pair operation, and a mini-jack
headphone out with volume control.
It’s a shame not to have a master
output separate from the headphone,
but it’s hardly a dealbreaker.
Beyond this, each package comes
with an assortment of extras ranging
from aesthetically-pleasing to
educational. There are a pair of lovely
illustrated posters, one of which
doubles as instructions for building
and connecting the kits as well as
several colourful pop-out characters (I
have two children under fi ve at home,
so these disappeared from my desk
within minutes).
Each kit comes with an excellent
patch guide highlighting techniques
for connecting and combining the two
instruments. There’s also a neat dice
up the core elements cheaper.
Considering the quality of the
packages though, from the lovely art
style to, more signifi cantly, the
excellent guides and exercises, these
bundles are easy to recommend.
game, housed in a fold-out cardboard
recreation of the Moog factory,
designed to get you experimenting
with patch point connections.
I tried these exercises with the
DFAM/Subharmonicon bundle. While
I was familiar with the former
instrument, this was my fi rst time
using a Subharmonicon. The guided
patches and games provided an
excellent introduction, making it easy
and fun to get up to speed with the
workfl ow of the two instruments.
While you could hardly describe these
as ‘entry-level’ packages given the
price and complexity, they would
make an excellent step-up into the
hardware or modular realms.
The price is roughly in line with
what you’d spend on instruments and
accessories separately – and if you
were to hunt for deals you might pick
THE PROS & CONS
+
Contains everything
you need to get
going with the
Mother hardware
Inspirational guides
and games are an
excellent introduction
to the synths
Patch cable
organiser is a very
nice touch
-
Not much of a
discount on buying
the synths
individually
Summing mixer has
only a single
headphone out
FM VERDICT
9.0
Combining useful
accessories and inspirational
resources, this is a great
showcase for the power and
fun of Moog’s Mother range
An excellent step-up
into the hardware or
modular realms
Moog Sound Studio | Reviews
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FMU370.rev_moog.indd 91 15/04/2021 17:07