Soooo.... Just got a Moog labyrinth in the mail today. Uhh. It's pretty good is my honest opinion. So good in fact, I've got another one turning up next week.

It's not a Buchla 259. If you're after the best analogue oscillator on the planet, that's still the Instruo CSL. Combine that with a make noise optomix + maths, sorted! (or cheap out and get the Behringer Abacus if you really must) The Labyrinth is definitely not that.

FAAAARK, it's beautiful though. if you don't know much about west coast synthesis, it's going to be pretty easy to make it sound pretty terrible (*cough* most of the demos I've heard of it *cough*). If you're willing to find the nuances, this thing can sound mega. Combine it with a spectravox, and well, I literally had to walk away from the synth during this jam at one point, it had gotten a bit too much! (I went an ordered a second one!)

So here is my first jam with the thing, and his friends. Musically this is a bit like an idiot turning on a synth for the first time ever (pretty accurate to be fair). I've uploaded a version to my members page with me talking about what I'm doing whilst doing it, if hearing me talk shit for a bit is your kinda jam.

Of the 5 moogs, my ranking is as follows:

1. Mother32 (Still the queen, admittedly the least interesting and weakest sounding of the lot, but for me, the simplicity is why I can always rely on them in a live scenario. It's basic. It's musical. It will never let you down. [I actually think the mavis is better, however the tuning knob is a deal breaker for me])

2. DFAM. I think the Labyrinth might take over 2nd place once I've had a bit of time to get to know it (and more importantly, how it works in a live scenario). The DFAM can smack you about the face, or give you a warm cuddle. It can be a high hat, a Kick drum, a filthy baseline, or a haunting melody. The labyrinth can certainly kick you about the face a bit, but I think learning HOW to control that angry end will take quite a bit of time.

3. Labyrinth. I'm actually genuinely impressed. On its own it's probably a bit crap. Once you add a decent sequencer and a few extra envelopes into the mix, you can dial it into some pretty wonderful sounds.

4. Spectravox. On its own, it's a bit crap. As a vocoder, it's a bit crap. As a synth, it's a bit crap. It's not what I was expecting, however I do quite like it. If you think of it as a massively improved system 55 fixed filter bank, you're in the right ballpark (Frap tools Fallistri is probably better, however that's twice the price!). Until I got the labyrinth today, I was a bit underwhelmed. However if you think of it as the icing over a labyrinth cake, it makes a hell of a lot of sense. It can take the extremities of the labyrinth and calm them down into something very pleasing indeed. Over the top of a mother or dfam, it's a bit meh.

5. Subharmonicon. It's the only semimodular Moog that can sound as phat as a Sub37. But, it's also a PITA to use. I can build a track around the subh, but I can't drop the subh into a mix (The pitch quantisation won't let me play a note 3 cents sharp of middle C, which may be where the rest of my synth is at). I always used to open my live sets with just the subh, because it would smack the audience in the face with a big phat Moog. Sadly after the first track, given the way I wing everything on the fly, it would not feature for the rest of the night. I picked up a Pittsburgh Modular Taiga to replace it (Utter trash, the most hateful piece of shit known to mankind), and ended up just adding another mother32 instead. It's better than the Taiga by a country mile, but not as good as the mother/DFAM/Labyrinth.

So yeah, if you've read this far, and you have the crave/edge combo, skip the spice, and just buy the labyrinth (yeah, I know it's pricey, but the spice will end up being a disappointment, the labyrinth won't!).

If you have none of them, get the DFAM/labyrinth first/second, or vice versa, then get the mother third (or grandmother, or the behringer grandmother clone if you really must).

Get yourself a really good sequencer (I have only good things to say about the Endorphines ground control, although the Korg SQ64 is the only cheaper sequencer I'd recommend to be honest).

So anyhow, that's me done for today. I've had that much of a moogasm, I might have to go and lay down!

(Despite appearances, I'm not sponsored by Moog, but I wouldn't say no if they offered! lol!)

Have a good one, stay safe, and I hope you enjoy this long winded jam! :)