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Warp/Schematic recording artist and sound designer Richard Devine introduces the Slim Phatty on YouTube

Whether you are a hardware enthusiast or a digital creation guru one company has kept your attention when it comes to synthesizers: Moog Music. Nothing sounds like a Moog (although recent emulators come close) and they are just a joy to play. This looks to be the case for Moog’s latest release: The Slim Phatty. With a MSRP of $849 and a courier-bag sized package this could easily be the synth of choice for the holiday season.

Moog Music announces Slim Phatty – $849 rack-sized analog monosynth due in November

The Slim Phatty is basicly a slimmed-down version of the incredibly popular Little Phatty. It’s a 17 inch, rack-sized dual-oscillator monosynth that uses the same sound engine and filters found in the Little Phatty. This one lacks a keyboard, but assuming you have a midi controller and/or a DAW or sequencer running your gear this should be no problem. It’s got midi and USB connectivity as well as a button interface on the front that allows real-time note and filter performance on its own. A new Tuning Scale feature and editor allow performance with microtonal, just intonation, quarter-tone, world music scales and more to drive your melodies.

Analog-lovers rejoice! Moog has announced an affordable rack-sized monosynth

The nitty gritty: 100% analog audio path, classic Moog Ladder Filter, Arpeggiator and LFO Sync to MIDI & Tap Tempo, Pitch CV In, Filter CV In, Volume CV In, MIDI-over-USB, MIDI In, Out and Thru, External Audio Processing, Audio Out, +4dBu line level Audio In, and a Headphone out.

From Moog’s website: “At just 17” wide, it goes where no other Moog has gone before. Earth-shaking basses, scorching leads and more are now housed in a high-quality instrument ideal for laptop artists and space conscious musical road warriors.”

As the audio production world moves increasingly towards digital power, with almost every synth being emulated in a software version, few companies are creating true analog power these days. And with fewer analog devices being created, they usually come at a high price. In this world of smaller workspaces, slimmed-sown workflow and budget studios the Slim Phatty seems to be the right evolution for Moog and authentic analog synthesis. I know I can’t wait to get my hands on one when it releases in November.

Slim Phatty Sound Samples by moogmusicinc

Article written by Michael Walsh