Arturia's Minimoog V

The first classic, affordable Moog synthesiser is now available in software. We go back to the 70s to look at the future of Arturia's latest creation...

Do they never eat, do they never sleep, those Gallic R&D boys and girls at Arturia! Following hot on the heels of the Moog Modular V, the company went on to release the CS-80V and now here's another new Moog synth emulation.

They can do it, one suspects, because of TAE (see side panel). Arturia has developed this remarkable technology which, we assume, new instruments can be built around more easily than they can be created from scratch.

Although the first Moog synthesisers were modular, Bob Moog had many requests for a more compact and easier-to-use instrument. This lead to the development of the Minimoog which first appeared in 1971 and which was called the Model A. Three other models followed, culminating in the Model D which was the final and most common version which most people today associate with the Minimoog name and it is this instrument on which Arturia's Minimoog V is modelled. Over 12,000 Minimoogs were sold up until 1981 when production ceased.

The Minimoog V installs easily. You get both PC and Mac formats in the box along with stand-alone and plug-in versions. This is now becoming a standard method of distribution (rather than separate PC, Mac, stand-alone and plug-in versions) and should be encouraged. A nice touch during the installation is that you can choose the wood finish of the cabinet. You also choose which plug-in formats you want to install - VST, DXi, RTAS and Pro Tools 6. The installer suggests the directories and then goes off and does its stuff. As with Arturia's other synths, the Minimoog graphics are not scalable but they fit more comfortably in a higher resolution screen such as 1280 x 1024.

The Minimoog was one of the easiest synths to program - doubtless greatly helping its popularity - and Arturia's version is no less so. The controls are divided into five sections - Controllers, Oscillator Bank, Mixer, Modifiers and Output. Below the controls is a keyboard with pitch bend and modulation wheels plus associated controls. However, as you'd expect now from Arturia, the instrument is packed with many extras which we'll get to in a moment
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