# Moogerific... - Site: Analog Industries - Author: Chris Randall - Date: 2008-06-06 - URL: https://analogindustries.com/2008/06/moogerific/ Okay, I've been studiously ignoring the news about the Moog guitar since it was first announced, but I don't think we can avoid it any more. My thoughts are twofold, with the caveat that I've only watched the video and looked at the pictures, and not actually played one: 1\. It looks like it was designed by a collector, not a player. The Ricky control "panel" thing coupled with the Ibanez body style is really disconcerting, bordering on downright ugly. And gold hardware? Really? Come on. Even the Line 6 guitars look better, and that's really saying something. 2\. The effect, which is, I gather, sort of Sustainer Plus, is kinda nifty, but it could easily develop in to that sort of sound where everyone knows what it is, and you can only use it once on an album. Take the effect out of the picture, and it's just a really expensive, and somewhat ugly, guitar. I would really love to love it and want one, but with apologies to Moog Music, Inc., I don't think this thing is the bomb at all. Have at it. ## Comments (10) **synthetic** (2008-06-06): Yeah, like the sustainer but better and with better marketing. Not many people know about the sustainer so Moog can show this as new technology. (Kinda like Spectrasonics "invented" keyswitches last January.) It also doesn't sound as static and annoying as sustainer. I worked a trade show booth showing a guitar amp with a sustainer guitar as the source. I had to listen to that sound all week, that was all anyone wanted to play with. It sounds interesting, but I agree that it's super ugly. It looks like one of those late 70s/early 80s guitars with brass hardware. Barf. **shamann** (2008-06-06): While watching the video I went from "that sounds pretty cool" to "ugh, I do not wish to hear any more music made with this." My tolerance for ambient light jazz prog rock is pretty low. **seancostello** (2008-06-06): It looks like a Schecter guitar with huge pickups. Your bog standard superstrat. Ibanez has certainly made better looking guitars (I love my old Artist). I wish that Moog had gone for a more elegant body style and headstock. The basic sound is cool. The damped sound was pretty banjo-like. Having said that, I wish that they had taken things a LOT farther. Instead of simply sustain or damping, how about imparting different resonant responses on the string? If you can simulate damping, it seems like the feedback going into the string could also simulate the response of the string to various resonating bodies - acoustic guitar soundboard, banjo membrane, etc. For that matter, how about the ability to run signals into the strings, such that they be excited by arbitrary signals? A simple audio in, plus some rewiring, should be able to do this. A lot of research has been done on electromagnetically driving strings with various signals by Ed Berdahl at CCRMA ( http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~eberdahl/ ). A few years ago at a CCRMA concert, I heard a composition using a piano, where the strings were being driven via an electromagnetic driver that used arbitrary signals - white noise, sawtooth waves, Risset endless glissandos, other fun stuff. The composition went on way too long, and was far too academic for my tastes, but a lot of the sounds were just great. It would be cool if Moog had a in/out jack on their guitar, that allowed you to take the feedback signal out, process it, combine it with other signals, then use it to drive the strings. Something like the CP-1 could be used to process the signals - perhaps Moog could come up with some useful analog processing circuits for this application. Obviously, having the ability to place other Moogerfooger pedals (and other analog and digital processing) in the feedback loop would be nice as well. Sean Costello **Jaysen** (2008-06-06): Think of how many hundreds more fusion albums that will be made because of this? I for one, am excited. **jtolbert** (2008-06-06): The linked video is down, but this one works: < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3SsYQrgcyA%3E **Chris Randall** (2008-06-06): It's Pat Metheny's wet dream, sure. I think he alone could make hundreds more fusion albums, never mind all the other wankers. Now, that aside, I think the mechanism itself is kind of crafty, and I could certainly put it to good use. I mean, they're using the most absolute basic tones for the demo video; a normal guitar would be uninteresting too. But whack an Eclipse or H8000 on that bad boy, and you've got some really, really nice pad potential. The muting sounds whack as hell with that clean tone, certainly, but if it was a heavy distorted or fuzzed sound through a Plexi, you're looking at Chunks Of Armageddon, on every note on the fretboard. That in and of itself is something to consider. My main complaint is the fugliness of it. It'd look fine hanging off some Dream Theatre chooch, but in pretty much any other context, you're not gonna want to step on stage with that any more than you would with one of those Joe Satriani custom shop jobbies. (Actually, I think that dude that plays in Ricky Minor's band could get away with it, if you could pry his PRS away from him.) -CR **boobs** (2008-06-06): they should stick to synths and synth related things. synth manufacturers start going out of business when they mess w/guitars. **boobs** (2008-06-06): "But whack an Eclipse or H8000 on that bad boy, and you've got some really, really nice pad potential." eventide + just about anything can make for some nice pads though... of course w/o the tactile interface of the guitar. also, buying this guitar @ $6,495.00 doesn't leave much left over for anything from eventide. **Chris Randall** (2008-06-06): I've already got an Eclipse. It's not my fault other people haven't planned appropriately. -CR **Tomer** (2008-06-06): Eventide FX "Built into" a pysical guitar design. I cant see it influencing music genres the way the Moog synths did.