Today Moog have announced what, to some, will be big news. The Grandmother and Matriarch semi modular synths have been around for a little while now and have gained a reputation as excellent instruments for both live and studio use.
The sounds a rich, versatile and hark back to the gold old days of the 60s and 70s when Moog first introduced the world to some of the circuits involved.
There has really only been one aspect of them that hasn’t received a unified approval and that is the colour scheme. Some were turned off by the jolly rancher styled buttons and the bright, cheerful ‘module’ schemes. Others, with good reason, loved this and saw it as both a great way to easily find the right control on the fly in a dark club, and as a nod to the fun side of creativity that Moog has always embraced.
Today, both the Grandmother and the Matriach embrace a dark aesthetic, with the release of two new colour variants, based on theMoog Modular schemes of the originals, so artists now have a choice, so they can match their synths to the look they want.
Sonic Sorceress Lisa Bella Donna herself has updated her mothership, which includes Moog’s eurorack compatible semi modulars, as well as both the new colour ways and you can see the result looks stunning. I’ve posted a video of her latest piece below, which shows not just how cool the rig looks with it’s unified colours but also how fantastic they sound when patched up under skilled hands.
Personally I like both schemes but I have to admit that if you regularly patch up to somoe of Moog’s other gear, or even a eurorack setup (which I do often) then the new Dark Series look could be the best option.