Matriarch vs. Pro 3 - Which paraphonic synth should you buy? 

Really appreciate that!

I agree 100%

Because he appeals to people who want information explained in an orderly, understandable manner without all the theatrics. Too many people seem to prefer someone who jumps around like a monkey in a zoo making a fool out of themselves. I LOVE this guy’s videos. One of the few people who’s videos I watch all the way through.

@@JamesonNathanJones wow what a recursive circle.

Yes matriarch is king, I would never buy a pro 3. Get a sub 37 for a paraphonic. That’s way better than a pro 3

Do you have a Matriarch too?

I do. There’s no comparison. The Pro 3 wins in my opinion. I also prefer the Subsequent 37 to the Matriarch. The Matriarch is a good synth, but the sequencer is very basic. The key presses to access hidden features is annoying also. The delay is wonderful, but it is a BBD delay. Other BBD delays exist.

Thanks Carl 🙏

Thanks man! Yeah it’s a beauty for sure. Even the original color has grown on me the more I’ve seen them. Still like that dark version though 😎

The Pro 3 SE is possible the best mono synth ever created. It’s a real tour de force. I love mine.

Haha Much appreciated!

What no prest reissues did you have?

Thanks for watching, Rich 🙏

Haha thanks for that 🙏

Thanks Bruce!

Haha Sorry it wasn’t much help in making a decision. They both definitely have their strengths and applications in which they excel. I’m sure you’ll love whichever you chose to start with. :)

If it will be your first hardware synth, I would say Pro-3. It's probably the one that is most "immediately useful" right off the bat. The Matriarch packs a lot, especially for an analog synth without patch memory, but with the exception of having one less oscillator the Pro-3 is more feature-rich than the Matriarch in just about every way imaginable. If you have a few hardware synths already, I would say Matriarch. The thing that makes the Matriarch special is that you can go in and out of the sound's signal path as you please, and if you already have several synths there's a lot of territory you can explore with this patching. Also, if you already have multiple synths the matter of "what sounds better to me" matters a lot more. Loads of people feel that Moogs have a certain aspect to their sound that is just more sonically pleasing than other synths. I own a Minitaur. It can probably do about 4 useful bass sounds really, but it does them incredibly well, so I can see where people are coming from on that. The Pro-3 is capable of a unique level of aggression in its sound though, and if you hear the thing scream and say "I want that", it will deliver nonstop.

What did you go for, if any? I was in the same position and went for the Subsequent 37 and love it buttttt, I've never used a Pro 3 so I'm always left wondering... what if. Ideally I'd have liked to trial them both but didnt get the opportunity.

Thanks Emily!

Thanks! I’ve thought about it, but haven’t gotten around to organizing/releasing them yet. 😅

That’s not a bad idea!

That would be really really appreciated 🙂

Yeah since it’s paraphonic there are some really interesting things you can do with paraphonic sequencing. 👍

Same for me. I like the idea of wavetables but then mostly find the sound of wavetables is a bit like fingernails on chalkboard to my ears! Hahahaa

I love them on the Pro 2 & 3. The thing about these is, if you don’t want that wavetable sound, just use the usual sine, triangle, saw, square. Add some pitch “slop” and seriously practically identical to a regular DCO/VCO. In fact in a mix you’d never hear any difference. If you could come over to my house i could show ya. 😂 It’s all good, though. Like what you like.

I used to feel that way until I got a asm hydrasynth. It immediately changed my perspective on wavetables.

Get the Matriarch...Creating patches without a screen is a very intellectually gratifying experience

@@edasoundgod871 get it because it doesnt have a screen? you dont use the take-5, and i assume pro3 screen for anything but patch recall and mod matrix im sure it sounds good, but ive had eurorack and i prefer standalone gear, so "no screen" and no way to save my patches isnt a selling point to me in 2022. but i am strongly considering the sub37

Some extra lfos would be a great place to start. I like the Malekko quad lfos which have recordable automation built in, but something like a Pam’s New Workout would be great for clocked modulation too. Adding just one or two extra modulators really opens the Matriarch up 🙌

Absolutely. Nothings is off limits if it sounds good. Thanks for the kind words 🙏

Great question. Honestly the one that comes to mind is the Deepmind 12. Not a monosynth obviously, but some of the best onboard effects on a synth, and well integrated into the mod matrix. I believe the Polybrute’s effects are also quite good. The Pro3’s effects are certainly more than usable. I may have undersold them here due to how captivated I was with the Matriarch’s analog delay.

Have you considered the Waldorf Kb37? They don't seem to sell very well and are often marked down for a pretty competitive price, have good I/O and keybed etc You'd have to figure out what modules you want (and can fit) but this would seem to have the flexibility for you to build your modular in a box type synth, that pairs with super great effects.

That’s true, but I guess I didn’t dwell on it because it does require a little menu diving since everything is set up via the mod matrix in the Pro3. Doesn’t get more simple than the Matriarch in terms of plug and play, but I take your point for sure. Actually have a video planned in the future about using the Pro3 with a eurorack system :)

The four oscillators are playing in round robin arp mode, so variations in octave, waveform, and tuning produce interesting results. :)

@@JamesonNathanJones very cool thanks, round robin is a setting you have to set on the moog right (not default)?

Yes, you have to go into the settings mode and change it. A bit of a pain because there’s no menu, but not too bad.

I’ve never owned a Sub 37 but have played one. It sounds really incredible but is more limited than the Pro3 in terms of modulation. If I remember correctly, the Sub37 has two multi-waveform oscillators and a sub, where the Pro3 has three full range osc with osc3 being a wavetable oscillator.

Sub 37 is the most sterile moog synth. The vco are not organic at all..

And the filter knob on the Matriarch is pitiful when compared to the Subsequent 37 and Pro 3 filter knobs.

Oh I think around $0 ought to cover it.... haha Send me an IG message sometime and I'll try to dig up the patch and do a quick deconstruction for you.

I agree on the tuned feedback, and just haven’t found many ways to use it musically in my own work. I do enjoy having so many flavors of drive onboard simply because of the possibilities it opens up with the sequencer and mod matrix. Certainly easy to overdo it, but I’ve found some really good uses for it personally.

Haha yeah I’ve been there. Haven’t sequenced the Matriarch with the Pro 3 but that’s a great idea, and you could get some interesting things going that way. I’ve got several videos using the Matriarch with my eurorack system and one where I sequence my rack with the Pro 3. Always unlocks something interesting 👍

Jameson I have the Matriarch, but I want a Sequential synth for my collection. If you had to choose between the Rev 2 and Pro 3, which one would you choose?

Or maybe it was just so I could do a funny edit. We'll just have to settle for our standard retrograded samples I suppose. Haha

Most of them are indie films and shorts you’ve never heard of. Lol I did a feature suspense film last year called Concrete Savanna that I think is on Tubi now for free. The story is a bit hard to follow, but the music is pretty good 😂

The Model D is a classic architecture for a reason and does what it does incredibly well. It’s incredibly immediate and I don’t think you can beat the sound and feel of it, but the Pro 3 can do a lot more in terms of modulation and is much more flexible for sound design. Just depends on which you prefer, but the price discrepancy is pretty vast.

I recorded everything into a daw (Cubase)

If you're into sound design and sequencing, I'd say Pro3 offers more immediate gratification in that regard. If you're more of a player and prefer polyphonic, the Prophet 6 is an amazing bread and butter analog poly, but is the most limited of the three you mentioned. All three are amazing and I think you'd be happy with any of them. :)

@@JamesonNathanJones I’m mainly focused on using it for film scoring (and sometimes music in various styles for library tracks). I’ve got tons of amazing soft synths already. Just thinking maybe there’s something new hardware will bring? I love the sound of the matriarch but is the lack of presets going to be an issue as you mentioned? Can the Pro 3 get as sweet and buttery sounding? Then there’s the prophet 6. I love the Prophet sound, but is it versatile enough to justify the $2-3K price tag? These are the questions that currently haunt me haha

What did you do? How did it go?

I tried both the pro 3 and prophet 6 and ended up going back to soft synths. Just faster for my workflow. I also have Soundforce controllers that pair with each soft synth but don’t get to use them a ton! Hopefully will get to use them more in the future

Different tools for different jobs 👍

Some new synths are getting really good effects though. The Summit (I know, not totally analog) and the Polybrute, for example.

Analog af

The Matriarchs delay can be patched in to control the rest of the synths parameters as well. It's not just an afterthought.

@Theo Chi it is, actually. bucket brigade is analog and it is stereo, so you can have two separate ANALOG bbd ping pong delays in series

@Theo Chi is it literally the 500 Series Analog Delay/104m. it says "based on" in the manual, but its just replicated and made to fit in that circuit. its the same design, same components. and it certainly is bucket brigade, theres no question about that

I would probably lean toward the Matriarch in that situation just because of the semi-modular capabilities of both synths. Patching them together would be a really immediate way to expand both of them. That said, it’s always hard for me not to recommend the Pro3 (which also has some cv connectivity) as that’s an amazing synth on its own.

@@JamesonNathanJones hmmm. I also have the DFAM / Sub/Mother rack set up. I appreciate your feedback. I sort of was leaning that way. Appreciate all you do here. ❤️

If you have the budget for, I would suggest to get a poly synth since you already have a mono one.

Haha thanks! And you’ve described a feeling I know all too well 😅

I see you are an individual of excellent taste 🙌