With the Polybrute I'd have to explain my children why they can't have their MacBooks. With the Moog One is, why is there no food on the table. 😀 As always, again, an excellent idea and video to it! Haven't seen such comparisons where you take a very expensive and a ridiculously expensive synth and show that the lesser fortunate can easily live with the very expensive option.
On a completely different note, I really like how well you got voice and synth leveled properly in the video. Sooooo many people just can’t get it right on RU-vid and I constantly have to increase/decrease the volume to hear one or the other. Thanks ;)
@@StarskyCarr thanks! so pleasant to watch this way! With some other’s videos to hear the one that’s low another has to be too loud for normal listening.
@@StarskyCarr Use manual mode (M) and a telephoto lens. Lens as wide open as possible (low aperture), focus to infinity and then play around with ISO and shutter speed to get the right exposure. Start with low ISO and use a tripod. If the shutter speed is to slow you'll get motion blur. In this case increase the shutter speed and increase the ISO to compensate. Use a remote or a timer to take a picture so you don't shake the camera with your hand. Try to be in a dark place so there's no light from other sources that gets to the sensor. If Monsters are coming in the dark hit them with the tripod. 🤪
@@FatalBrainError haha… we had moving clouds which didn’t help. Trying to get that Scooby Doo moon shot! Good tip for the monsters… probably just the night manager in a mask 😂
I'm in the same boat as you .. and although I love the PB cannot justify it ... have a few poly's and although the PB is awesome .. just cannot get past the similarities to the MB
I have had the One for a few months and love it to bits. It sounds so beautiful and it is incredibly powerful, like mind boggling powerful, especially the modulation matrix and all its functions.
Really could never justify the M1 ... sounds very nice ... but 6-9k ... saying that having a MatrixBrute made me struggle to justify the PB .. ended up getting other gear that would have more of an impact in the studio
@@synkuk The Matrixbrute compliments the Polybrute very nicely. I have both. The Matrixbrute is also a monster of a bass synth too, being a beefy mono with 3 oscillators and dual filters. Well, you already know about the Matrixbrute since you own one. However, the Polybrute has immense possibilities with all of the modulation capabilities and morphing features. It can sound very vintage or very modern depending on what you are after. It's a sound designer dream!!!! I also like the stereo voice panning feature as well as the bypassable digital effects, which sound very nice. There are sounds you can get out of the Polybrute that are simply not possible on many other analog poly synths simply because of it's advance architecture.
@@kvmoore1 I absolutely concur - I've not got a Matrixbrute, but find it very appealing - both for its own capabilities and for its improved interfaces to external equipment. But the Polybrute is a remarkably expressive synth, and the morphing is an absolute core part of that. I keep discovering incredible sweet spots in the spaces between. It seems utterly transformative to me.
Great video! Obviously I love my Moog but the Polybrute holds up really well. I wanted the 16 voices in the end but if you like to have a few different synths with different flavours, the PB is excellent and was on my maybe list when I was in the market.
love these Moog one videos. had my Moog one 16 since march 2020 and am still learning about it. FYI there are two state variable filters, that can be set in series or parallel. by default they are superimposed on each other and appear as one.
The Doubling and panning L/R is a huge thing with the Moog, I really had to try not to use it too much in my custom banks for those with the 8 voice Moog, slightly detuning and slightly changing the envelope response on each synth in double mode creates a lovely lovely sound. The modulation matrix in the Moog is one of the most intuitive I've used, Great Video as always fella. :)
The Moog One, is certainly the most powerful, and complex, analogue VCO polysynths ever made. If I planed on only owning one analogue polysynth, it would be a fantastic choice! With that said, (like you), I personally prefer to own many different less powerful, complex, and expensive polysynths, to get much more unique options (one of those being the Arturia Polybrute). In the end, it always comes down to whatever inspires the user. I certainly would not turn-down a free Moog One, if it were offered to me, but I don’t find it as inspirational as all my others combined 😊
I'm definitely gonna watch h this when I get home from work tonight. Let's see how well my Polybrute stacks up to the Moog One. BTW, I've had my hands on both. I think the Polybrute is a phenomenal synth considering it's capabilities vs it's cost in comparison to the Moog. The Moog is obviously a beast but it's price tag makes it questionable considering other options on the market today such as the Polybrute, OB-X8, Prophet 10 Rev 4, Prophet REV2, etc..... UPDATE: I've finally watched this video in it's entirety and it appears the biggest drawback of the Polybrute in comparison to the Moog is the 6-voice polyphony limit, which is understandable as well as a major factor in the price difference between the two. On the contrary, I can see how the fan noise of the Moog One can be an issue in a quiet studio environment. With that said, both sound fantastic and have an amazing set of features. Get the one you like and/or can afford.
Apart from the obvious more extensive flexibility of the Moog . I feel like being stretched out on a torture rack between the 2, tone wise. They both have some good cross over territory too. Many thanks for putting this vid foward Starsky 👌🏾
Great video, as always, Starsky! Thanks for this. I'd love to see you explore and pick apart the Hydrasynth. It's a powerful, unique, instant classic, in my opinion (and I'm a vintage analog snob who has irrational bias against these "newfangled" synths--ha ha!). I am genuinely impressed with it. Anyway, this was indeed of some use (fun) to somebody (me) somewhere (California). :)
Great video, the Arturia is beautiful, but the Moog is simply stunning. You mentioned the Hydrasynth at the end, I think you'll find it has an insanely powerful mod matrix.
If the Polybrute had more polyphony, even 2 more voices, it would be perfect. 6 is so limited. It’s like they had a price point in mind and threw all they could into it without exceeding the target.
You can play dominant chords and a bass note simultaneously, therefore, it's not limited. You've put limits on yourself from being able to enjoy this synth's beauty to its maximum potential.
I always think of the prophet 5 when considering polyphony. I even bought the P5 rev 4 rather than the 10 because of it - if the P5 became such a monumental synth with just 5 voicers, why can't others (and I know its 2022... but.. ). Anyway, 5 was good enough for it to become a masterpiece, but I eventually bought the additional board!! ;) But I think it is what it is.. and I appreciate the cost implications and market forces etc. I'd rather they gave us this than an 8 voice that never sold and put the company under.
It's only a limitation if you are playing live. If you are just recording you can over dub parts on your multi track recorder whether it's a standalone recorder or Daw.
Yes… I don’t know why they went with 6 on a flagship synth, especially having released a mono “version” prior to that. Thinking of selling DeepMind12 to fund this purchase, but I wouldn’t be able to get the sort of polyphony with this in unison. So much functionality there, like layering/morphing that would benefit from more poly
Great video! I've been lusting for a Moog One since it came out. I've also been tempted by the PB but sad to say at this time, my budget is too small for either. At least I can still play my collection of Korgs, my Kronos, KingKorg, Wavestation EX, and my Moog Grandmother.
I bought the PB as I was told my ordered One would be 6 months. Of course it showed up three weeks later. Big difference is I've paid of the PB already, the One will take another 4 years. Love them both.
Love all your videos Starsky. The moog one sounded glorious, but the polybrute holds up well given the price difference. A note on the polybrute LFOs (15:55), you can blend the waveforms on that too, but it is a bit of a faff to do: have the patch with the starting waveform in sound a (eg tri) > morph button > current to b > edit b > select the waveform to blend to (eg sin) > morph button > edit a > presets button > use the morph knob and you will see the LEDs for the 2 waveforms change brightness depicting the blend balance > morph button > save current to a > morph knob to full a. Once you are used to it, it's really quick. I regulalry use this with saw-down and s&h blended so it only uses one LFO to do what would normally take 2. You can also repeat this process with the blended LFO as sound a to blend more than just 2 LFO waveforms.
@@StarskyCarr fwiw, the same "morph>edit a/b" technique lets you route mixer output to the two filters by ratio rather than all or nothing (sound a=filter1, sound b=filter 2 and blend between them then current to a), and it lets you do interesting things with LFO3 like turn that into an ADSR envelope via blending retrig whilst having single full on.
@@StarskyCarr it's a weird one and easy to miss as usually can just use morph knob to change the sounds for a and b, but for these you have to do the morph>edit a/b thing.
The side by side at 24:30 and after.. moog was so butter. The cents pitch spread from many more voices. The parallel filters alone that both synths offer put both way beyond the tones you can get out of most analog polys.
Nice review. The Moog One is great but for me also to expensive. I love the Arturia products. So the Polybrute is on my list as well. I do own the Hydrasynth. For me this is the first hardware synth where as the resonance filter sounds as you would expect from a resonance filter. It sounds lovely (and yes you hear that digital edge).
I got the Polybrute since it came out and I’m never going to sell this synth. Each time I use it, I’m always amazed about what I’ve been able to come up with. The only downside is that it’s only 6 voices but I think Arturia made this choice to come up with a selling price lower than the prophet 6 and OB6.
My local Guitar Center had both of these set up next to each other one day. I remember playing both and not really being blown away by the Moog One. It sounded good and it was built incredibly well but over all nothing about the sounds felt like they couldn't be replicated in a much more affordable synth. At least just scrolling through the presets but frankly the Presets should be there to show off everything the synth is capable of. The polybrute on the other hand sounded very unique and interesting and all it's hands on modulation controls for manipulating the sound makes it stand out among any other Poly synth I've played. If I had that kind of money for a synth it would definitely go to the Polybrute.
It must've been the Guitar Center here in ATL where I live because they had them both right above each other one day. I've had a chance to play both and bought the Polybrute. I still go there all the time and the Moog One is still there. Despite how impressive and beautiful it is, I don't find it all that inspiring, despite it having all of the bells and whistles. As you said, it just didn't sound very inspiring. However, my Polybrute and Prophet 10 Rev 4 do.
@@kvmoore1 I think I just bought that very machine from the ATL store. It’s been shipped to me in Boston. It’s replacing my Polybrute. I’d love to keep it but I just don’t have room. I also have a P10 Rev 4. And others.
@@kvmoore1 And you enjoy your Polybrute. It’s a beautiful instrument. So good in fact I’m considering keeping it. Which means I either have to sell by prophet 10, or my Grandmother / Pro 3 SE combos on my desk. What you’d you do!?!
@@final_mile_music9713 Thank you. Yes. I also have a Prophet 10 as well. I would definitely not sell that one if I were you. In fact the Prophet 10 and Polybrute are my two best analog polyphonic synths right now. I'm actually considering selling an 808 and getting either a new Minimoog or OB-X8. That OB-X8 is sweet. Either way, the Polybrute and Prophet 10 are keepers. With those two synths in your arsenal plus a Moog One, you have an absolute killer setup!!! I know you probably want a good mono to, hence the Pro 3 / Grandmother setup. However, since they aren't quite as expensive to replace as the Prophet 10, I'd sell those for now and maybe either buy them back later or something better.
Listened to the first couple of AB comparison sounds on headphones. (I'll listen more later!) The Moog sounds more transparent. In the audio world that might be the difference in say a Class A EQ or compressor or mic pre compared to a good sounding less expensive equivalent.
I took the PolyBrute and all the Cherry Audio soft synths, plus a Hydrasynth on the side. It would have been rude not to pickup a Bass Station2, and a couple Neutrons to provide mono company. At that point the dream ended. 😢
Nice comparison, compared to a 9k synth the poly brute does hold up well, albeit it only has half the voices as of the moog, the effects on the PB are brilliant and some of the verbs...especially dreamy is brilliant. I just wished that we could fine tune the modulation effects, and also add a tube, or overdrive. Then it would be the icing on the cake for me.
Same, PB fits my budget, also leaving Subsequent '37CV and Buchla 208c in my studio, so I don't have have just "One" instead. But yes, Moog is cool and great to hear the "same" patch, both sounding great! TNX for great showcase!
J'ai les deux et je peux vous dire que les sonorités et la complexité des sons c'est bien le Moog One qui et bien au dessus de L'arturia qui lui est tres bon pour sont prix ...
Nice review again! Thanks! Actually Moog One have 3 VCFs. Lets see, price wise Moog one 9590ukp and Arturia 2715ukp (serious price increase on both, Tohmann) yet you get +4.41 Polybrutes for ever Moog Ones, thats 26.45 voices! 🙂 .Wish Arturia had made a 12 voice polybrute version!
@@deadmanwalking6342 ah I see.. functionally it’s 2. Checking I hadn’t made a glaring error there! FYI I did read as much of the manual as I could given I only had it for a few days.. when I was busy earning a living as well 😂😂 Quite pleased I managed to dig so deep in such a short time tbh.
Comparing synths is like comparing colors, for example orange to green. Each synth contributes its own color to the over all sonic master piece. Working together the Moog and the PB would make a fantastic analog arsenal in a studio.
Love the Polybrute but the limited voices definitely is a limitation compared to everything else it can do. On my Rev2 with 16 voices my options for creating Stacks and Splits with no voice stealing creates a world of huge possibilities, especially when combined with sequencing. I think they would be well served by having two versions available or an upgrade to maximize its power.
Moog definitely sounds fuller than the polybrute, by like 10 -20% but I'm listening with my computer speakers so ... That said I suppose it depends on how you're using it. If your doing some major sound production the moog would get you into a more higher end sound, perhaps the highest. That said, I find that most music becomes alot more "dumbed down" and not so deeply sounding. Its like you just don't need that great of a debth of sound, and really don't even need either one of these for alot of music types. As usual ... depends. I'd still like the have the Moog though. Really leaning toward polybrute and maxibrute just because of with the combined prices it's still 1/2 the cost of the moog, then you can get even more gear if you were to spend as much as the moog. or go on a vacation or two. lol
The PolyBrute keys aren‘t too short; there are many synths with shorter keys. However, particularly the black keys are very narrow! Apart from the need of careful playing, there are large gaps between the black and the adjacent white keys - dust welcome inside. :/ Arturia should really use Fatar keybeds or rework their own ones.
@@StarskyCarr Thanks for doing this comparison, I haven't had my hands on a Moog One yet because I just didn't find the sound inspiring, but I suspect that's down to the patches I've heard rather than the machine ..?
@@Barefoot_Joe I’m not so sure. I think it’s an amazing synth but it’s difficult to get a handle on its own sound because it a bit of a chameleon. The antithesis of the OBX8 which is a pure single trick mojo machine. The Moog One js everything for everyone. Movie star vs character actor.
Haha love that analogy! That’s why I got it actually - I wanted the most flexible analogue poly I could get so I can cover a lot of basses genre-wise 🙂
I sold my Summit to buy the Polybrute. Haven't regretted it at all. The Polybrute sounds so much nicer. But obviously if i had the money and space I'd have both
@@Oooo-bi7bi But, I am being very serious. I may get a second one myself.... But rack and floor space is really tight. But, a used mint condition at a good price I would consider for sure.
@@tommyg5095 sorry I’m not laughing at you. I don’t know you , and presumed you were joking. Only found out last couple of years ago that hardware is affordable. So don’t know much more about synthesisers. These machines look amazing, but I couldn’t justify spending this kind of money. I waited a year until I could get a micro freak used. Saved £100. With my circuit tracks I’ve got a nice little set up for me.
Thanks for making this comparison - really helpful. I've been pining for a Moog One and as prices rise I have to consider even more so whether it really does add enough considering I have a Polybrute in the studio (and a few other synths). I think ultimately I'm going to have to sit in front of a Moog One, I know, but this was great to hear some similarities.
I had both and sold the polybrute... Polybrute is amazing! I think they very different after i own both...The moog can do soo much soo! But i can say that i miss the polybrute beacuse he got some wird tone that so unique!
That was good man. I love my Polybrute, especially through external filters and effects. You have definitely saved me a lot of money. The Moog-1 will have to join the list I have of things to buy when I win div 1 in the lottery. It would probably go in the super yacht I’m going to get 🤪
Both have extensive modulation features, multiple applicable efx, and 2 or more filters. With the polybrute's metalizer, the polybrute should have more of a wider tonal palette than the Moog if I'm not mistaken. On another note: one thing I've learn from watching videos of those who have the courage to post their synths on youtube, the majority of them don't have the mastery of sound design or the imagination to utilize a synth's extensive features to create anything outside of the redundant patches we've been flooded by since the 80s. So when I hear someone claiming that a synth is limited, how could it be when that person is trapped in a 80s time loop of recreating patches similar to Van Halen's Jump or Blade Runner's theme.
It’d be a great video and comparison if you put and test next to each other the Alesis Andromeda and the Moog One. Think they are more close to each other in terms of specifications.
Hmm, does the Moog One have ‘the Moog sound’? I realise you were matching it to the Polybrute in this video … but that’s a fair chunk of coin, and a lot to go wrong, in a pretty cumbersome synth - especially if it doesn’t have that phat and juicy tone … 🤔
I'm lucky enough to have a Matriarch and an 8-voice One about 4 feet from each other. I'd say the Matriarch has more character if you want to push things, but the One is still definitely the same flavor. I find I can just crank stuff to max on the mixers in One pretty regularly, and there's still headroom. This is definitely not the case with the Matriarch, where you really need to keep everything under 11'o clock. As far as stuff going wrong, I bought my 8-voice used, it's a low serial number from the first few months of production, so it's been in the wild a while and hasn't developed any issues yet. I'm hoping the bathtub curve holds and anything that would have been an issue would have popped up by now. I think the 8-voice models have less issues overall between heat, tuning, and noisefloor (though don't quote me on that).
Had them both and sold the Polybrute. The Moog destroys the Arturia in every way. Better osc, way better filters, more of everything. They both have that new analog sound that is way to harsh in the high notes but that can be tamed with good programming. But yeah. Seriously no contest and the One is worth every dollar. It replaced my Polybrute, Prophet Rev2, ax80, Crumar bitone, and a few other synths.
As your note said, definitely try the hydra if you can - I think how it’s know kind of detracts from how generally flexible it is, it really seems so much more … buttoned down until you get one. Great comparison of these two though! :)
Did you change the fan mode to low? If you do that you can barely hear it. I use it in this mode for 3 years without any issue and the noise goes extremely down. (Inaudible for the first 30 minutes and then only softly hearable). The noise I hear from your mic feels like the fan in normal mode (which you should only turn on for extremely hot days (+30ºC)). Another thing you should mention is you actually can control 3 different Moog Ones at the same time completely independently (in just one unit), since you can set Synth 1 to Midi channel 1, Synth 2 to Midi Channel 2 and Synth 3 to Midi channel 3 in the settings. This means your DAW can control each one of the synths with its own filters, notes, oscilators etc.
Well I’ve bought the OBX8 but haven’t bought the Moog One. The OB was a huge push financially but it does have a certain something and it will probably replace the OB6.. so a £2.2k net cost. The Moog is stratospheric - not that it’s not worth it, but I’ve not got the funds and lots of other stuff filling different sonic and physical gaps!
@@StarskyCarr My real point was to Mike up there was that they sound different to each other and are difficult to compare. If you want the Moog sound, get the Moog. If you want the OB sound get the OB.
@@davidknight754 I was replying to Mike btw ;) but on Safari it doesn’t add the @ so looks like it’s for you. .. whereas on my phone it does … so now I can reply to you directly.. 👍 all good . Cheers.
Have you spent much time with a PB? I think they sound incredible in series. I’ve found that working with two filters to a pretty incredible experience, but for me at least there was a bit of learning curve to learn how to use them effectively together. Once I saw them as sort of a team working together, it just clicked for me.
@@Synthpunk123 wow edgy, coming from someone who had both and said both sounds too digital, analog synths that sounded too digital. Stick to your GF's basement John.
@@thadirtyabbott33 I’m based in the UK, so I sent it to HHB (who do Moog’s UK repairs and servicing) in west London. Think turnaround was probably around 3 weeks or so
I think the One got the mojo, yeah - just because watching this vid, a nostalgia :D got hold of me for the 'A meditation on listening promo' :D Some patches might be Prophet-y, but there's no Prophet to match its depth. The One SENDS all prophets, doesn't he? (sorry)
You always seem to come up with the right comparisons ;-) As a PB owner myself, its good to see it can (kinda) hold its own compared to the One and do some things the Moog can't do. I do think the One is a little overpriced and Tim Shoebridge has a couple of videos about the One which include some criticism, some bugs and design issues (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8TRZQqR-xMk.html). If memory serves some of these issues are being "fixed" by compensating in firmware rather than actually fixing the problem. I think the PB handles stereo a lot better than the One where it feels like a bit of an afterthought.
Why are people alwas compairing the synthesizers instead of use it at it is. And tell do you like this one? And in many cases does this one sound like the old one? Instead of can the old one sound as this model!
Moog One is way past My budget, at £9500 it is way over priced taking advantage of Moog legecy. Im happy with Reason 12, Synapse Obsession, Arturia Mini V, Analog Lab V, Novation MiniNova, Peak, Behringer Monopoly do I really need anything else to be honest? Nope.
It’s not overpriced or taking advantage of a legacy. There’s three synths in there. Compared to their other synths like the sub 37 it’s much better value. It’s just rammed with features and therefore very expensive. It’s a no compromise instrument and if it’s not for you, then that’s fine.
@@bennethos the arturia has a ladder like the Moog, but it’s not an exact copy. It’s supposed to have less loss of volume when introducing resonance. They have different second filters. As you say the PB has the Steiner Parker. The Moog has a completely different design. Both of them are multi mode.
Moog One definitely sounds better, in fact at some point the difference is like - woah. Well... the price kinda reflects that. Granted - not a small part of that price is a Moog label. Polybrute needs a version with at least 8 voices though.
Hang on... How about compare a V8 to a 3 cylinder Turbo... 9.5K compared to 2.2K? 9.5k For me, it'd be PB, Hydra, Waldorf M and throw in a 2nd hand JDXA. Forget compact.. when it comes to synths, we make room.... Mwhahahahahhahahahaha
