A short demo comparison of Moog Sub Phatty vs Little Phatty with same OSC1 and OSC2 settings. I've tried to compare the SP's multidrive and LP's overdrive. There's some difference as you may hear.
And so! I can definetely tell the Little/Slim Phatty is the finest Moog. Recently got a slim and shortly sold it and just got a little Phatty ll, the keyboard is more than decent and the sound is just phenomenal, not missing at all the Sub Phatty or 37. Lovely synth!
Sub might seem lower here, but it really holds it's own. I have a Sub Phatty and a Matriarch. It's interesting how much noticeably darker and less aggressive the Sub's oscillators and filters are. The Matriarch cuts through anything whereas the sub tends to sit underneath. Now I use both all the time in my tracks, the Sub for my basslines and the Matriarch for leads or pads. Moral of the story is that differences in synths are what makes it a joy to use multiple different ones!
Nice review. A few differences you didn't mention: 1. They do in fact have different oscillators. LP tends to drift more, although the SP has control over beat frequency. Also, you have to warm up and tune the LP every time you turn it on. 2. The filters are also calibrated differently.... and because of this (and the different oscs), the LP filter breaks up more at high resonances... making it sound more alive and unpredictable. 3. The SP pulse wave can be made narrower than the LP. There are many other differences between these two synths, but I think these points add to your review. I prefer my LP over my SP because: more keys, more presets, FM of osc 2 to 1, and the LP's great overdrive and 2 pole modes... Both are great synths!
Great comparison. I have a Sub 37--thought about getting a LP, but aside from the overdrive, Sub 37 rocks it for me every day of the week. In fact, so much so that it's amazingly hard to convince myself to get a Voyager XL now--which is the synth I wanted to get before I got the sub 37. I feel like I need to test putting different overdrives in front of my Sub 37 and see if I can get that squelchy overdrive the LP can get. I did like how over the top it could get...
Little Phatty is not a cut down version of Moog Voyager and wasn't meant to be. Sub Phatty was not created to be the new Little Phatty. They are all different, sound quite different, and are tweaked in various areas to make them their own instruments.s
incorrect comparision: few seconds before cutoff on SP was just moved down to 50%, but later on LP it moves down to 0% and then back to 50%. everything sweet you hear was below 50%
Love my Slim Phatty and Minitaur. I prefer the Overdrive to the Multidrive examples in this video. Having said that, the SubPhatty is a brilliant synth with more features and knobs. Will wait for a rack version, might take a few years (more likely actually), but having the Slim and Minitaur, I have no problems waiting. Studio space is an issue and the price of course. The SubP and LP/Slim sound very similar indeed (with no OL/MultiDrive), with the Minitaur sounding quite different and for my taste, the best raw sound out of them all.
Had a minitaur, Sub Phatty, Sub 37. None of them convinced me. I’m not too hyped about a voyager either. I think the little/slim Phatty is the way to go!
Little phatty wins, but the person who said they both sound better than a boog is an idiot. I have a vintage model D and a boog. Only someone who’s never played one or really wants to justify their own purchase would say the boog doesn’t sound like a mini
I loved the tone of the overdrive on the Little Phatty, but (maybe I'm in the minority here) I actually preferred the more predictable, controlled sound of the Sub Phatty's multidrive. On its own, with self-resonation, the LP overdrive is totally cool, and I probably looked like a maniac, repeatedly going up and down with the cutoff, in deep sonic appreciation, for like half an hour.. lmao! But in practice, the squelchy, unpredictable nature of the LP overdrive can be a bit unnerving and irritating -- whereas the SP multidrive has a more tempered response that I find more playable. The Sub OSC and Noise add so much to it, and I think that the design of the Sub Phatty overall is pretty cool. Thanks for the side-by-side comparison. I hadn't realized just how close they sound (aside from the distortion circuits.)
Good comparison... Except the end, the knobs weren't in the same position-the filter on the SP was at 50% and lower, and at 100% on the LP, when hitting the keys... but the text seemed to say otherwise... It seemed to me that in terms of "harmonics" they produced the same amount, but the LP just had a brighter frequency response. Not sure it would make much difference in practice. Either way, good job. I am getting a Sub37 this week, woot :] Moog is the best
Thanks for the comparison, interesting... but I own both and use the SP and SP (sub and Slim) only for sequence and the LP for the lead... its just Moogs :-) Grtz from the Netherlands
***** as far as I know, you can't do it at the synth internally, you may only use Pot Mapping to assign a specific CC number plus destination of it (EXT, INT or BOTH) You will need some extra hardware or software solution for CC multi-mapping. For example, you may use Ableton Live + "ControlChange8" (max for live device by Robert Henke www.monolake.de/technology/m4l.html) Assing some controllers to this plugin, then map its controls to one incoming midi control in Live's midi mapping window.
Thanks for the comparison! I hope this is not too off topic and I really appreciate a 1:1 comparison of these synthesizers but I wonder if the Little Phatty plus a Minitaur together render the Sub-Phatty pointless. The LP has an arp and the Minitaur shakes your fillings loose with it's bass. Don't get me wrong the sub phatty is really cool, but compared to any setup with an lp and a minitaur the sub phatty just seems pointless. Does this make any sense to anyone else?
Sub Phatty has three cool things which I like very much: - lot of knobs which are useful for live tweaking - the SUB oscillator - the noize generator I own all three models: Sub Phatty, Little Phatty and Minitaur, so it's enough for me :) For the moment, Sub Phatty is my choice as second synth for live setup, cause it's portable, stable, 'tweaky' and 'phat'. My main keyboard is Clavia Nord Stage 2 Minitaur is great, but has some limitations, for example it can't play notes above C4
Thanks for this as I'm considering selling my Sub to get a Slim. Just wish you played longer sections for each instead of rapidly alternating notes between the two. It makes it difficult to assess any subtle differences in sound when it's played so quickly. Still very useful though, cheers.
Sub37 and LP would have been a much more even comparison. Sub 37 has 3 forms of overdrive (mixer overdrive when set past 12 o'clock, multidrive, and feedback) plus way more modulation potential and arp/seq
+Ruslan Tagirov I was thinking to do the same with my Sub Phatty. Don't you miss it? Would you say the Sub 37 is actually better? does it worth the extra money?
Jesús Dawaher Bakhos Hey, just my 2 cents, but there's 2 things to consider: 1. You may get up to $700 for the Sub Phatty right now, if you find you cannot get that much or it becomes a hassle, (like you can only sell for 500) consider using it as an extra voice. (You can PolyChain the Sub37 and Phatty!) I would kill for a 2-voice Sub 37..!! 2. I honestly loved my Sub Phatty, but I never ended up using half of its functionality. The extra features being right on the panel changes the feel SO MUCH. On top of that, the keyboard is bigger. Imagine this: You can go to the 2 LFO sections, and you can assign the LFOs to any knob on the panel...! I did a trick where I modulated LFO 1 with LFO 2 on a slope so that when I press a key the vibrato slowly comes in on its own. Awesome. :) (or you can modulate filter resonance or Multidrive, etc etc) So much more functionality. And it looks beautiful too. ;P It's what the Sub Phatty should have been.
+Jesús Dawaher Bakhos Sub 37 is way better for me in terms of functionality. So, I have nothing to add to Ronie's commentary. I don't miss Sub Phatty because I sold it to a great band from Perm city, Russia, which is called 'Gnoomes'. They play shoegaze/stargaze and the synth is already added to their live setup. As far as I know, they are happy.
The only change MOOG made from the Little Phatty to the Sub Phatty was the Multidrive, Otherwise they are the same Synths. The Sub 37 is the same as the Sub Phatty with more knobs/surface control. The Little Phatty became the Sub Phatty which became the Sub 37 Tribute. I usually MIDI Chain my Sub37 to a Slim Phatty. The only difference I ever hear is in the Filters Drive Section. Shipping My Sub37 Tribute today for the Subsequent 37 Upgrade.
That's possible. I believe there are three versions of the Little Phatty. There's the LP001, LP002, and the Bob Moog Tribute little Phatty. I think they all have slight variations. It only took a week for my Subsequent 37 upgrade. It was well worth it. The Subsequent 37 has much better drive into the filter than the Sub 37, yet maintantains that Dark MOOG Sound of their filter. Personally I've always liked the Drive of the Little Phatty more. But now they both rock.
The little phatty tribute sounds like the sub there are different versions of the phatty. The sub is dam good - people saying phatty is better are mostly hipsters - the phatty has become a hipster synth - it's good but so is the sub, I prefer the Sub.
A four year old question, but i couldn't resist, lol. There is basically no scenario imaginable in this dimension, where i would recommend a Sub Phatty over a Little Phatty. Sub Phatty may have a Sub oscillator, but it also has a bogus overdrive effect, where as the Little Phatty has an actual interesting filter for that effect, ALSO for dirty bass lines. Also, the Little Phatty is the last Moog designed by Bob Moog himself. In a few years, you will know why the Little Phatty prices on the used market will go much higher, compared to the utterly forgetable Sub Phatty, which was eclipsed by the Sub37 before it knew it. The LP and SP oscillators are less "tight" than both Subs. Some people may see this as an advantage, but for me, it's quite the contrary. The LP/SP oscillaters were stable enough, but still had their own character. And the LP can be polychained with Slim Phatties. The Subs on the other hand don't have rack versions. Little Phatty also has an arpeggiator, the Sub doesn't. There is also a CV mod available for the Little Phatty, making it a lot more versatile yet. Not for the Sub. I just feel sorry for people that bought into the Sub hype years ago. At the time i'm writing this, used LP's are more expensive than Sub Phatties NEW. While 4 years ago, (dumb) people were ditching their Little Phatties for a Sub. They must be kicking themselves right now.
Sub Phatty, because it has a Noise Generator and a Sub Oscillator, and 'loopable' envelope. But now I got Sub37 which is much more functional and anvanced in terms of sound and easiness of operation.
H4NDCRAFTED from what I know the sub phatty overdrives the Osc's sub osc, and noise if you turn them past 12 o'clock on the mixer, so long as you keep there levels there and below you can get that old-school minimoog creamy goodness.
+Dragan Delic I would get both (In fact I own both now). Little Phatty's overdrive is more aggressive, but SUB37 has sub-oscillator, noise, loopable envelopes, TWO mod busses, very good arpeggiator and much more panel controls.
Oh man I was afraid of that answer lol and I was thinking the same :) the question is just which on to get first as I'm selling my maschine studio and s49 :) have a friend who wants to sell me little phatty for $1000 ..you think that is ok price?? Thank you Ruslan Tarigov
Ruslan Tagirov I don't know the difference between what the multi-drive does to the Lp's overdrive exactly but would the minibrute's brutefactor cover the Lp's overdrive? I just got a sub phatty and have the minibrute but didn't know how the Lp's overd works. Thanks for the video!
Every instrument sounds different. The minibrute's "brutefactor" is also an overdriven circuit, but it sounds completely different than the little phatty's overdriven filter circuit, which sounds completely different than the sub 37's overdriven filter or mixer circuits, which sounds different than the subsequent 37's overdriven circuits. So it depends what you mean by "cover." If you mean "does a similar thing," than yes, it does a similar thing. If you mean "sounds similar," than no, they sound completely different.
no fucken comparison, i own two sub 37's and two little phatties. the filters are much better on the little phatties....must be all the surface mounted devices on the sub 37's..... little phatties are mostly discrete components. and if you google it many people also feel the little phatties have way better filters. the sequencer is nice on the sub 37, but sound wise ....no way lol
This Video proves people really believe in marketing. I did a blind listen. There is no Difference. And if there is it is no small that most people wouldn't be able to tell!
Having played them both (and still owning the SP), I can testify that they sound identical (together with the Sub 37). Add some reverb and delay, and they are incredible. They have this typical "nasal" character, which will make them pretty easily recognizable in isolation. The main difference is the user interface: the SP has a lot of encoders (one button per function), but has a very short keyboard. With the LP, you will need to be using the stage buttons, but you will get a longer keyboard and wooden sides. But again, from the sound perspective you can use any of them, nobody will notice any difference (or care).
There is a VERY distinct difference in the Upper range when the resonance is cranked as well as their distortion circuits. That, however, is the only time these synths sound different from one another. Remember though, the Sub Phatty has a different modulation section and a different architecture (2vco + sub osc and mod section) vs the Little/Slim Phatty (2vco, 1 LFO, Arpeggiator) So while the raw filter sound may be Nearly Identical, you can't say they are the same synth with only marketing gimmicks being used. I wouldn't say you need to own both if you own one or the other though, they're close enough you don't need two. but if we were to compare the Sub37 vs a Little Phatty Stage 2, the differences would be night and day even if your raw osc sound is very similar. :)
I understand all this.... I really do... My thing you are a professional talking about a difference... People who consume music won't be able hear that difference lol