Moog Realistic MG-1 - cykong.com

The Moog MG-1 was a strange breed - it was released back in 1981 by Radio Shark / Tandy (US Electronics Shops similar to Maplins) and has the tag Realistic Concertmate MG-1 by Moog Music.
It is very similar to the Moog Rogue, but also features fake POLYPHONY - well, yes, you can kind of play chords on this synth! Main synth section is nearly identical to the Rogue - so this synth was dubbed as the poor man's Moog...

MOOG MG-1 and C Y

I actually got this MG-1 around the end of 2003 / early 2004. It was at a reasonable price, only 1 slider-cap was not original and comes with manual. (I got some spares knob caps from a shop in Australia, so now the slider caps are all original looking).

In fact, it was in pretty good conditions, only 1 of the toggle switches was a bit dodgy, but the casing and everything was very nice, and in deed, it's actually a very playable synth.


Many years ago, people had suggested that i should really get a Moog - a Mini-Moog. However, that wasn't what I wanted to do. In fact i have refused to get a mini-moog all these years. Well, that's because the Mini-moog has always been expensive (for a monophonic monster), suffers tuning issues and it's not easy to maintain. Also, I picked up a Studio Electronics ATC-1 back then, which has Mini-Moog filters clone, and so i thought I really shouldn't spend loads of money on a Mini-moog.
However, I have always had the interest in other Moogs, such as the Moog Prodigy. I nearly bought a Prodigy 10 years ago, but somehow i still haven't...
So, funny enough, this poor-man's Moog was actually my 1st Moog... (The Oakley Moog Rogue being the 2nd).

I actually did some simple works/mods on this MG-1 in early 2004, but has not got it midi-ed up until very recently (July 2004).

THE MOOG MG-1

Nice and simple....

Modulation on the LEFT, with sliders for LFO assigning to Tune/Tone Source and Filter

The Tone Sources 1 and 2 can be set in Sync (the DETUNE slider then becomes a PWM type effect) or in de-sync mode, you can detune them. I actually quite like them in SYNC, can produce some very mean sounds....

Contour is like ADSR. The filter is pretty MOOG, and the MIXER provides 5 sliders for the TONE1, TONE2, NOISE, BELL Tone and the POLYPHONY tone.

POLYPHONIC?

No, the MG-1 is not really polyphonic. The main synth section is MONO, but when you play a chord on the keyboard, the other notes triggers a triangular/square wave type synth tone, which comes out on the POLYPHONY Slider...

However, this feature is not externally controllable - external CV/Gate would only trigger the monophonic section.

INTERFACING THE OUTSIDE WORLD

Because it was a cheap synth sold in Hi-Fi/Electronics stores on the high streets (imagine them being displayed next to Casio home or toy keyboards) - the MG-1 has RCA audio outputs. It also has RCA Inputs - but these don't go to the VCF or any part of the synth - they're just there so u can plug your stereo in and play along... Kinda useless...

Good thing about the MG-1, it already comes with CV/Gate - CV input is 1V/Oct, gate is S-trig.

It also comes with IEC Mains plug! Although the Power Rocker On/Off switch is at the back....

Some Moog Realistic MG-1 Soundz

MG-1 Filter 1

Basic Filter Cutoff / Resonance tweaks...

MG-1 Filter 2

Short percussive riff, with filter cutoff / resonance tweaks

MG-1 Filter 3

More extreme resonance

MG-1 Sync In Detune 1

With Sync2->1 ON, tweaking the Detune slider

MG-1 Sync In Detune 2

With Sync2->1 ON and Contour Modulation LFO applied to Filter Cutoff, tweaking the Detune slider

-> Play ALL

More sounds of the MG-1 can be found on the sites listed in the links below.

	Synths
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Moog Realistic Concertmate MG-1 Midi-fied

MOOG MG-1 and C Y

Other Links on the Moog Realistic MG-1