Producer’s Guide to… Moog Matriarch
Let’s get patching and see what Moog’s four-VCO, vintage inspired semi-modular can do
Analogue designs have gone in and out of favour several times now, but analogue has
AUDIO ON always been Moog’s
FILESILO
focus, which makes sense given the company’s founding all the way back in 1963. But when Moog announced their semi-modular Mother-32 synthesiser back in (2015), few people probably guessed it was the beginning of a new line of products completely.
The fact that Moog are still improving and adapting is impressive already. It would almost be easier to compile a list of musicians that haven’t used a Moog than a list of Moog users, as the company’s DNA has been entangled with that of popular music since the early ’60s. Robert Moog’s early designs were among the first modular synths ever, and after Moog synths got into the hands of Bernie Worrell, Stevie Wonder, Sun Ra, and more, music history was changed forever. Instruments like the Voyager, Sub and Little Phatty, and their now discontinued line of MF Moogerfooger pedals have already been much loved for years, but Moog surprised many with the announcement of the Mother-32.
The Mother-32 was notable for pairing Moog’s iconic oscillator and filter designs with a built-in, fully programmable step sequencer, and more importantly, the ability to patch and interact with other modular synths, kicking off a new line of instruments for Moog. That line, lovingly dubbed the ‘Mother’ line by Moogheads, now includes not just the well-respected Mother-32, but the DFAM drum machine, the Grandmother, and finally, the pièce-de-résistance, Moog’s Matriarch. The Matriarch, according to Moog, “sits at the pinnacle of the Moog family of semi-modular synthesisers,” and looking over its colourful front panel, it’s not hard to see why. It’s adorned with all sorts of knobs, faders, switches, buttons, wheels, and most importantly, 90 patch points on 3.5mm cables.
It’s easy to make your way around the Matriarch’s front panel due to the colour coordination system: each module has its own colour, while patch points are outlined in a solid colour for outgoing signal and an outline for incoming signal. Moog took a firm stance when designing the Matriarch, as it features a 100% analogue signal path. There are four analogue VCOs that allow the
Matriarch to be used as either a fourvoice paraphonic synthesiser or a monophonic instrument with all four voices stacked. These oscillators each have a four-octave range and come equipped with the usual suspects when it comes to wave shapes – triangle, sawtooth, square, and pulse. Unlike Moog synths of the past, it’s not possible to sweep between these shapes continuously, which is a bit of a disappointment. However, it is possible to create those hard synced lead sounds on the Matriarch, as each oscillator can be synced to the previous one. Unsurprisingly, given the fact that these oscillators are based on those in the Voyager, the pure raw tones of each waveform are lovely, rich, and harmonic-filled. Moog have certainly proven their heritage here.