The Moog Minimoog has undergone its fair share of changes. From its inception in 1969, the Minimoog is typically considered the first synthesizer for musicians, giving players access to synths sounds in an intuitive and compact package. The monophonic Minimoog Model D, first built in 1971, added to the technology already used in the prototypes for Models A, B and C. Model D was, in fact, the first Minimoog sold to the public.
The Minimoog is generally simple to use. It comes with three VCOs with a choice of waveforms, including triangle, reverse sawtooth, square and more, which are then routed through the voltage-controlled filter to be modified. Instead of the typical ADSR envelope, the Minimoog actually has an ADSD, or attack-decay-sustain-decay, giving you only three knobs to control four parameters.
For lovers of simplicity, the Model D doesn’t require any patch cables and sends your signal straight through the chain to the VCA. For this reason, among others, the Model D is highly intuitive, and you need hardly any knowledge regarding synthesizers to begin dialing in sounds and playing.
Its portability, unique sound and innovative concept made the Model D an icon. Used by pioneers of electronic music like of the late Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Ralf Hutter of Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, and countless more, the first Minimoog has no shortage of proponents. In fact, the Model D is still considered a highly sought synthesizer, with many using or looking to use the sounds that have been used to craft so many songs.
Watch the video above to hear some examples of the Minimoog Model D sound, and then click the banner below to shop for vintage Moog Minimoog Model D synthesizers.
Moog MiniMoog Model D