Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Jorvik wrote:There was someone on some forum somewhere (might've been GS), who reckoned he'd phoned Moog and someone there had told him it was limited to 1000 and had also spoken to someone at Guitar Center who'd told him they'd been allocated a paltry amount (30 or 60 or something ridiculous like that) for the entire US.

I guess the figure of 1000 could've come from there.

That was me. And it wasn't 30 or 60 for the entire U.S., it was 50 for Guitar Center and 50 for Sweetwater, which are the two largest retailers in the U.S., for their FIRST run. It is a very simple matter to call Moog, GC and Sweetwater to find this stuff out... especially if you know who to talk to and how (I use to work for M-Audio, so...)

So the most recent numbers I got direct from both Sweetwater and Guitar Center is, the first 20 units went out to Sweetwater already where as Guitar Center will be receiving their first 20 by August 1st. The next batch of 30 will be going out to GC "around" August 8th (which is when my pre-order will come in) and Sweetwater's 30 remaining units around the same time or possibly sooner apparently.

All of this is considered the FIRST run of the Tribute Edition and you will have a document in your box saying that you are one of the lucky first purchasers. The SECOND run of the Tribute Edition is supposedly going into production near the end of the year with another 50 to 100 units allocated to the major U.S. retailers (Sweetwater claims 100, GC claims 50)... and then that's it. No more for the Tribute Edition from what I have been told by all. But of course it can all change. As for European retailers, I have no clue. Leaving that up to you guys to contact your local, favorite shops. Next year there will most likely be a Standard and/or Stage edition as is customary with Moog.

One of the things Moog told me directly was, the reason they are 3 months behind on production (originally was supposed to go into production first week of May for May 27th delivery, then first week of June, now July) is that they were having a hard time sourcing a couple of specific parts, but they wouldn't tell me what parts they were. They also said something under their breath about trying to get the packaging just right?

As for retailers accepting pre-orders, that means nothing. As I mentioned elsewhere (maybe on another forum) many retailers were STILL accepting pre-orders for the much sought-after Midiman Surface One controller a year after M-Audio had already killed the project! And by the way, it's a pretty cool controller, I have one of only three working prototypes...

But if all of this info I'm providing is causing more confusion than help, then I'll stop.

So basically, I went ahead and ordered one from Sweetwater last month. It was put onto the 36 month card. They are charging me for it. So, am I paying for something I will likely never receive? If so, that's pretty f**k up. I am paying for a TE, so I should get that.

I hope that's not the case. As a uk customer that pre ordered early, I still may not get one because sweet water and guitar centre took them all?
I'll be pissed because I paid for it early Feb. of course moog probably won't have my money so it won't matter to them.

I could do with something solid.

Jabberwalky wrote:So basically, I went ahead and ordered one from Sweetwater last month. It was put onto the 36 month card. They are charging me for it. So, am I paying for something I will likely never receive? If so, that's pretty f**k up. I am paying for a TE, so I should get that.

No, you'll probably get yours as part of the second production run.

zoomtheline wrote:I hope that's not the case. As a uk customer that pre ordered early, I still may not get one because sweet water and guitar centre took them all?
I'll be pissed because I paid for it early Feb. of course moog probably won't have my money so it won't matter to them.

I could do with something solid.

No no no. Sweetwater and Guitar Center got first priority, but the major European Retailers definitely got priority too, just delayed a couple of weeks. And by the second run, as Moog ramps up production, some smaller retailers may get some as well. So if you ordered from a major UK retailer early, you should get yours, from what I'm understanding, late August to early September, maybe even middle of August... but I have no idea about numbers for Europe. I'm assuming it's about the same as the major U.S. retailers.

EDIT: For some context I just called a small retailer here in Portland Oregon. Single shop, not a chain, but they specialize in synths only (modular as well) and though they were very vague, they did say they just spoke with Moog this morning and that they may get 2 units by end of August "they hope" which is part of this first product run. Which is exactly what I had thought, which is why I pre-ordered from Guitar Center April 2 and when they looked at their allotment recently, they told me I will definitely get mine in the second shipment of the first production run on August 8th.

So bottom line, if you pre-ordered early from a major retailer, U.S. or otherwise, you should get yours between now and September. If you ordered late, then you'll get one from the second production run by the end of the year. And if you think you are going to walk into a store to pick one up (and I'm talking the Tribute Edition here) then, good luck with that. There might be a chance if a particular retailer didn't get any pre-orders. For example, the second time I checked with Guitar Center back in May or June, they had only pre-sold 46 of their allotment of 50 of the first production run (I'm trying to be as clear as possible since people seem to read into what's not there) which I had posted about here previously.

This is all very disconcerting. I can't even get a response from Moog Music anymore regarding any idea of timeline or what. It's funny (in a not-so-funny manner), because I'm just trying to ensure that I have funds to back this little venture, and I can't get answers. Even a "we don't know, production has slipped for (x) reason, please bear with us" would be nice.

I suppose if it never shows, I'll have money for other (read: more necessary) things. Not stressed about it since I didn't put money down on it (Direct from Moog, they don't ask for any deposits); but given my financial situation of late, I guarantee that it will likely be the last thing I splurge on for quite some time.

Also, I would expect Moog to hold on to a number of them for those folks who reserved directly through Moog...

Ok, that's a little more reassuring. Your other post blew my mind I had to email moog direct to find out. Who knows if I'll get an email back.
I have been positive about this 100% and the delay's have not bothered me in the slightest but right now I feel really deflated.

I get the impression there's a couple of things going on. Someone, somewhere has mentioned a unit limit of 1000 units -- I saw today on the Moog forum somebody saying (a while ago) that the German Moog distributor had had that figure on their site, but that seems to have long since vanished. But I think I've seen other people mention that figure as well (there's been a lot of talk, it's hard to keep track). And, of course, people naturally made comparisons to the LP TE and this very site which lists 1200 units and speculation abounded (yay for the intarwebz!).

Then there's Genshi's information from the horse's mouth. I think what I remember is probably somebody regurgitating that information, conflated with the unit- (rather than time-) limited production and making out that there were two batches of 500, with only 50 (as it turns out) each for GC and Sweetwater in the first batch, and OMG if you haven't pre-pre-ordered before they made the announcement at NAMM you're s**t out of luck But maybe it's just my memory and I conflated the two in my own mind

Maybe the information Genshi was given is accurate and there will only be two production runs, but who knows how long will that second run be?

If Moog really are specifically limiting the numbers produced and it is to some low figure like 1000 units, it's a very bad move on their part -- and their distributors' -- not to make this clear, either directly to the public or, more importantly, to impress upon their distributors to impress upon their customers (the retailers) not to make empty promises and false advertising. Korg announced the 1000 unit limit on the MS-20 kit up front and the Moog press release for the Little Phatty TE also specifically mentioned the 1200 limit.

DV have only had my money since April but...

genshi wrote:The synth that I pre-ordered is a limited edition and that is exactly why I ordered THIS particular, limited edition model, sight unseen, because I knew this exact one is the one that I wanted. Not whatever possible "Standard" edition that may come next year, but this, Tribute Edition.

And that's what I've paid money for, as have many others, and that's what every retailer is advertising (I know, I know, it's only an invitation to treat and in no way binding, probably not even when money's changed hands).

But you've got Thomann, who claim to be the largest music retailer in Europe and DV, owned by (I believe) the second largest retailer in Europe, plus that I know of, all the other major UK retailers (and a whole load I've never, or only vaguely, heard of), all still offering pre-orders for the Tribute Edition. No doubt similar in every other European country.

Ultimately Moog and their distributors have no control over retailers beyond removing them as an authorised Moog seller, but if they've not been upfront about limited numbers of units and impressed upon them that "if you've not been allocated any now, you never will be", there wil be an awful lot of ill-feeling (rightly or wrongly) towards Moog.

For this reason, plus in response to "So how limited is it?", a Moog representative telling Guitar Center, "We're planning on building it for a little over a year", I don't think this is a limited number of units. If there are only going to be two production runs, I reckon the second one is going to be a very long one. Moog are too professional to have people spouting total bollocks about production -- delays in production and tentative shipping dates at the prototype stage are perfectly understandable, but to have someone representing them say something so wrong, so visibly... I'm not buying it.

By which I mean to say that I am buying it (and fingers crossed it will arrive soon and DV haven't been telling all pre-orders that it'll be arriving mid-August).

Another user over on the Moog forums posted this "exploration" video of their newly arrived Sub 37 -

In an effort to not let this thread die, I thought I'd post my own exploration videos of my recently arrived Moog Sub 37 synth. In the videos, I try to show a variety of sounds, from soft and mellow to hard and aggressive; all in a music context. This really is a wonderfully beautiful, modern analog Moog in the best way possible!

Cool videos!

Cool synth!

I want this synth so bad. Has anyone from the UK received theirs yet? I still have mine on pre-order.

Genshi, is there any visual feedback that a knob has been changed from it's saved position?

tried one out the other day and was pretty blown away by the synth.

it's a lot smaller in person than I thought it would be.

anyway, feedback that a knob had been moved from it's preseted position was the only thing i wanted it to do that it doesn't seem to be able to (unless it does and I couldn't find it)

chimney chop wrote:Genshi, is there any visual feedback that a knob has been changed from it's saved position?

tried one out the other day and was pretty blown away by the synth.

it's a lot smaller in person than I thought it would be.

anyway, feedback that a knob had been moved from it's preseted position was the only thing i wanted it to do that it doesn't seem to be able to (unless it does and I couldn't find it)

The only feedback is on the LCD screen; little asterisks appear by the preset name to show that it's been edited, but that's it.

Also, Moog themselves just released this nicely done demo of the Sub 37 (much better production value than my videos... obviously.)

A couple of samples I've uploaded today:



You'll find the complete set here: Moog Sub 37 Demos

Awesome videos! Genshi, I particularly liked the third one you uploaded. Very enjoyable! I'm looking very much forward to finally getting to try one of these out in real life (whenever that may be).