I'm 40 years old as I type this and I started playing music at around 14 years old (bass guitar). Over the following 25-ish years I had gone through many phases in regards to music and much gear. MANY bass guitars, various guitars, drums, many percussion instruments, digital pianos, MIDI controllers, more recording interfaces than I can remember, many mics, PA systems, various revisions on my home studio, and more.

Very few pieces of gear reach the truly beloved status - the things I will absolutely never get rid of and the things that bring me joy every time I play with them, my absolute favorite being my old American Fender P-bass that has seen many many miles and many gigs, and right up with it is now the Moog Grandmother. I just can't get over how awesome this thing is!

If I'm being honest, despite having owned so much gear in my life, this is my first real synthesizer. I've owned countless VST/AU plugins of various synths, including Moog clones, and I would program my MIDI controller to try and take advantage of the various knobs and sliders to try and simulate the real thing, but there really is nothing like the real thing. No computers needed, clearly labeled knobs, an absolute fantastic build quality (minus one exception I'll touch on in a minute), and an absolute joy to play.

The Grandmother is deceptively simple and it's absolutely amazing what can be accomplished with what you get. Of course there are limitations which are largely addressed with the much more expensive Matriarch, however, The Grandmother still stands tall as its own instrument and is very approachable, providing an endless amount of fun. Just embrace the limitations and be creative! You can get everything from growling earth shaking lows, to soaring leads, to percussive sounds, and much more!

I believe that The Grandmother (and probably The Matriarch) will go down in history as one of the most beloved synthesizers.

The reason I cannot give a perfect 5, as much as I want to, is because despite having a fantastic build quality overall, the power supply and the power supply input jack are shockingly cheap. It has a fairly weak connection and can unplug way too easily, making it a bit worrisome in gig environments. The input jack is shallow, the cord is very flimsy and cheap, same with the power supply unit. Something like this really should have a robust cable and twist-locking connection. For me this is enough of an issue to dock it a bit. I just cannot understand why Moog put together such a well built and robust instrument with fantastic knobs and a great feel, yet decided to cheap out in this one important (to me) area, I would have easily paid an extra $20-50 if it meant having a really solid connection and power supply.

Despite the one negative this is still a thing of beauty. Just make sure to update the firmware and calibrate it if you get one (a quick search will lead the way). Updating the firmware is really important because it gives you multi-trig, making it FAR more enjoyable and much easier to play. I would have preferred a dedicated switch because I use it both on and off and switching it on/off is a bit convoluted, but it's nice that it's still an option.

I cannot recommend it enough!

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Amid the 2008 downturn I lost my job and was forced to liquidate most of my synth collection in order to continue making rent and student loan payments. One of these instruments was a Moog-format modular system from a company you've probably heard of. I have fond memories of spending countless evenings making patchcord spaghetti and discovering new and unusual sounds up until the somber day I parted ways with it. After a long hiatus from synths and solo music production I bought the Grandmother to see if it might help me to rekindle some of that joy.

The Grandma has much of the same qualities as my modular (albeit with fewer modules) with the added benefit of portability. It's an instrument with a lot of sonic potential that for me promotes creativity and rewards experimentation, and in my opinion has the sweetest sound of any monosynth I've played. I'd describe it as being "organic," lending itself well for making realistic timbres and just overall pleasing tones (but it still does nasty if you ask it to). I really like the classic black control surface but I sometimes find myself turning the Osc 2 tune knob when I intended to adjust Osc 2 mix, and vise-versa...I could see how different colors for the mixer and oscillator sections would better delineate the controls. I should point out that the Grandma shouldn't be mistaken as a modular Minimoog but rather be seen as a Moog mini-modular. While they share many of the same building blocks they are two distinct animals and work very differently. That being said, the Grandma is way more versatile but still does mostly well at accessing those Minimoog sounds.

There are a few small things that would've made the Grandmother even better: Foremost, having a CV input on the attenuator (like on the Matriarch) would have massively expanded the synth's modulation capabilities (as it is, you can't do a lot of simple things like fade in an LFO). In addition, I would've liked the cutoff knob and sustain fader to have a little more of a velvety feel to match the other controls, and I wish the LEDs illuminating the buttons were a warmer white.

I highly recommend the Grandmother, but if you can spring for the Matriarch it's more bang-for-the-buck and far more capable than two Grandmas. Eventually I'm sure I'll get both.

I originally purchased a demo model that arrived with some issues, but Alex R. and the good people of Sweetwater wasted no time to resolve the problem and sent out a replacement without any hassle. Kudos for the A+ customer service!

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I have a background in software synthesizers mostly, and have always struggled with VSTs and plugins to get the sounds that I was looking for. Having almost zero experience with analog/modular synthesizers, the Grandmother does everything I could possibly imagine right out of the box. It's by far the most intuitive piece of gear that I have, and the sonic possibilities are endless. You will get that classic "moog" sound that people talk about with the Grandmother and I honestly love the lack of presets on it as it lends itself to exploring the full capabilities of the synth. The manual is also really helpful for determining what certain patch points do. Take it from me, if you are home studio producer looking to dabble in the world of analog and modular, there couldn't possibly be a better starting point than the Grandmother. From what I understand the integration with Moog's line of other semi-modular synths (DFAM, M32, Subharmonicon) is seamless as well, and I'm really looking forward to getting into that territory as well.

Also, buy this from Sweetwater. In terms of customer service, these guys are second to none and blow their competition out of the water. Couldn't have asked for a better experience from them.

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If you want Moog sound, this is it. There is so much value to this synth. You can turn the Modulator into a third oscillator, and get really close to the Minimoog territory at a fraction of its price. I personally even like the Grandmother sound better, as it's a tad more raw and aggressive. The lack of presets can be seen as a flaw for some, but it actually helps you learning a lot more about synthesis this way. There are so many things you can do when you start patching. The build quality is clearly premium, solid build, beautiful instrument. Highly recommended!