Moog Subharmonicon Semi-Modular Polyrhythmic Analog Synthesizer Reviews

If your a synth enthusiast looking for something different and inspiring, then this is for you.
If you are just a person who enjoys math, then this is for you.
Why?
Once you get the hang of how to use this and get great results (and I mean great!) you will come to realize its all about math. Such a beautiful thing, where music and math converge, and this synth takes it to a whole new level.
25 years from now, people will be scrambling to find one of these synths, as it is certain to become a classic.
If you already own one of these, you might want to buy another and leave it untouched in the box for 20 years. (Hint, Hint)

Moog created a very interesting synth. The sequencer allows poly rhythms to be programmed. It's a must have if using a DFAM or Mother 32 synth. All Moog products are high quality, very well made, it's oscillators sound amazing! I highly recommend it to anyone producing Electronica, Techno, Deep House, Drum N' Bass even Hip Hop. Sky's the limit. You'll love it's tone.

I am glad I made the purchase. I am learning and having fun along the way. Gets even better when I pair it with my Moog Mavis. No regrets.

The Moog Subharmonicon is the middle man in this trio of wonderful sound. For my ambient style of music I found that if I start with the DFAM Subharmonicon and build a nice harmony one piece at at time then add a nice melodic melody on top with the mother 32 that I can then use the DFAM to build a nice rhythm around it. It's amazing the ideas you can easily come up with these analog synths. Add a little reverb and delay and you have something that's recordable.

The Subharmonicon takes a little bit of time tinkering with to get used to how to what to set the scale amount I suggest starting small as it's easier at first. The unit is fantastic.

If you only have the Mother 32 you are going to want to add this to your arsenal.

I love how weird this synth is. Classic Moog sound, especially with square waves and a little bit of resonance. It definitely takes a little work to understand how to find pleasing sounds and patterns, but once you have the hang of it there are so many ideas that I've found that I never would have thought of otherwise. Definitely an inspiration machine with no real competitor because of how unique it is.

I can't really add much more than what has been said about the Subharmonicon. I can only agree with what has been said. It is truly an inspiring synth that can lead you almost anywhere you want to go, or wasn't planning on going but are glad you did! It is for sure not a "first time synth" buyer piece of equipment. You will need to have an understanding on how synths work to grasp this better. If you find a sound/rhythm you really like you best take a picture, write down the settings, or better yet, just record it. Once you shut the synth off you will lose what you just created. Add this in with the other Moog semi-modular synths, and you will have something out of this world.

This thing sounds absolutely amazing, but you probably already know that. It has this Moog thing that only a Moog has...

However, this is by far the most frustrating instrument I ever owned. All these YT videos made me feel like it was impossible for it to sound bad but I couldn't be any further from the truth. Happy accidents don't come that often and are a lot more deliberate than you might think.

Took some time to really understand the logic and mechanics of the sequencers and rhythm generators but when it finally clicked... WOW

The Moog Subharmonicon is a complex device made to accomplish amazing things. If you're new to synth approach with caution, this is not a beginner device. This is not a synth with presets, nor a synth that gives over successful synthesis repeatedly to anyone unwilling to put in the effort and work required. Your desire to explore sound in a fascinating way will be rewarded, but nothing will be handed to you. One exception to that is the Subharmonicon does come with templates to suggest settings and results, and that is pretty cool; perhaps they are a "preset" of sorts. They're also a lesson in how to get good sound from the machine. The Subharmonicon is one synth where you really should read the manual and do your YouTube research. When it all comes together, this thing is an ambient sound maker's dream come true. If you like something you've made, I recommend recording it via your DAW, so you have it. Duplicating results on the Subharmonicon is just shy of impossible, I don't think repeated results were ever the point. For me, that constantly flowing river of potential, never the same thing twice, is its greatest asset and gives it the most artistic appeal. This thing is exactly for new creation every time. Once you get it down, you will amaze yourself with new sonic results and happy accidents. The adventure of it all was unexpected and welcome, and I love it. It's a synth for a lifetime and utterly unique. Buy it, and dive in, go deep. It's endless.

What can i say? This machine is amazing. It isn't quite a traditional synth, but it is. There is a bit of a learning curve getting the knobs and your ears to agree -- but the payoff is very much worth it. I've heard the subharmonicon called a 'happy accident' machine and i agree whole heartedly. It encourages experimentation and rewards knob twisting with often unexpected results. That said, I would check out some reviews and tutorials online before considering this synth, because of it's peculiarity. If after that you find yourself intrigued I say go for it!

I've had this for several months now and I keep getting new gems out of it. Sitting down in front of this is completely different from sitting down in front of my Matriarch, my piano, or my DAW when it comes to generating new ideas. It's a completely different concept, a completely different workflow that unlocks a completely different avenue of creativity. The sounds it can make are actually surprisingly diverse for such a simple synthesis chain, though it's certainly lives in a very specific timbral space.

Running this with internal routings will let you wrap your brain around the concept. It helps if you're not scared by the math. The patch bay lets you start really sculpting, especially when you have external gear. An external clock source, especially one with varying clock divisions like really unlocks its potential. Effects are also necessary, a great drive, clock-sync'd delay, and reverb complete the sound.

The downside of this synth is that since its so different from conventional synths, even after months of using it and building dozens of riffs, it's still not intuitive. On more conventional synths like the Matriarch, I hear what's there and I can envision what I want and I know how to get from where I am to where I want to be. Especially with the tiny sequence knobs, I have not managed to get to the point where if I have dissonances I don't like, I can intuit where they're coming from and how to fix them.

The only thing I wish this had was a bit more. I'd love for the sequencers to be 8 step instead of 4, I'd love to be able to route the sequencers to the opposite internally (this is possible thanks to the patch bay). I suspect you could get this with an external CV sequencer, I haven't yet tried.

A fun and inspiring tool for music creation!

The Moog Subharmonicon is a nice addition for those with an extra $... and an interest in playing with the mathematical relationships between rhythm and tone. That said, the concepts that underly the Moog Subharmonicon could be explored in much more expansive and complex structures with NI Reaktor or Cycling 74 MAX/MSP.

As an occasionally-guilty compulsive consumer and someone that owns more synthesizers that I could possibly use in a single project, the Subharmonicon is a novel and occasionally inspiring addition to my studio, but I would never spend $... on this if I didn't already have a very solid setup. It's a Moog, so it is a tad overpriced, but the build-quality is solid, and it's made in the U.S.

As advertised, unique and sounds great. Lovely polyrhythms and sub undertones.

OK...this new Moog thing is a bit weird, in that it's Moog's take on a much older set of electronic music devices. One is, of course, the subharmonic generation principles found in Sala's Mixtur-Trautonium or the East German Subharchord. And the other is even more obscure: Lev Terman, Henry Cowell, and Conlon Nancarrow's (the manual forgets him!) collaboration and experimentation with an electromechanical rhythm sequencer, the Rhythmicon. So while you still have the typical Moog architecture in the filter, EGs, and so on, the generation and sequencing principles are unexpected and quite nifty.

Can you use it right out of the box, no manual involved? Yep. But it's probably a good idea to refer to the manual to see how all of this subharmonic/subdivision voodoo works, because even though this is not a huge device, it's still quite complex. Once you do, though, you get a clearer picture of this little box of rocket fuel.

Soundwise, it's 100% pure BEEF. The dual subharmonic generators fed into that classic Moog VCF are seriously hardcore, especially (as you'd expect) down in the bass octaves. It's a true sub-killer!

And the sequencer...once you wrap your head around it...is far more potent than you'd expect. Sure, it has only four steps. Sort of. When you start messing with the subdivisions, though, then routing these back to the sequencer channels, you get into a totally wild area of crossrhythms, ratcheting, and so on. It doesn't SOUND like only four steps once this gets going. Fact is, it's capable of being even more nuts than a stock 960, because that would need some extra modules to get it into the Subharmonicon's sequencer's polyrhythmic turf. And very much UNlike a Moog 960 + all the other toys, this sequencer is super-easy to tamper with on the fly without falling into some ugly unmusical areas.

The sole caveat here...and it's more of a Moog peculiarity than a caveat...is that the pitch CVs range from -5V to +5V, which isn't exactly kosher in Eurorack and some other formats. For Eurorack, I'd suggest getting an Erica MScale for the negative CV fix there, fyi.

This thing is a win. Very few synth companies have ever touched on the subharmonic principle for sound generation (Doepfer being one of those) and this synth's sequencer is...well, pretty unique. Frankly, if Moog offered the sequencer as a single Eurorack module, people would fall all over themselves to get one. But even with it being part of this synth, you can still get loads of modular mileage out of it via the patchpoints. However, when paired with the subharmonic synth, that's where it really shines. I get the distinct feeling that I'll be figuring out uses for this synth for quite some time to come; it has "ABUSE POTENTIAL" written all over it!!!

Out of the box this synth is fun to play, easy to understand and use. It is great on its own but is a great addition to the DFAM and Mother 32. I've never been a big fan of my DFAM but with the Subharmonicon added to the family I can see some fun things happening with this family get together.

Gear that evokes melodies, ideas and experimentation....thanks much

It sounds fantastic and is a blast to play!

First off, big thanks to Kevin for setting one of the first shipments aside! 2 days after it was releasedI was playing with this insanely unique beast.

There are many things I can say about this 'division' based synth, yet the biggest trait I've discovered within a few days of fiddling with it is just how well it plays with others. Using its sequencer to drive polyrhythmic patterns on the DFAM while utilizing another module to trigger its GIANT 6 voice sound is a beauty to behold. Ultimately, direct experience can't be communicated with words.

Top notch Moog build, sound, and care in the final product. This isn't like anything you have, unless you already have it....

I'm familiar with Moog instruments and have been since the 1980s. This latest eurorack offering had me a bit perplexed. The Subharmonicon seemed like a proverbial one-trick pony and I wasn't sure of using it for anything other than some modular madness jam session.
The tones that the oscillators deliver and the 4-pole, low-pass filter quality are on par. I really like the idea of the two sub-oscillators per oscillator.
I was able to integrate the Subharmonicon with it's DFAM and Mother-32 siblings in a three tier rig and dial-in something usable in a few minutes. A gate input in the patchbay would be nice for external CV/Gate signal control beyond the polyrhythmic sequencer. But, it is a "semi-modular polyrhythmic analog synthesizer" and it fills that role exceedingly well.