Review: Moog Muse

In 2018 Moog introduced its first analog polysynth in nearly three decades, the Moog One. It’s an enormous, intimidating beast designed to allow musicians to play multiple analog synth voices at the same time. Even more daunting than the front panel filled with controls is the price. When it was originally released the Moog One came in eight- and 16-voice flavors at $5,999 and $7,999 respectively. Since then the Moog One 8 has been discontinued, and the 16-voice version has jumped in price to $10,000, leaving an enormous gap in Moog’s analog synth lineup.

The Muse is an attempt to plug that gap and make a Moog polysynth more attainable. This $3,499 eight-voice bi-timbral analog machine has two oscillators, a mod oscillator, three low-frequency oscillators (LFOs), two filters, two envelopes, a digital delay, and aftertouch (though not polyphonic). There are more feature-rich synths out there, but this is still a pretty solid core with a lot of flexibility. Besides, there’s one thing that the Muse has over those other synths: It’s a Moog.

Classic Sound

There is something about the sound of a Moog synthesizer. There are plenty of synths out there that do an admirable job of emulating the iconic sound of a Moog bass, but they can never quite stand toe-to-toe with the real deal.

I was reminded of this multiple times during my testing. I played the Moog Muse side by side with a number of different instruments, ranging from the Korg Monologue and Minilogue XD to the Novation BassStation II and the Arturia Polybrute 12. There is just something about the sound of a Moog oscillator and its iconic ladder filter that feels bigger and warmer than almost anything I’ve ever played.

Photograph: Moog

Part of that is due to the particular characteristics of the oscillators here, which are based on the Minimoog Voyager. They are not just analog, but aggressively so; where other modern analog polysynths do everything in their power to stay perfectly in tune, treating natural analog drift as something to be dialed in to taste, the Muse leans into its natural imperfections, giving it a lot of character and body.

It’s easy, with eight voices at your disposal, to assume you should be using the Muse to play chords and pads, but don’t ignore the bass on this thing. It is massive, putting basically every other polysynth I’ve played to shame. It’s especially absurd when you stack all eight voices in unison mode. This thing may be built with pads and key sounds in mind, but it’s every bit a beast on bass and leads as you’d expect a Moog to be.

Of course, you have plenty of other, cheaper options for beefy mono synths. To justify the price the Muse has to deliver on more complicated and wide-ranging sounds. Thankfully it excels at epic pads, cinematic strings, and plucky keys as well.

The sound-shaping options here are pretty robust. The dedicated mod oscillator can control pitch, the filter, or pulse width, or even be turned into a third audio rate oscillator. Its tuning isn’t quite as stable as the main oscillators though, which makes it great for getting queasy and dissonant.

There are also ring mod and FM (frequency modulation) circuits for turning that analog warmth into clanging and metallic bells and plucks and an overload circuit for adding even more grit. Plus, there are three LFOs and two envelopes, and all of these can be connected through the 16-slot modulation matrix to create complex sounds ranging from chaotic EDM bass to long-evolving soundscapes.

All of this and it is a bi-timbral synth, which means it can load two patches simultaneously. They can either be split, say a bass in the bottom two octaves and a lead in the upper registers, or stacked so you can layer a pluck and a pad on top of each other. The big restriction here is that, with only eight voices to work with, voice stealing becomes a serious issue in bi-timbral mode.

Legendary Build

The Muse is built to the levels that you’d expect of a $3,499 synthesizer. It’s mostly metal and wood. There’s some plastic, but it all feels solid. It’s also reasonably hefty, as you might imagine, at 33 pounds. I recently threw out my back, and I’m dreading having to pack this thing up to return to Moog.

All of the knobs, switches, and buttons are extremely gratifying. Half the fun of having a nice hardware synth is all of the physical controls. And when those feel cheap or underwhelming it can really make you hate playing an instrument. The Muse, though, is a joy. The sliders on the mixer allow you to very accurately dial in your levels, the pots turn smoothly with a satisfying resistance, and even the plastic buttons used to turn on and off some feature have a nice light but pleasing click.

If I wanted to be nitpicky I’d say that the aftertouch on the keyboard is a bit stiff (though the keybed is otherwise excellent), and that the pitch wheel has a bit too much resistance (I found my fingers getting quite tired). I am also baffled as to why Moog (and a few others in the music gear industry) are still putting USB-B ports on things in 2004. My one actual major complaint is that the Muse lacks polyphonic aftertouch, which is becoming increasingly common even in cheaper synths from lesser manufacturers.

Photograph: Moog

Easy to Use

The Moog sounds great and feels great, and that counts for a lot. But it would be easy for a synth this feature-rich to become unwieldy and unpleasant to program. Thankfully the learning curve here isn’t too bad. The knob-per-function design here goes a long way toward that. If you want to dial in the FM amount, there’s a knob for that. Want to set the key tracking on the filter? There’s a little rocker switch. And even something like assigning an LFO to a parameter simply requires pressing the assign button and turning the target knob.

There are obviously a lot of elements here, and it can be easy to get lost if you’re a relative newcomer to the world of synths. But for something that looks rather intimidating at first glance, it’s pretty easy to get your head around the basics.

The only real gripe interface-wise is that some more advanced options do require a bit of menu diving, and the way menus are handled on the Muse is kind of chaotic. Each section of the synth has a little triangle button in the corner that opens the settings for that particular module. There is also a menu button under the screen, but there isn’t much useful in there, just the option to turn the display on or off for parameter changes and how long they stay on the screen.

There is a SEQ (sequence) button under the screen as well; this is where you change sequences. There is also a submenu in here for sequencer settings, which is completely different from the menu you get when you press the triangle settings button in the actual sequencer module.

Photograph: Moog

It’s hard for me to not view Muse through the context of Moog’s purchase by inMusic in 2023. Many have expressed concern about what it will mean for this beloved North Carolina brand and not without good reason. The Muse was in development long before that buyout, and it might represent the last hurrah for the old guard. If that’s the case, what a last hurrah it is.

The $3,499 price tag will put it out of the reach of many, but the Muse manages to deliver a pretty decent value in synth land nonetheless. There are cheaper analog polysynths out there, but they don’t have the rich feature set, rock-solid build, or massive warmth of the Muse. This is not a mass-market product, it is a luxury item. Considering its competition in the upmarket analog synth world—the Arturia Polybrute 6 ($2,699), Oberheim OB-X8 ($5,000), Sequential Prophet Rev2-08 ($2,500)—the Muse is reasonably priced.

But more importantly, I think it can go toe-to-toe with those other expensive instruments in the sound department. Whether it's pumping out thick funk bass, classic synth brass, atmospheric bells, or slow swelling pads, the Moog Muse simply sounds glorious. This is the rare analog synth that can truly do it all and do it at the highest level.