From analogue-request@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Tue May  4 14:37:05 1993
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From: wbf@aluxpo.att.com
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Date: Tue, 4 May 93 14:24:56 EDT
Original-From: aluxpo!wbf (William Fox)
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To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Status: OR

Subject: Re: My Moog Sonic Six

	If Scott's Sonic Six is anything like my micromoogs or my
multimoog, then there is a procedure that adjusts the oscillator(s) so
that the octaves are in tune.  Scott:  Do you have OSC RANGE, OSC
SCALE, OSC OCT, and OSC HI trim pots in the back of your beastie?

Foxy

From analogue-request@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Tue May  4 14:26:20 1993
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From: I've been stolen by a gypsy.  04-May-1993 1419 <eirikur@ranger.enet.dec.com>
To: bodarky@cme.nist.gov
Cc: analogue@ranger.enet.dec.com, eirikur@ranger.enet.dec.com
Apparently-To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu, bodarky@cme.nist.gov
Subject: RE: My Moog Sonic Six
Status: OR

I have one, too, but mine seems to stay in reasonable tuning calibration.
I love the output mixer, where I can instantly listen to each oscillator, or
the ring modulator output, by just turning up a knob.  I like the fact that it
isn't wedged into being a keyboard instrument.  You can set up sound sculptures
on it, and even disable the keyboard entirely.

I'd love to have a manual and schematic.....

My old and dusty rumor on the Sonic Six was that it was originally a
development project at a company that was bought out by the holding company
that owned Moog at the time.  A very weak guess makes that Musonics, and Gibson
as the holding company.  The filter sounds really good, though I don't have
much experience with the Moog filter.  I expect that that area saw some Moog
engineering, but I don't know.  Supporting the non-Moog origin theory is the
front panel and general cosmetics of the beast--not like anything Moog ever
did. 

Eirikur




From analogue-request@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Tue May  4 14:04:07 1993
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From: dacc@cmp-rt.music.uiuc.edu (Andrew C. Crowell)
Message-Id: <9305041759.AA06541@cmp-rt.music.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: My Moog Sonic Six
To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Date: Tue, 4 May 93 12:59:49 CDT
In-Reply-To: <9305041718.AA05899@twiz.cme.nist.gov>; from "Scott Bodarky" at May 4, 93 1:18 pm
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL5]
Status: OR

Previously, Scott Bodarky wrote:
> 
> Several years ago I picked up a Moog Sonic Six at an auction for $100.
> It didn't work, so I opened it up and found that a board inside had
> become unseated.  I reseated it and it worked fine.  I still have it
> to this day, and was recently set to wondering: what is this beast?
> It looks like it might have been a prototype for the minimoog.
> Although I have no intention of selling it, I am curious to know if it
> has collector's value.

It's something of a classic, really...you got very lucky on that $100
price, IMHO...

> 
> It isn't the most useful instrument in the world.  I generally leave
> it off, and even once it's warmed up it is a bitch to produce sound
> from it.  I consider myself reasonably logical and try to follow the
> schematics on the front panels, but a session nevertheless frequently
> degenerates into random knob twiddling.  Even once the thing is
> actually squawking, it is impossible to get it chromatically tuned
> over a span larger than an octave.  So it is basically a conversation
> piece (like the turnstyle in my living room), primarily used to dilate
> the eyes of synth-heads on their first visit to my studio.
> 
> I'm curious to see if anyone out there can add a new perspective to
> the matter.

What sounds like the problem might be is that the instrument is desperately
out of calibration. If you can find a set of docs for this device, you'll
have a very nice vintage synth. My suggestion is to get in touch with Bob
Moog at Big Briar (Rt. 3, Box 115A1, Dept. E, Leicester, NC, 28748 - phone
704-683-9085) and see if he can get a set of docs or has a line on where
some might be had. Bob may even be able to bring the Sonic-6 back into
factory calibration specs, too, if you feel like shipping the instrument
and paying the costs for that.

Good luck!

D.A.C. Crowell
Computer Music Project/School of Music
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
(dacc@cmp-rt.music.uiuc.edu)


From analogue-request@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Tue May  4 13:22:29 1993
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Date: Tue, 4 May 93 13:18:01 EDT
From: bodarky@cme.nist.gov (Scott Bodarky)
Message-Id: <9305041718.AA05899@twiz.cme.nist.gov>
To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: My Moog Sonic Six
Status: OR


Hello all---this is my first post to this mailing list.

Several years ago I picked up a Moog Sonic Six at an auction for $100.
It didn't work, so I opened it up and found that a board inside had
become unseated.  I reseated it and it worked fine.  I still have it
to this day, and was recently set to wondering: what is this beast?
It looks like it might have been a prototype for the minimoog.
Although I have no intention of selling it, I am curious to know if it
has collector's value.

It isn't the most useful instrument in the world.  I generally leave
it off, and even once it's warmed up it is a bitch to produce sound
from it.  I consider myself reasonably logical and try to follow the
schematics on the front panels, but a session nevertheless frequently
degenerates into random knob twiddling.  Even once the thing is
actually squawking, it is impossible to get it chromatically tuned
over a span larger than an octave.  So it is basically a conversation
piece (like the turnstyle in my living room), primarily used to dilate
the eyes of synth-heads on their first visit to my studio.

I'm curious to see if anyone out there can add a new perspective to
the matter.

-Scott (bodarky@cme.nist.gov)| "[A computer is] like an Old Testament god,
			     |  with a lot of rules and no mercy."
  The National Institute     |  
 of Standards & Technology   |  	-Joseph Campbell

From analogue-request@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Wed May  5 17:46:51 1993
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Date: Wed, 5 May 1993 14:42:33 -0700
From: Chris Meyer <cybpunk@well.sf.ca.us>
Message-Id: <199305052142.AA09986@well.sf.ca.us>
To: analogue@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu, bodarky@cme.nist.gov
Subject: Re:  My Moog Sonic Six
Status: OR

The Sonic Isx (I have one, and the service manual for it) was to be
an education synth for music labs. It is the follow-up to the Sonic Five
which was produced by whatever company had just bought Moog at the time
(this was pre-Norlin, maybe?). A noise maker more than what today is
commonly defined as a "musical instrument" (but this group is one
to stretch those definitions...)

 - CM

