Moog Musonics Sonic V

I just bought this great synth over the weekend, and I'm noticing there's not much info to be found about it anywhere. So, here's a video of some of what it can do. Its sound is slightly different from the typical 24db Moog filter you're used to hearing (it uses diodes instead of transistors).
The Sonic V has 2 oscillators (saw, tri, square with pulse width), 2 lfo's, an A/D generator with a toggle for sustain. Its duophonic (can play 2 notes at a time) and has a switch for mono. It's 4 octave keyboard is great to play on, but one could miss having a pitch and mod wheel. It's not really a performance synth, more of a studio piece. It was first designed as a teaching tool and later morphed into the Sonic Six. It has 2 built in speakers and some exciting words printed on its face like TRANSIENT and GLISSANDO so what's not to like! It does have some minor issues that I'll try to fix before making another video of it. I tried a noise gate on its perpetual high pitch whine but you'll hear it here and there throughout the video (my appologies). Maybe I should have mic'd it, the speakers sound crystal clear.
Judge for yourself, I think it sounds great, and with less then 100 ever made, it's quite collectible. Enjoy!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Moog
• Sonic
• Musonics
• Analog
• Synthesizer

[carouxtia]

My pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I found a week old ad on craigslist. I called up expecting to hear that it has been sold and it had not. So, I went to check it out and bought it. I still can't believe it. I'll be making more videos soon. This synth deserves to be heard.

[plungerdrum]

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you get this beast for? I might be getting a Sonic Six from a synth dealer/friend who knew Bob personally, and the Six is autographed by him! If he decides to sell it, it'll be for about $2,000. What do you think?

[carouxtia]

The Sonic Six is a great synth. Depending on when it was made it either has the muSonics designed diode filter or the Moog designed transistor ladder filter (both are 24db) . As for what it's worth, the only person who can determine its value is you. I'm not into signatures so they don't add to an items value as far as I'm concerned. Is it fully functional and clean? Can it be repaired when it breaks? As for what I paid for my sonic V, lets just say I paid what I thought it was worth to me.

[PoserExposer]

My first Moog..sadly i sold it in the late 90's to some guy from Orange County for a car down payment....could kick myself!

[tblair]

The Sonic V wasn't actually a Moog design- though they manufactured them for a bit. The guy that started up Musonics was just some random business guy jumping on the synth bandwagon by having some engineers design this synth for him- but he couldn't sell it due to a lack of brand recognition. Moog was a distressed company at the time, so he bought them to fullfill his plan. Moog made some Sonic Vs, then reworked them as the Sonic 6. The Moog Archives has a flier of the Sonic V pre-Moog.

[DJBonc]

@Desmaad please tell me where to get those chips!!!

[AMeatBeetle]

The Sonic V was the first synth I ever owned. I bought it in 1972. One thing I especially liked about it was its ability to apply glide to one oscillator, but not the other. This created an almost human (singing) effect that I've never found in any other synth. My goodness gosh, I miss that instrument!

[Desmaad]

Sounds like an 8-bit synth chip.

[MeuronDB]

Question: Is the also a good definition of the sound that one would get out of a Moog sonic six? I know they have a similar circuit architecture and I was wondering if this is what I could expect out of a sonic six.

[AlainHubert]

One word: WOW !

So that's what a Musonics Sonic V sounds like ? Thanks for posting this!

From what I've read about it, from Bob Moog himself, this was the brainchild of a couple of engineers hired by Bill Waytena who had this company called Musonics. That's probably why they used a diode ladder instead of transistor ladder not to infringe on Bob's patent. This synth didn't do well on the market, only because it didn't have the name Moog on it. So Waytena bought Moog music...

[mattsynth]

That Sonic V is a very rare instrument. Keep it fresh and in working order and maybe even Moog will buy it from you some day for their museum.

[jcotteri]

waaaaaaah this sounds so amazing... especially at 8:02 <3

but that whine :|

Thanks so much for posting XD

[bryceHUHwhat]

Bob Moog once said that less than 12 were ever made as they were mostly just proto's for the sonic 6.

[plungerdrum]

Cool. Enjoy this beautiful machine!