Minimoog Model D back in production

£3,249 here in the UK.

Two oscillator synth...... what a joke. To give you an idea, the famous Moog Ladder Filter contains five matched pair transistors, which cost about fifty cents each. 

£700 would be a ripoff. The analogue synth world has moved vastly on from here. Paying this much for a name is ludicrous. Get a Polivoks with MIDI shipped from Poland for a third of the price and much higher specs, if you want an old synth. 

Mark fives and sixes are nice saxes. The problem I have with them (been playing sax 40 years) is that they're massively overrated. Yes, they have a nice, light Conn action, but..... the right hand keywork lacks the complexity of a 1930's sax. No fork Eb. No trill keys. Then again, the keys are somewhat more ergonomically placed than a typical 30's sax. But my main problem with Selmers is that they have a core tone which lazy sax players tend to rely on rather than actually developing their own. What you tend to hear is the Selmer, rather than the player, unless you get some weirdo like Stan Getz. All the modern Selmers I've played - Super 80, Reference 36, Reference 54 and Mark 5 and 6 - tend to give you this tone on a plate and it's hard to step outsie of it. I much preferred older Selmers, having had a brief go on a Radio Improved and (I think) a Cigar Cutter from the 30's.

All Selmers are overpriced, but the Mark 5 and 6 are very much so. For the money, you could buy two or three Conn Model 10's, King Silversonics, Buescher 400's or Aristocrats or Martin Handcrafts. All are very, very capable saxes. I actually use a Buescher transitional Aristocrat from 1934 as my main alto, and a Conn Director from 1957 as my main tenor.

The problem is you pay for the name. Or rather, a lot of people do.

Back to the Model D. I build analogue synths.  The main sound of the Minimoog is in the ladder filter. If you have a look below, there are a number of matched transistor pairs (that's the "ladder") which produce an unintentional distortion. They're about 50p each, although I did recently pay over the odds for some Soviet era matched transistor pairs when I was going to re-create this. ;-) There are a few electrolytic capacitors - which I get for between 5 and 7 pence each, and some resistors which are less than a penny.  Even You are probably looking at about £5-6 including stripboard. Call it a tenner with jacks and pots and knobs.

Yet Moog will charge you £550 for this if you buy it in modular format.

Talking of modulars. Moog charge $130,000 for a replica of a Keith Emerson modular. Even replicas of smaller modulars (I think they do a 3C clone) go for $30,000. If you pop over to Synthesizers dot com, the same system in 5U format goes for a third of the price. If you buy it in Eurorack format, you'll get the same functionality for under $4,000. If you're weird like me and build it all yourself, figure on $1500-2000.
This is not to denigrate Moog, they have some very good designs (although they have produced a few howlers  - hasn't every firm ? ) - and I do love the filter and oscillators on my Minitaur, but...... the Model D is overpriced by about 300%. 

I know it's not volume produced, but that's no excuse to charge such an extortionate price. Not for me.

And I'm slightly wrong as the filter board had a few more components. But the principle holds, as the components cost pennies. I recently built a complete Polivoks clone: the electronics cost just over £100. And it's shed loads more complex than a Minimoog. 

http://www.fantasyjackpalance.com/fjp/sound/synth/synthdata/16-moog-minimoog.html#4