Martin "Minimoog"- Evaluation and Comparison
AKA: The DoniMoog meets a real Minimoog
This is a technical evaluation of a Moog Music, Inc AKA Don Martin issue "MiniMoog".
A listening test has not been documented yet.
The unit arrived to my shop undamaged in a heavy duty flight case.
The first thing I noticed was when I pulled the unit from it's case, the synth came out, but it's bottom panel didn't.
They didn't use long enough screws and they simply pulled out.
Panel
The silk screened lettering had far poorer quality edges and the lines looked much worse than a real Moog.
I'm told from a reputable printer that this may have been due to a poor choice in panel material.
Sheet metal
The sheet metal used on a DoniMoog front panel is thinner than a real Minimoog. (1.0 mm vs 1.5 mm)
While the rear cover is the same thickness as a real Moog, the corners are not welded like a real Moog.
Coupled with the thinner front panel stock, the entire unit flexes more readily.
The rear isn't matte or brush finished in the rear like a real Moog.
In fact, it's so shiny that on stage this unit could act as an unwanted mirror for bright lights.
While not important, the rear panel tilt stop also had a weird "crazed " look to the metal.
PCBs
On a real Minimoog, there is a blank section of the PCB near the edge with the mounting holes.
This is where the board mounts to the metal enclosure and therefore nothing should be there as it would short against the enclosure.
The DoniMoog PCB's do not have this blank edge, instead having traces located in this area.
In fact, the DoniMoog traces in some cases extend PAST the mounting holes.
In order to "fix" this oversight, Martin added a thin layer of insulating tape and cut out a notch in the enclosure.
DoniMoog boards also have some their mounting screw holes much too close to traces as well, and this requires insulated washers in places.
The board with the DC supply and noise source was only secured by it's left mounting screw as there was never a standoff installed for the right side.
That standoff is missing because it wouldn't fit- it would hit the fuse holder which was apparently located incorrectly.
Martin PCB's have no gold plated edge card fingers and the edge card sockets have a looser grip than a real Moog's.
Real Moog edge cards are gold plated and the edge cards contacts really grab.
Additionally, as can be seen by the power supply boards, the DoniMoogs edge card fingers are only half as long as a real Moog's.
This is the single most important distinction I can find between a DoniMoog and a real Moog.
With a real Moog, the gold plated edge fingers are gripped tighter and there is less case flex to dislodge them.
With a DoniMoog, the edge card fingers are of a poorer resistive contact, make a less firm contact with their edge connectors and finally, the case flexes enough to easily dislodge the PCB's.
With a VC'd synth, especially one running at only +/-10 volts- this is a important design error.
(The lower the supply voltages, the higher the percentage of error possible due to contact resistance)
Many traces are also considerably thinner than a real Moog's PCB traces.
This may not make much difference in sound, but it's noted anyway.
On this DoniMoog, the transformer lead in wires mounted to much smaller PCB traces than on a real Moog.
As such, the ground lead had broken off from the pcb on this unit and had been manually jumpered from it's source to destination.
Unfortunately, the terminal pin and ground wire were still loose (only jumpered) and it could contact the chassis causing offsets and noise.
The caps were not secured by any neoprene ties as in a real Moog either, only by their leads.
The DoniMoog was missing the four neoprene wire ties that are used to secure the power supply board down, as is done with a real Mini.
(Note: I added the ones seen in the pic just to keep the board down!)
This board in the Donimoog was very loose and unsecured.
No flux removal.
All boards still had flux, including keyboard circuits and glide.
(Normally not a big thing, but important with some high impedance circuits)
There are many "mistargeted" holes.
That is, there are holes in the PCB's and case in various places that were drilled in the wrong position and redrilled or left unused.
Controls
All DoniMoog pots are Clarostat sealed types.
These are good quality pots, though on a later, real Moog, the volume pot is an open type.
This would help facilitate a cleaning should the pot ever become scratchy.
In all fairness, early real Minis also used sealed pots all around.
The switches are off color compared to a real Moog.
One of the knobs didn't even have a spun aluminum center- it's a flat, unfinished blank. (!)
Noise source
As the unit arrived, the noise source was absolutely horrible.
It sounded almost digital, even though it was a dupe of the original analog circuitry.
I suspect a non-selected transistor, but regardless the noise output trimmer was adjusted calibrated far too high and this was causing clipping like mad.
This is to say that the unit was likely never fully calibrated.
Wheels
The wheels are shaped more like a nord lead's wheels than a real Moog.
The pitch wheel's physical center detent is WAY off position (too forward) and it has no electrical dead zone at all.
Merely touching it sends it out of tune.
See Inside
See Outside
Misc
The back panel slightly bows between the screws that hold it on.
A real mini panel aligns much better and lays flatter.
The Donimoog jacks may not be Switchcraft like real Moogs.
The nuts don't have the same clean appearance as real Switchcraft nickel plated nuts anyway.
Here are jacks of a real Moog.
The overload lamp socket is loose and spins in place.
Incorrect style screws everywhere.
Later it appeared that Don ran out of real uA726 ICs and tried making his own.
These are the chips that later Minis used for their VCOs.
They were integral in keeping the VCOs in tune.
These below are what Don came up with and they simply didn't work well.
See uA726 fakes
These were also much heavier and larger.
They might dislodge from their sockets if the instrument was dropped.
So there you have it.
A close copy, but not an exact one.