“We’re honouring the legacy of Bob Moog; making instruments that give you his iconic sound” Moog talks Muse“I think people have a sense of Moog being a much bigger company than it is — but then again, even if we had more resources, it still takes a long time to build an instrument like this.” That’s Moog’s Product Specialist, Chris Miller, and the instrument he’s talking about is, of course, Muse.
For five long years, a small but dedicated team have been quietly crafting an analogue, bi-timbral, polyphonic powerhouse. Rumours have swirled, details leaked, and Superbowl sightings fed into a cresting wave of hype. Now, that long wait is not only over – it was worth it.
Moog Muse. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
“One of my favourite synths of all time, Andrew Huang tells us; the popular YouTuber, musician, and songwriter got his hands on an early edition of Muse. “It’s very well balanced. You can go super deep into sequencing, editing, and modulation, but at the same time there are great performance features.”
You see, the Muse isn’t a run-of-the-mill release; it’s the new flagship. The Moog One, which offered raw power, versatility, and a premium package, has been officially retired, with Muse taking up the baton and adding a new focus: Accessibility.
“The main vision behind Muse was to design a polyphonic synth for players,” says Miller. “We wanted to design something that was more approachable in every aspect — something that’s immediate, accessible, and playable.”

READ MORE: Review: Moog Muse doesn’t need nostalgia — it’s an outstanding synth for the new generation

At approximately half the size and weight of the Moog One, and at a lower price of £2998/$3499, Muse is an attractive option for those who want to take a serious synth on tour – but that’s just the start. The instrument’s design is a masterclass in balancing quick and easy performance controls against powerful and highly specific sound design capabilities.
That’s no fluke: Miller says the team regularly consulted with performers and artists including Misha Mansoor and Stephan Moccio at Moog HQ in Asheville, North Carolina, as Muse came together. “We really wanted to make something that was going to speak to the needs of touring musicians,” Miller emphasises. “And we worked especially closely with artists like Lisa Bella Donna, who we’ve had a very long and fruitful relationship with, to bounce ideas back and forth and get those performative elements worked out.”
Those performative elements include instant switching between timbres, a very powerful arpeggiator, and an innovative, per-key chord memory function. But perhaps the most illustrative example is how Muse handles modulation.
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
“It’s about having all the most important controls right at hand,” Miller says of the design. “A lot of the modulations can be done right on the panel. We know you probably want to add some kind of vibrato to a lot of patches, so there’s a Pitch LFO right there and ready to go. Maybe you want a tremolo on the VCA, so the Modulation Oscillator has a knob for that. There are lots of knobs on Muse, but if you can sit behind it, close your eyes, and hit the right knob then we’ve done our job well.”
While Muse’s control surface preempts the most common modulation routings, that doesn’t reduce its scope for experimentation. By streamlining the basics, says Miller, the Muse frees up creative brain space for more inspired sound design. “Our thinking was, ‘If we can make this easier, make it immediately accessible, then people can spend their time working on deeper, weirder modulations if they want.’”
The inspiration I consistently find in the probability, parameter recording, and gesture recording features make it something I know I will keep returning to.” — Andrew Huang
With an eight-lane modulation matrix for each timbre and a host of additional settings hidden just beneath the surface, there’s no shortage of options for players who like to sculpt and refine their sound. “One of the really nice innovations we took from the Moog One is the ‘More’ menu,” Miller enthuses. “We want you to look at the LFO and go, ‘Okay, I get it’, but then be able to immediately go a step further with one button press.
“The Muse emerges mostly from the Matriarch family,” he continues. “That series explicitly references the modular circuit designs from the sixties. The Muse is different, of course, but does have a similar kind of voice architecture. We started calling it a ‘digitally modular’ synthesizer because of the capabilities of the mod matrix, the on-panel modulation routings, and the ability to store and recall presets. These are features that most people like, and for good reason. Having to patch everything on the Matriarch is fun, but you wouldn’t necessarily want to tour with it.”
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
A digitally modular design is one of Muse’s most striking features; another is its embrace of probabilistic programming. Huang spent over six months playing on a pre-release model before producing a fantastic demo of its most powerful features – he had high praise for the instrument’s interface, and, in particular, its probabilistic sequencer.
“The inspiration I consistently find in the probability, parameter recording, and gesture recording features make it something I know I will keep returning to,” Huang says. “I’ve been making lots of music with it, including a single, HOLY, that’s already out. Most of the synth parts were created with Muse.
“I’m a big IDM nerd,” Huang continues. “So, I love the workflow of playing notes into the sequencer live, while bouncing between live and step-edited parameter recording, and dialling in probability over some of the steps. Never fails to produce sequences I love.”
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
As one of the team members who worked directly on Muse’s sequencer, Miller says Moog’s motivation mainly came down to the fact that he and his peers “just love sequencers and spend a lot of time thinking about them.”
“Sequencers are such a personal thing,” Miller reflects. “Some people get really into sequencers that I would just never touch because they simply don’t work with my brain. On Muse, we took some of the things I really like about simple sequencers – the basic ability to just press record, put in notes, and play it back – and then combined that with these deep editing controls to get something that felt intuitive.
“We think Muse can really be the centrepiece in a studio,” continues Miller. “That’s something we really wanted to nail. So, we could have put a basic sequencer on there and it would have been fine, but diving in and making something really special just seemed a lot more fun.”
The Muse isn’t the first instrument from Moog that uses probability to powerful effect. The recently released semi-modular synth, Labyrinth, dives deep into generative music, and, alongside Muse, hints at a new strength in the company’s product line.
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
“Both Muse and Labyrinth strike me as great new steps for Moog,” says Huang. “I like that these instruments are embracing more generative and probabilistic approaches to sequencing, but they still deliver on everything you’d look for in analogue synthesis.”
In a moment of serendipity, Miller says production of the two instruments dovetailed just as they were working on some of the core sequencer functions. “Development of Muse predates Labyrinth — which came about pretty quickly — but we were working on Muse’s sequencer and Labyrinth at roughly the same time, so there’s a lot of shared DNA there.”
“InMusic is ‘committed to Moog remaining in the city and community where Bob Moog chose to establish his legacy’”
Digital wizardry is all well and good, but what elevates Muse to a top-tier synthesizer is its rock-solid sonic foundations. The output is instantly iconic, and it’s no secret why – just about every module is directly inspired by an historical piece of Moog gear. The oscillators call back to the Minimoog Voyager, the frequency modulation takes its cues from the Moogerfooger MF-102, the 904-A provided the basis for Muse’s VCFs and the Moog 902 the VCAs. Even the mixer section is influenced by the classic Moog CP3.
“Muse is like a greatest hits of Moog circuits,” laughs Miller. “But then we’re taking those concepts and pushing them a lot further. The Voyager influenced the circuit design, the guts of Muse’s oscillators – that’s a very classic design, and it’s one that has served us very well – but here it’s been changed and extended. So, on the Voyager, you have one continuous knob for wave shape control, whereas Muse has three different controls; shaping between the triangle and sawtooth, the pulse width modulation, and then a mix between the pulse and triangle-sawtooth.”
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
‘Refinement’ is a word that comes up repeatedly as Miller talks about the sound of Muse. All of the core elements draw upon a mechanical lineage traceable back to the company’s eponymous founder, Robert Moog. But, at the same time, he emphasises how important it was to move the sound forward and push the bar higher.
“It’s a lot of little things,” Miller says. “For example, if you want a three-oscillator bass Minimoog-style patch, then you can totally do that on Muse. But, there are other possibilities. Muse’s modulation oscillator can be used as an audio oscillator and it’s much stronger, at audio rate, than the third oscillator on the Minimoog or the fifth oscillator on the Matriarch. This makes it both more useful as an audio oscillator and more capable for modulation duties.”
“We probably spent eight or nine months just working on the code for Muse’s delay.”
If there’s one element of Muse which takes a ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach, it’s the bass. Lush, deep, and physical – it’s a sound you know, but one that still manages to surprise you. Asked how Moog seems to always be one step ahead when it comes to the low-end, Miller isn’t giving any secrets away but instead points to the company’s dedication to discrete circuitry.
“I’m not knocking synthesizers that use integrated circuits, because they sound very good – but, in the case of Muse, these are discrete designs. You can open it up, you look at the voice cards and there’s a bunch of resistors and capacitors and op-amps on there. These are the raw building blocks that can give you those very classic Moog sounds.”
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
The heart of Muse may be proudly analogue, but there’s also a surprisingly deep digital delay section that adds a new layer of sound design potential. Inspired by late seventies and early eighties twelve-bit rack units, Miller says the team dedicated a significant amount of time to developing the module.
“We probably spent eight or nine months just working on the code for Muse’s delay,” he recalls. “We wanted to make something interesting, something flexible, almost a little instrument in its own right housed within Muse. Even more importantly, we wanted to make something tailored to suit the raw sound. Rather than simply adding a delay on top, it was important for this to be a harmonious thing that becomes part of the instrument.”
That attention to detail is evident, and audible, across all of Muse’s modules. What is also apparent is Moog’s willingness to evolve and adapt where needed, and the confidence to stick to their guns when necessary. Muse deftly balances past and present while leaving space for a spoonful of future; no mean feat in a market environment that seems to only get more competitive year on year.
Consider how tumultuous the past few years have been for Moog: After battling accusations of discrimination, a contentious unionisation movement, unpopular price increases, and a global chip shortage, Moog was then acquired by the global music brand, inMusic. Then, the company announced a 50 per cent reduction in its Asheville factory workforce, the closing of its Asheville store and even a relocation of its iconic Asheville HQ— so even further negative commentary circulated around the brand.
Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
In particular, the announcement that the company would end its stalwart practice of manufacturing synths in America was met with dismay from fans. Although a spokesperson assured MusicTech last year that InMusic is “committed to [Moog] remaining in the city and community where Bob Moog chose to establish his legacy,” fans worried about potential quality control issues, but also felt a sense of betrayal from a brand that had woven its public image with Americana, social responsibility, and the hippie ideals of the 60s and 70s.
In that context, Muse can be seen as a triumph — proof that Moog still makes world-class synthesizers — and as an acknowledgement of the changing realities of the pro audio business.
The company continues to design and prototype in the US, but Muse is made in Taiwan. However, by our assessment, this practice has not impacted the sound or quality of the instrument. And if you like that £2998/$3499 price tag then you also have to acknowledge that Muse would likely cost a lot more if it had been manufactured entirely in Asheville.
With a history that stretches back almost to the dawn of synthesis, it’s only natural that customers have certain assumptions and expectations regarding the sound, features, and build quality of any instrument bearing Robert Moog’s name. Miller says he and his colleagues are “very cognizant” of those expectations and of the legacy they’ve inherited – but he also sees modern, forward-thinking instruments like Muse as simply a “continuation” of the ethos that built the company in the first place.
“I think we’re honouring the legacy of Bob and making instruments that give people the sound of Moog,” Miller says thoughtfully. “At the same time, Bob was always innovating, and we want to continue that spirit and look towards the future.”
A company can be supported by a legacy, or be chained to it. Muse shows that Moog’s storied foundations aren’t an anchor – they’re a springboard.
The post “We’re honouring the legacy of Bob Moog; making instruments that give you his iconic sound” Moog talks Muse appeared first on MusicTech.