Did I Choose Right or Just Choose First?
For the longest time, I assumed that the Juno line of synths were my favorite. Kind of hard to argue with, really. Insofar as sounds that I liked and used, I have owned at one point everything in the line, including the Roland SH-101, which I always include in there—it’s kind of the mono version. Loved it. Always broken.
The only one that I’ve had that has never broken is the Roland Alpha Juno. Funny enough, I own AlphaJuno.com, have a dormant label called Alpha Juno Records. I love the name. I think the synth is a good balance. Yes, it’s hard to program, but you can do a lot with the front panel that people don’t talk about.
My first analog synth was a Moog Minitaur. I’ve owned three: initially a black one, bought a white one, sold the white one, rented a black one, then re-bought a black one. So I’ve been through three.
Then I got a Moog Grandmother. I sold it because I had a Moog Matriarch coming. I 'd bought a 500 series Moog delay for super cheap when they were on closeout, and then during COVID I sold mine for the same price as buying a Matriarch Dark, which I still have. Played a rainy show with that, and it was out of commission for like eight or nine months getting parts.
Rebought the GM So now I have three Moogs.
I also briefly had a Moog Sub 37, and I rented a Moog Subsequent 25. I’ve never really played a Moog Subsequent 37 except maybe in a store, but I found the knobs very hard to turn.
The Grandmother, the Matriarch, and especially the Minitaur are effortless to turn. The filter knob on that is super important, obviously, and they’re definitely my favorite run of synths.
I came to the realization about a month ago that the Minitaur is my favorite synth. Super limited—lots of 'problems' for people who probably aren’t musicians—but I love it. I can make the sounds I want to make with it. It doesn’t have noise or a keyboard or a bunch of stuff like that, but it’s just so easy and fun to operate.
They’re beautiful instruments, and it’s funny to just kind of realize that they’re your favorites when you’re calling something else your favorite. They’re certainly the most playable—not that the Junos aren’t. After all, I think when people think of synthesizers, they think of either one of these.
But the point of today is I was looking at some old pictures- I imported a bunch of old photos into the Apple Photos app, and I realized I had the Minitaur back in ’13.
So here’s the thing: is it my favorite because it was my first analog synth, or is it my favorite because I just chose right?
The reason why I chose it is because I wanted to make the sound at the beginning of Don't Stand So Close to Me, which is obviously a Moog, and any of these three Moogs do that. I’m sure the sub series does too, but these just do it with total ease. So I bought the Minitaur to do that, and I did it—and then I put it in the closet.
I just didn’t understand how to hook a keyboard up to it. I just didn’t. There wasn’t the internet. There was not any sort of YouTube. When iPhones came out, I was like, why is there a YouTube app on it? That was so weird.
But honestly, it’s like—was that imprinting, or do I love it and I chose correctly? That’s the eternal question. As I sit here, I don’t know. Maybe it’s why I love it, right?
Because the next synth I bought was actually next door. I bought the Minitaur at a place called Music Makers—that’s gone—and next door was a pawn shop, which is also long gone, and I bought an Roland Alpha Juno-1. And that’s my other favorite.
So it’s like—did I get it right twice in a row, or was it imprinting? I don’t know.
If you have more than one or two synths, you’ve got at least one of these, and if you don’t, you’re being a bit belligerent, because they’re still cheap.
These Grandmothers and Matriarchs will skyrocket in value once they stop making them—once they announce they stop making them—because they won’t be back to USA production if they ever pull it.
So the Minitaur was kind of the start of a little golden age for them, I believe. And Roland’s not making any more of those—those analog Junos—and they’re cheap too.
I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. But it’s interesting to think about what is imprint versus taste, or which was formed by the other.
I guess it’s like the music you listen to in junior high, right? The stuff that you originally connected to. That’s why I can do the ’80s so well—because I was there experiencing it in real time. I was buying these records and tapes real time.
I don’t know, but I’ll keep thinking about it.