Moog Labyrinth // 3 Minute Manual + Full Review & Demo

[@mynewcolour]

‘3 min manual’ is great idea for a series.

[@kierenmoore3236]

@@mynewcolour Can you show that on KZbin, though?! 😱

[@miklosmesterhazy2639]

That little demo piece at the end was the icing on the cake! Love your vids, lots of useful info from a pro, but not as dry style as a few other synth reviewers. Really well done channel!

[@DoctorRevers]

Gotta stop reading the comments for these videos. Nice job on the demo. One of the best synth channels. 🍻

[@marsmediapro]

An insane addition to Moog's desktop array. Thanks for sharing!

[@Valliant2007]

This is going to be an absolute Tech monster and I love it!

[@phurniture]

Seems like an instant-Techno machine

[@jscottschafer]

Great explainer and demo - thank you!!!

[@chrisjohnson8262]

I can comfortably know you will always bring out and demonstrate the useful life of synths. As you have done here. Nice work. So far the Labyrinth is obviously a good tool for developing percussion textures, but it looks like it could also be good for atmospheric as well. Super kewl possibilites. Will be adding it to my Moog collection for sure. Great video as usual.

[@mymodularjourney]

This is the first of the little Moog boxes that really excites me. This seems like a real addition to the modular.

[@drstupid1]

Sweet just about to get on a long flight so insta download to watch later. You da man!

[@dEadnAstyrEcords]

I see the Labyrinth is sold out at the all the smaller retailers, even Perfect Circuit is out. People have also said they're selling their Spectrovox to get one. You are going to be popular as people are waiting. They'll find every video they can. :)

[@CVinyl]

@@dEadnAstyrEcords just ordered 1 and got a discount 🤓

[@FunnyBecauseItsTrue]

...pretty disappointing that there is not a full printed manual shipping with these; flipping through Moog's beautiful and carefully constructed user manuals has been one of the joys of buying their products...

[@swaroopa1965]

They cheaped out on so many things that made moog premium but none of these synthfluencers want to address it.

[@fo76]

Great overview, thanks! 🙂

[@robbrobb5543]

Good value for 700 it's worth it's parts, but at the end of the day it's two oscillators, a wave folder, a filter (a real Moog 12db though why not a 24 ladder style?), a VCA, AND also a nice generative sequencer that's the selling point, but for most of us already into the modular we don't need the other bits. The routing is consequential this is why we patch. I would be more interested in a 16 step or a matrix style mixer with those generative properties mixed with Moog VCAs that would be intense.

[@swaroopa1965]

@@robbrobb5543 I think they didn't put the 24db classic moog filter is because the oscillators are just a sine and triangle waves. That classic moog filter works well with rich harmonics like square and saw waves.

[@fentanyljones6956]

You have the mixer squaring off your waves. They’re a sine (top) and triangle (bottom) anywhere below noon on the mixer.

[@StarskyCarr]

Ahh thanks.

[@Test-zv9ty]

I'd love to hear this paired with the lxr-02

[@matthewstein1110]

Sick!!

[@mauchkimberly]

Also, I love this machine for the reasons others in the comments don't like it. I quite like the generative aspect, and the sequencers. While I get that some want more versatility, being able to pull things out and use them elsewhere, I found the structure clever since it sort of forces you to use it within that box, use its features and filters, etc. From other reviews I've watched, it seems like it's quite pleasant to experiment with.

[@StarskyCarr]

I like that it uses old tech and places it firmly in a modern context. Very clever.

[@martinwieser5916]

This machine seems to be fun, but will it be interesting in the long term or will it become a bit boring because its to limited?

[@cloudseer]

I think we’re just waiting for the first banger that creates a new genre with it.

[@MadelnMachines]

Can you do all or most of the same things with a taiga? Even the Behringer Proton also looks interesting with its dual filters and wavefolders.

[@StarskyCarr]

You couldn’t easily recreate this on anything tbh. It’s probably possible to get close with a lot of thought. You do have FM ring mod and waveshaping on the Taiga. You also have 2 envelopes with the function generators .. but it’s the patching where things get tricky. You’d need more mults or ways to blend a couple of signals for the inputs on a fair few things. Changing the routing would mean a lot of repatching as well.. then the 2 channels could do similar (ish) things to the sequencer on this. Sounds like a challenge!

[@user-wg6mt3se1n]

699 for a little synth made in taiwan, not bad

[@fjfrancois]

Lol 😂

[@dankeplace]

@@fjfrancois pst have 2 new toys coming. PEAK and UDO S6 :D

[@user-wg6mt3se1n]

@@dankeplace I already have the Udo and the Summit, compared to the Taiwanese Ex-moog company it offers much more synth for the money.

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

Yeah.. no. Worse than the DFAM, same price as the American made gear but made in Taiwan. F*** no

[@user-wg6mt3se1n]

@@thepostapocalyptictrio4762 The thing about the American gear was a fiction, the heart of the synth, the entire inner workings always came from Asia, possibly made by Uighurs in prison camps, who knows. Exmoog was very good at one thing, lying to its customers. You have to understand the price, Jack paid far too much for nothing, had to make a lot of people happy again, suddenly Roger Linn and Bob's daughter think Jack is really cool, probably out of charity. That costs money, cash has to come back in, no matter how.

[@Vim-Wolf]

You kind of lost me at “Here we have”😊 Looks like a lot of fun to integrate with some other eurorack gear, and makes some lovely “80s Doctor Who” sounds. Thing is though, every time I hear it I wonder what the heck has happened to my preordered Stylophone DS2. Wifey got it for my birthday back in April, still no sign.

[@Eli_B3000]

They said September in the last email.

[@Vim-Wolf]

@@Eli_B3000 Thanks. Wifey is getting the emails so I didn’t know.

[@Eli_B3000]

@@Vim-Wolf I'm a little antsy myself, I'm on the pre-order and this is right up my alley, feature and size wise.

[@YouBredRaptorsMusic]

Hell yeah

[@mauchkimberly]

OMG dude! did you piss someone off at YT because I had to jump through some serious hoops to find this video? In fact, I couldn't even get YT to give me your channel (and it's unsubbed me). They won't be stopping me from a Starsky review, and shame on them for trying.

[@gertvanveen6439]

'I hope you're taking notes' haha

[@gergokovacsjazzpiano8165]

For me it would be logical to run sequence 1 on osc 1, and sequence 2 on osc 2, so a paraphonic setup, then maybe options which goes to filter, which goes to wavefolder.

[@StarskyCarr]

Yeah the VCOs are mixed before the wavefolder. Another little switch could’ve split them perhaps.

[@martinwieser5916]

Nice synth to play with for daw less jams I guess, but can you use it in a song? Its a bit of an expensive toy for synth nerds in my opinion.

[@StarskyCarr]

Nothing wrong with synth nerds having a nice new toy… but I reckon Finneas Eilish could knock out a decent track or 2 with it. It’s interesting enough to create some unique textures and cool backing.

[@jensmandreasen2230]

The unsymmetric LFO sounds like TZFM. The frequency drops below zero and then rises a wee bit in the negative direction before quickly returning to the positive domain again

[@StarskyCarr]

Yeah it’s defo TZFM - I didn’t realise it would do that though. Nice info thanks.

[@jensmandreasen2230]

@@StarskyCarr - I'd guess it's an SSI2130, same as TEO-5. If you open it up, look for a 4x4 mm tiny surfacemount black square

[@StarskyCarr]

@@jensmandreasen2230yeah there’s a lot of them around at the moment. Lots of TZ eurorack modules as well.

[@TheIndustrialRetrospective]

wish they would have given a little more space in between the release of this and the spectravox!

[@StarskyCarr]

It seems these have been in development for quite some time. Perhaps the inmusic purchase slowed down the release, and I suspect they needed some quick wins to keep things moving .. ie cash flow.

[@skeogeirl7144]

Why no midi in / out so we can sync it with our octatracks and drum machines

[@StarskyCarr]

There is… its a TRS in the patch bay

[@robaire.b]

Seems quite Buchlaesque for Moog

[@pablowentscobar]

Great demo Starsky. That thing is actually amazing. I can't wait until Behringer rips it and I can afford one. Seriously though, I'm looking to dip my toe into semi modular and I've been going back and forth on what to start with, it's tough because I like all the west bleeps and bloops but I also like the crunchy east techno, and I really like percussive synths and this thing really seems to check all the boxes. Fantastic job at demoing this machine, your vids are really top notch. Thanks fren.

[@Eli_B3000]

The Behringer Edge makes better percussive sounds than this and if you don't want to spend for the DFAM, the Edge is budget friendly.

[@pablowentscobar]

@@Eli_B3000 That was in my top 3. I def like it a lot. I for sure want what I get to have a sequencer. I also like the West Pest, and, although not ideal, and I hate the patch cables, I was looking at the Volca Modular. It sounds good and I have other Volcas.

[@aloraliquid]

Cool little unit :) Crazy that this released so close to the Spectravox ... I wonder if that has to do with the leaked images and such? Just get it out before Behringer releases it first lol Great Demo btw Starsky!

[@HughAshton]

I don't see Behringer copying this any time soon. It's taken long enough for the Subharmonicon clone to come out.

[@aloraliquid]

@@HughAshton ​​⁠lol yeah, I was just joking about the speed of which Behringer copies. That being said, they have copied the other 3 Moog units in this form factor…. So you never know what they’ll rip off down the line :) Cheers

[@HughAshton]

@@aloraliquid I'm sure that Uli will do eventually get round to cloning this. I have a CRAVE and an EDGE (there's not a lot of difference between them and the Moogs) but I do own a real SHM (and a Werkstatt). Not that keen on the idea of the Spectravox, but this Labyrinth looks really fascinating. I'm looking forward to the Behringer VCS3 ripoff, though. No way could I afford a real one, or the cost of maintenance.

[@aloraliquid]

@@HughAshtonI own the Moog Mother32 and DFAM and have certainly used it in my music creation. I’ve actually eyed up the EDGE many times as a second version. I liked a few of the added features on the EDGE more than the Moog one (eg proper midi)

[@chrisjohnson8262]

Good point. Makes you think if maybe there is a third release here later in this series. I think yes. If the profit margin is hitting, they may see this framework as a good way to go developing synths and modules. Would be Uber kewl to a Sub37 version of all this semi-modular.

[@JohnNewtoneu]

699 squid though

[@RealityShiftUK]

So many good synths around this price I think I’d rather get the moog subharmonican to go with the dfam .. this does look fun though

[@StarskyCarr]

Get both… it’s the only true path 😂

[@Goettel]

Cool, but €600 cool?

[@user-wg6mt3se1n]

Jack has to cover his expenses, so it doesn't matter whether it's made in China like before or made in Taiwan.

[@Heathcliff_hensel]

Not

[@C0LUMBIA]

Biggest question is... What will Behringer call their version, and what colour will it be 😂

[@instruktor6467]

@@C0LUMBIA Behringer Maze, greenish, 249€, out in 2026! 😂

[@JustPyroYT]

Can't wait for the Behringer clone of it. (This is not a joke)

[@dankeplace]

Everything Behringer does is a joke.

[@mooted5513]

I was done at “random”. No thank you

[@StarskyCarr]

Semi- random 😅

[@weirdmjcasino8675]

I prefer my Behringer Neutron. I would rather pay for a Pittsburgh Modular Taiga, at least there is a damn envelope generator

[@NigDub]

It seems rather a well worked out idea. I am building a 4 tier (with 60HP euro) starting to become doubtful if I’m going for this one or Subharmonicon.

[@StarskyCarr]

I’ve not fully gelled with the Subharmonicon. I find it more difficult to get stuff I like from it than the others. Lots of folks love it, which is why I got it, but I need to spend more time to fully appreciate it I think .

[@leyetnin1]

5U MU is the ONLY way to go!! This little stuff is getting annoying.

[@newtronix]

I thought they'd gone out of business?

[@ElectroPanPipes]

No? They were bought out by inMusic

[@StarskyCarr]

No, they’ve been purchased by inmusic (who own Akai and lots of others) so hopefully lots of investment and innovation to come.

[@Paparumbo]

It doesn’t sound very good.

[@roseutterback5755]

Idk what they were thinking this is trash idk if you can’t make it sound good there is no hope for me lol 😂

[@ingolf7411]

Sorry Moog ... no. The Subharmonicon was an interesting and wonderful generative experimenting instrument. I liked it. The release of the Subharmonicon was in 2020. Did Moog have learned since then? Absolutely no ... the UI (a joke?) still has those little knobs and even more little "buttons". If creating weird sounds then I would go for the 0-Coast, if generating ideas or inspiration I would go for the Subharmonicon (again).

[@Valliant2007]

Why would it not follow the same theme as the previous semi modular synths?

[@Heathcliff_hensel]

Agreed this thing is lame

[@dankeplace]

Just because you don't like it, you think Moog doesn't know what they're doing. You're in the minority. The knobs are fine, the format is easy to use if you want to get into semi modular/modular. Modular stuff is tiny in some cases so you really don't know what you're talking about. I bet you've never even used these Moog models you complain about. I've owned 2 M32s and compared to the Model D I had, they were much better in use.

[@ingolf7411]

@@dankeplace Maybe I´m in the minority, that´s just my opinion. I´ve had (as you) 2 Mother32 and a Subharmonicon. And I´ve liked the Subharmonicon. Regarding the UI (I don´t want to do a comparison with Peak/Summit or Polybrute) Make Noise did a better job with the 0-Coast/-Ctrl (looking at both in front of me). And I don´t want to blame Moog, my Matriarch is an excellent instrument (same as the Subsequent37 I sold recently). If you like the approach of the Labyrinth ... go for it 👍.

[@dankeplace]

@@ingolf7411 no you complain about the UI and knobs, the formula works, specifically for their format. What does PEAK Summit or PB have to do with this?

[@sibbyeskie]

This and DFAM sound like nonsense every time I hear them. Mind you, I like music. The musical kind.

[@ITATTRACTS]

Thanks for letting everyone know.

[@sibbyeskie]

@@ITATTRACTS No worries, just doing my little part for democracy

[@kierenmoore3236]

The Muse better sound good, or we’re going to lose Moog … (or InMusic’s other brands are going to have to prop it up …)

[@final_mile_music9713]

I got the Spectravox a little while ago. It’s fantastic. So not sure what you mean?

[@kierenmoore3236]

@@final_mile_music9713 What do you use it for? Do you have a lot of modular?

[@dankeplace]

@@final_mile_music9713 he is butthurt all over these reviews, he thinks people shill, reality is, he knows nothing of which he speaks.

[@Valliant2007]

Hahaha this is a beast of a synth!

[@DoctorRevers]

Why would you care? You seem to hate moog anyway.

[@pizzagogo6151]

I’m not a fan of Moog at all, sure they usually sound good but overpriced & poor quality & frankly boring 😮 BUT Im happy to be corrected! sure this is a bit pricey, but this is something genuinely different its pretty interesting & ?maybe even cool. Not sure if it’s for me but I like Moog trying to break out of their “ same old.....”

[@final_mile_music9713]

Possible the most over generalized comment. There is nothing poor about the Moog One, Model D, Grandother, Matriarch or any of the others in terms of quality. And I have a bunch of instruments. The top tier instruments are the best built instruments I own and sound fantastic. So your comment on quality and how ‘boring’ they are is bizarre to me. As for being ‘overpriced’ I guess that comes down to what to personally attribute value to.

[@Heathcliff_hensel]

​@@final_mile_music9713the Moog One's problems have been well documented.

[@ITATTRACTS]

Poor quality? What?