Moog Subharmonicon Released

Moog's polyrhythmic masterpiece makes its public debut;

The Moog Subharmonicon is a Semi-Modular Analogue Synthesizer with a very unusual, but incredibly inspiring sequencing and sound generation architecture, it uses the concepts of mathematically generated sub divisions of audio and clocks to produce gorgeous evolving chordal structures and music phrases.

This creation originally saw the light of day back at Moogfest 2018, where the attendees of the VIP DIY Workshop were able to build and take home this obscure little synth.

The synthesizers that the attendees get to build and keep at these events are seldom made publicly available, for example the BFAM and Spectravox still have never made their way into retail, and the Subhamonicon was virtually unobtainable, unless you wanted to drop waaaay too much on one through secondhand outlets..but thankfully, after a couple of years and after some serious public demand (and a petition for its release no less!), the Subharmonicon is NOW available to all, and it's undergone a slight redesign to refine it's usability.

Moog have included a pitch quantiser, to improve the predicability of the oscillator tuning when building sequences and they've moved the UI around a little, but the core principles and tonality of the synth remain the same as the unit made available at Moogfest.

Dubbed as a polyrhythmic synthesizer, the Subhamronicon has probably one of the most unique synthesis and sequencing interfaces of recent year, that's heavily inspired by some very early 1930's and 1940's synthesizer designs; namely the Mixtur-Trautonium and the Rhythmicon.

Instead of your more common 2 VCO and 16 step sequencer style control, the Sumhamonicon uses mathematical divisions of clocks and voltages to produce complex polyrhythms and evolving chordal structures that are relative to the base clock, tempo and the root note the oscillators are producing. So with just a few human small inputs, you can build 6-tone cascading sequences that evolve and develop over time and unfold into brand new musical territory.

The architecture of the Moog Sub Hamonicon is based around 2 VCO's, 4 Subharmonic Oscillators, 2 Four Step Sequencers, Four Rhythm Generators and the iconic 24dB transistor Ladder Filter, which is all accessible and re-patchable using the 32-point eurorack compatible patchbay, where you can tinker and reconfigure the signal path to your liking.

Like other synths in this style of design, the Subhamonicon is able to be used standalone with it's included case or you can pull it out and place it into and power it from any Eurorack standard case, and interface voltages and audio from that domain into and out of the synth, meaning you can use the complexity and interesting nature of the sequencing capabilities with you other modular gear!

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As a VERY happy owner of the Moog DFAM, I can honestly say that nothing is more fun and inspiring than using these Moog format modular synths with other modular gear. Moog's inherent unusual sequencing qualities make other modular equipment come to life, sprinkling them with new sequencing capabilities…or you can just run stuff through that lovely low pass filter!

Oh and another thing! Subhamonicon has MIDI!!! Which was one of the more infuriating things some had to deal with when it came to the DFAM, since it lacked MIDI clock synchronisation. Suhamonicon comes with a TRS to MIDI DIN connector, meaning you can sync it and get going right out the box.

Subhamonicon is in stock now (at time of writing this article), so no waiting to satisfy your GAS.

For more information about Moog products, speak to our in house Moog Pro's, Tom Lewis and Li Daguerre.