#21

I have the sub patty that has the same layout as this. It is definitely better when your at your computer. Its great for full on midi production…get your sequence going and do knob tweeting recorded to automation and adding arps and lfo’s and other via the daw. by itself keyboard is small and the shift options are not fun. happy to see the wood ends. the plastic rubbery ends on mine got broke down and got all sticky and are a pain to clean off.

#22

My first big piece of hardware was the Subsequent 37, and over the last year and a half, I’ve really come to love the thing. I wouldn’t call it bland at all, but rather “particular” or “not the classic Moog sound”. I think studiodc’s got it right, that the filter has a very particular character to it, and the whole thing is warmer than most, with the high end tapered off even when the filter is fully open (as compared to most analogue synths). For that reason, I was frustrated by it after a few months of owning it.

But I never sold it, and I’m back to being firmly in love with it, for a few reasons. First, it is just a lovely thing to tinker with, from its beautiful looks to its excellently laid out front panel to a keybed I like to play. Second, it is full of sweet spots and sounds great almost no matter where you’ve got it dialled in (contrast that to a number of synths I’ve had that have restricted ranges where they shine).

The biggest reason of all, though, is that I finally figured out what the Subsequent 37 was for when I started pairing it up with a loud setup. I was going to trade it for the Matriarch when it came out, but when I paired Matriarch and SS37 together, the SS37 cut perfectly as a lead overtop of the Matriarch, and sounded beautiful to boot. And then when I started jamming with an acoustic drummer, I tried one or two synths first, but quickly realized the SS37 was the best choice in a live setup, again because it was able to cut through and still sound warm. Plus, the multidrive, mixer drive, and pre-wired external drive give you a lot of harmonic flexibility that just works in these bigger setups.

So now I’m back to using it all the time. It doesn’t sound like a classic Moog, but that’s an advantage for a modern setup, and there are always classic-sounding units out there. For anybody considering the Subsequent 25 but not for space reasons, I’d strongly recommend picking up a Subsequent 37 for the more complete panel and extra octave range. In my opinion, it’s an underrated synth, especially if you have the privilege of not relying on it for all your synth sounds and can just let it be what it’s good at being.

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#23

That’s essentially how I use synths in the studio, so that’s good to know. Thanks. I guess at this point I need to decide whether there’s anything about the sub25 that’s worth the extra $500.

#25

i watched the loopop and other then the wood ends i could of not tell you what was different then the sub phatty.

edit: hold on the 2-note paraphonic is defiantly different. but other than that?

#26

There’s definitely overlap, but (if I remember correctly) the Little Phatty is a little brighter in the high end, and the Subsequents have more drive and modulation options.

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#28

I don’t have any direct experience of the Little Phatty so can’t comment personally. But if you can sift through the noise, there are a couple of good threads about precisely this topic on GS.

There are also some very good Starsky Carr videos on youtube comparing the Sub 37 to other Moogs (Voyager, Mini and Grandmother), which while not directly on point will give you a good flavour of the Sub sound / feature set and how it sits in the Moog family.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Sub filter doesn’t “open all the way” , and as has been pointed out above, that is a big feature of the sound of the Sub series.

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#29

For a well implemented example of the sub sound, just check out Stephan Bodzin’s Powers of Ten.

2 Likes
#30

There is more headroom than before: overdriving/multidriving/whatever they call it now has more range, and it can handle hotter signals coming into its external input. This is to the sub phatty what the subsequent 37 was to the sub37. Should have called it the subsequent phatty imo lol.

#31

I’m getting awfully close to diving in here. I found a sub phatty locally for $450, and am going back and forth between that and a new sub 25. The record I’m working on would benefit significantly from the kind of low end that both of these units can deliver.

I guess it’s less about how the thing looks on paper, and more about the fact that, several times over the past couple of years, I’ve asked someone the equivalent of “dude, what is responsible for that amazing bass sound?” And the answer was almost always the Sub Phatty.

Edit: I ended up going with the Sub 25. Will update once I’ve had some time with it.

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#32

I have had a Sub Phatty since they got released and never thought to part ways as I have been using it in so many projects.I run it through an API 505 or an UA LA610 MKII. At $450 it is a super bargain.

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#33

Well. It does Moog stuff.