Bad Gear - Moog Mavis

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Welcome to Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools. Today we are going to talk about Moog Mavis. Was this eurorack ready semi-modular analog synthesizer DIY kit with a twist of Buchla style West Coast synthesis the beginning of the end of the iconic synth company founded by Bob Moog.

Thanks to Tom of Synth Anatomy for lending me his readily assembled low serial number Moog Mavis:

Chapters:
00:00 Intro tune
00:54 Overview Moog Mavis
01:32 Oscillator (Saw, Square, PWM)
01:44 Moog Ladder Filter
02:00 ADSR, LFO
02:13 Wavefolder
02:44 Limitations of the Wavefolder
02:55 Utilities (Mixer, Multiple)
03:02 Use LFO as OSC2
03:12 Sample & Hold
03:21 More Utilities (Attenuator, VCA Mode, Key Scale)
03:45 Mod Mix
03:56 What else (Calibration, Thanks)
04:18 Hate
04:41 Jam 1 (Oscillator Showcase)
05:40 Jam 2 (More Patches)
06:45 Finale (Microhouse)
078:16 Verdict

[Rompler_Rocco]

To think, this little Mavis ties into a legacy spanning back to 1954 when a young In-Music Corp was selling theremin kits out of his dad's garage 🥲

[BadvisionStudios]

Bad Gear: the only channel where it takes me 20 minutes to watch an 8 minute video! Bless the synth memes.

[frenchtrace]

It's funny, I don't really have any interest in getting one, but I love it for one reason: it fits into the wonderful category of "gear that any music shop can afford to stock". When Guitar Center finally opened a shop in my city, becoming the only place selling synths in the entire area, they stocked a Mavis. The price point caused a store to suddenly have a complete semimodular synth where they wouldn't have before.

[rodrigolaporte]

I love how these videos swiftly changed from 'haha let's make fun of this machine's faults' to 'haha, but here's actually a very thorough review of the synth' while still keeping the overall vibe! and also great work on those flash memes and jokes that keep me pausing the video all the time so I don't miss any!

[JockJaimeRadfordBromley]

I hope you get to 100K soon. You are the hardest-working YouTuber I can think of. And informative and funny!

[TangoDelta]

I'm in the market for one of these, and your video was not only very informative but also hilarious! Thanks for all of the quality content!

[Asmuk]

"Knowing that if you sound s**** it is most probably not the synthesizer's fault." Master writing, as usual. With an equally masterful pairing of the poor's snob synth and the common folk's Model D. Thanks, keep going with the excellent content.

[LovevonMelenEkman]

Absolutely adore the decision to make all sounds of the jam from the synth you’re reviewing!

And the result was sick too!

[riffzifnab]

Thanks for mentioning the union drive. I haven't heard any recent news about it, but in light of the acquisition I'm wishing them even more luck. /:

[armignac]

Another great Episode of Bad Gear, as always!

[zackcolbourne]

I would say I use the LFO as the oscillator 75% of the time, rather than the main one.

Also, the sample and hold, when run to sample at audio rate with the attentuator, makes the Mavis into a powerful bitcrush/downsampling effect. With the filter and modulation, that makes it almost like a bonus Moog effects unit.

[Auldhelm]

Great Episode. - I have a Moog Subsequent but it is just there for looks - i lost the power cord years ago

[geminidefect]

Mavis was my introduction to semi analogue. 2 1/2 years and 20 synthesizers later, she is still my most used synth, as she integrates with all the bad gear. GAS was strong with this one

[BoxedMinds]

Be still my heart. That is thr main engine of my NiftyKeyz. It took some time to learn, but man am i happy i learned it. Tons of love dude. You really made my day as i broke my leg on tuesday and have been in a bad mindspace. You just gave me the biggest smile!!!!

[therealmber]

Was so glad to hear you worked all night on that jam Florian. Gotta make time to play some music in between composing these relentless onslaughts of meme wizardry!

[personalwatching]

Man you're a great electronic composer. Jam sounds fantastic

[SolidtraxNL]

Again, excellent tracks and cool review about Travis Mavis! It is an excellent synth with lots of convenient and well thought out features like LFO2 > OSC, wavefolding etc. Have a great weekend!

[ZenMountain]

Focusrite acquired Sequential months ago and Inmusic just acquired Moog. The beginning of the end, indeed.

[matrixx]

I like this kit more than their original kit from a few years back. it has some nice features like the wave folder.

[dijjidog]

I'm so glad you used the best film of all time as the intro ❤