Moog's kicked out a new all-in-1, Mavis.
I don't like it.
OK, so it's a little 44 (45 in its case) hp box, but it's not exactly what it appears to be. For one thing, it doesn't arrive assembled; you have to slap it together like the Werkstatt. But unlike the Werkstatt, it's got 3.5mms on it. And a keyboard(ish), plus a wavefolder, costs $349.
Right away, the size factor is actually similar (off by 1 hp, even) to Make Noise's 45 hp trio of 0-Ctrl, 0-Coast, and Strega. The presence of the much-touted wavefolder also hints at them trying to get a bit more West Coast. But I don't buy it. Rather, I'm of the opinion that Moog's trying to make inroads versus their Asheville neighbors by tossing out a dog's dinner that fits the 0-Coast format (mostly).
F'rinstance, if you want to use it with one of Moog's 60 hp devices in a multi-tier, you're going to have an IMMEDIATE problem with a rat's nest of patch cords that's now established a home across the front of one of them. Yeah...the usual Moog 60s have the patchpoints on the right, but the Mavis has all of them on the LEFT. Not the smartest hardware move, nope...
OK...so, I'll put it in a 60 hp Moog skiff! Hrmmmm...that won't work. 60 - 44 = nope. Put two in? Also...nope. So if you want to rack THIS one up, you'd better have the right space or a big blank panel handy. You could put modules in the space, too...but after using 4 hp for power (remember, the BLANK Moog skiffs have no power circuitry), you've only got space for 10 hp of Eurorack. But then, this gets us back into the point of "why buy one with the case/power if it's going in something else with a case/power" thing. But here, your extra case is all but useless, as it's VERY shallow and doesn't seem like it's got a proper P/S or distro in it.
Even Moog's website is sort of pants here...for example, they show a Mavis in a 60 hp Moog skiff with a couple of modules (a Make Noise (them again!) STO and what appears to be an inverted (?!?) Intellijel uJack), but unless all of the power is coming through the Mavis, it'll be a cold day in hell when those two other modules are usable in that configuration.
If this were JUST a follow-up to their Werkstatt, I wouldn't be so irked. Y'know...something like a "mkii" that's got the 3.5mm points instead of pinwires, without the need for the dongle-ish patchboard. Yeah, it probably sounds great and all that...I just question what's going on with the Mavis minus the sonic factors. It seems like something that was scribbled out on a bar napkin with ZERO thought as to what might be wrong with the idea in the first place! Maybe they're trying to take a few marketing ideas from Uli's bag of tricks...? I mean, there's that 0-Coast form factor there...but jamming a wavefolder into a typical subtractive synth doesn't make that synth "West Coast".
And one other point...the Mavis is supposed to have two VCOs. I only see one...which means that either the ad copy is wrong, or the batshit insane idea of having BOTH of them under the same control is in effect here. C'mon, Moog...Bob wouldn't EVER have done that. One function = one control...that was the whole damn point of Moog's synths all along!
At this point, I'm sure there'll be a bunch of Moog fanboys jumping in to go off on how this is all wrong, etc etc blahblahblah. My take on that is this: go ahead and drop your money on a Mavis, but I 100% guarantee you that you'll be VERY annoyed by it before much time passes. It might have that Moog ladder VCF...but who cares, as you can buy the exact same VCF from a source as cheap as Uli, or others at numerous price-points beyond that which aren't anywhere near $349. Wavefolders are cheap, too...and you can get 'em with the right "provenance", such as Dannysound's Buchla 259 waveshaper, Timbre, which sells at $110 and change. Plus...LPGs? Anywhere? Buehler?
TL;DR here is this: Mavis is a joke. A bad one. Copying Tony's form factor is bad enough, but laying the patch panel out so that it's BACKWARD from Moog's similar lineup is dumb as hell, unless you like patchcord snarls when using this with those. You DON'T put two modules under one knob without a way to differentiate the controls somehow. And some of what I see on Moog's site leaves...questions. But at least you can rack it this time out, since the cab it comes in looks like a piece of crap with a slit for directly connecting a power cord to the Mavis. Better hope there's a Eurorack connection there!
