Moog Matriarch

Really, it is an incredible instrument.
I was looking to getting a Subsequent 37 for a long time and, although I was very attracted to the idea of the Matriarch, I felt like I may regret having a synth without presets. With something like the Matriarch it is especially easy to end up with very complex patches that you'll never find again without writing all of the specifics every time, and that can be prohibitive to creativity if you want to keep experimenting during play rather than taking constant notes.
In reality, though, I haven't cared about this at all and the way this synth lends to experimentation is just endlessly rewarding, even if surely the results may often be lost or forgotten.
The core sounds are beautiful and with a little patching it can get really, really nasty in the best ways! The simple oscillators can be made very complex via the various ways that modulation can be routed to the FM and pulse width ins on each one, and the overall architecture just allows for so many possibilities!
I am very pleased that a sample & hold was included in the modulation section, and the slewed waveform there allows for very interesting textural movement in the filters and oscillators, and for some of the most beautiful "tape" delay sounds I have ever heard when patched to the delay time.

When I first got this I had no experience of modular synthesis and I had no idea what I was doing with the patch points, but it is set up in a clear and intuitive manner and just a little experimenting blew my mind open in realising what could be done, and it was like the excitement of a child in some vast candy store when thinking about what flavours I could try next!

naturally, Matriarch led me quickly toward building a small modular system. Due to space constraints and a wish to learn the individual modules and their own small groups, my focus for several weeks was away from Matriarch and just on the Make Noise and MI stuff that I ended up with.. I got so carried away with all of that and discovered so many complex and interesting sounds, that I felt maybe I should have gone straight to fully modular and that I'd regret having bought the Matriarch, but then last week I got it set up again and instantly knew there was no regret at all! I had figured thing out a little better and now had so many new ideas of how to patch the Matriarch and bring the new modular family into play, but even the nights I spend with just Matriarch are constantly inspiring and have me never wanting to turn it off and sleep.

What a wonderful instrument, and what an expansive sonic playground. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants an analogue synth capable of going that way extra, and offering the possibility of expansion as part of a larger system. It's not cheap, but for the price I think this is a seriously good deal considering how much you can do once you learn how to really dig in. 100% one of the best investments I have made for music gear

I've had the Matriarch for a year now, so It's time to conclude

As an old Moog fan and previous oner of the Voyager RME I was expecting to be happy with the Matriarch, I'm actually more happy than I could expect, every time I switch her on and start noodling and fiddling I end up with a huge smile, it's so easy to get creative and results are always so good its almost a mystical experience.
both as a composer of ambient tracks and as a producer of prog music the Matriarch is the solid part in your composition that you can always be sure it will bring the deep and unique but still classic tone to your track.

Unlocking it's full potential takes time and exploring but the process is always educating and fun.

Overloading the VCA creates such a rich saturated tone that feels much more organic than anything I could squeeze out from the Voyager, and the filter can be as polite or as nasty as you'd like, modulation is a bliss (though I would gladly have a bit more patch points (mostly for the filter spacing and LFO intensity) but you can't have it all, can you? and lastly the analog delay is the cherry on the top, a tad noisy but if you tame it a bit you can find the sweet spot and let the charm of a BBD take your matriarch to her throne.

I didn't have any issues with the instrument except for the bad midi clock lock on that has been now addressed with firmware update v1.2.3

So, If you are an explorer and a Moog fan there is no way you can say no to this.

The sounds are stunning - the delay will take your breath away at points, and the feedback can quickly swallow up your whole room if you let it get away - but I love that.

Once you get your manual well-read (to be there are some complex relationships in the Filter modes which I had to re-read many times) you will be creating sounds fast, experimenting with the seemingly unlimited patch points at ease and enjoying every minute.

Overall I am really happy with the instrument/synth. My only non-positive feedback on the unit is the Global Settings system - it requires shooting in the dark and trusting that you have made no mistakes - this really feels like going back in time to primitive control and not in a good way -I would LOVE if Moog updated this to be controlled via a simple computer program and communicate via the USB - where you could potentially save your settings and load/save/backup different setups/configurations.

But other than that slight inconvenience - Stunning instrument!

The Matriarch has amazing sound quality, very flexible features that allow experimentation, has a stereo filter, has a stereo analog echo (that is an instrument in itself). If you're curious about modular synths but want to have a proper, tested-and-true input interface (keyboard), this is possibly your best bet. It is also good for people who are frustrated with the endless possibilities and complexities and incompatibilities of the modular synth world, and want to transition to a system that sounds amazing, is experimental and is consistent and unified. Keep a few modules that you really like and get a Matriarch.

The only con would be the somewhat complicated global settings menu, but you don't need to change things all the time and the manual is very clear about how to make those changes. Furthermore, some of the changes can be performed by MIDI CCs.