According to ex-employees, inMusic has today fired a large portion of the Moog staff in Asheville and aims to relocate the production to Asia.
In June, it was announced that inMusic had purchased Moog Music. This news caused an uproar in the community because many know the history of inMusic and other companies. What inMusic wants to do with Moog is not yet known.
Now I have received explosive news that probably points to the end of Moog in Asheville.
inMusic Fired Moog Staff
There is no official press release from Moog or inMusic yet. However, according to ex-employees, many Moog employees in Asheville were fired today. Adam Strange, a former instructor at Moog says: “Moog just fired most everybody, it was a good run. Game over”.
Another person writes: “Moog about to change for ever, a sad day for their team and all of us”. According to the post, the “Asheville location will remain open for now, only making a limited number of higher-end products but the majority will be made overseas and of lower quality”.
As I said, the news is not official from Moog/inMusic, but is currently being spread on Facebook and people from Asheville.
Since the sale, there has been speculation about how Moog will position itself in the future. Many assumed that inMusic would delocalize the brand to Asia in order to produce more cheaply. This is probably becoming a reality now.
Update: here are more reactions from the Asheville Reddit group. Plus, there is an article that says that they laid off 30 people today, and since the inMusic take over in June 42. So it looks like they primarily laid off production staff.
A sad day for Moog if that’s true. Because then Moog would no longer be the Moog we know. I will stay tuned to the news and add to it as more information becomes available.
Source: Facebook
…and that’s what happens when you sell to venture capital & hedge funds.
Look at Akai, also owned by (b)inmusic, tired re-hash’s of the same-old-same-old.
The moog workers who owned 49% of the company did not want to sell to InMusic. They opposed this shitty buy out
Did those workers at least get paid out for their shares? I would imagine some of the newer employees didn’t have any shares so they would simply be out of work.
No. We got a very small settlement from mismanaging the funds but no payout. The value had crashed leading up to the sale so if/when we do get a payout it will probably be very small
That’s awful. Moog seemed an outlier in that it was one of the big boys but still employing local and manufacturing in the same place where design took place. Warmed my heart to see that and I’m proud to have got a Subsequent37 hand built in Asheville all the way over in Ireland. It was on my NC to do list to visit the factory and try blag an unofficial tour, won’t be happening now. These boys will make shite of the Moog name. Good luck in the future!
Oh that is a real travesty. I am very sorry to hear that.
They never got paid either. So did they really own anything
Uaw
Or Alesis for that matter.
But they sold to neither VC nor hedge fund.
One of the sad things about buyouts and staff sacking is the loss of knowledge about the earlier products. Old documentation and spares get trashed.
Sad for the staff and customers. Spoiles the brand as well.
Brands under the InMusic control, and that I will no longer touch even with a ten foot pole:
AIR Music Technology
Akai Professional
Alesis
Alto Professional
Denon Professional
Denon DJ
HeadRush
ION Audio
M-Audio
Marantz Professional
MARQ Lighting
MixMeister
Moog Music
Numark
Rane
Sonivox
SoundSwitch
Stanton
I wasn’t buying gear from any of these brands anyway, but thanks for the list, so that I can make sure to avoid them in the future.
Yeah I used to like Alesis back in the day… and now I laugh when they still send me stuff and to me it’s junk… I’m not an M-Audio fan either but thanks for sharing this!!!
So what are you supposed to do if you want a decent DJ controller? Pioneer isn’t much better in my opinion then you are left with a mix of software and hardware controllers, sure you can do vinyl… but it
Pioneer’s new stuff is pretty great IMO; I just got an FLX4 and it’s unbelievably lightweight and portable. I can make it out to gigs without a car!
Also I’ll make sure to tell everyone I know not to give these techbro minmaxers a single red cent. Moog *IS* the Asheville factory, period.
To their credit, I will say that the MPC product and updates seem to be done well. Anyway, sorry former Moog guys, I’ve been on the shitty end of buyouts and I know what a kick in the balls it can be. I’m glad that I was able to get a pre-inMusic Model D.
Brands not worth to buy anymore
Thanks for the list.
Will avoid these brands in the future.
Damn it, Moog, Marantz, Denon. Used to be favorites of mine. Never liked M-Audio, though…
Better add Amazon, Google and Apple to the list just to name a few. Sorry, this world has existed for much longer than you and I have been alive…Well over 100 years…just look back in history. There were the Morgan’s and Rockafeller’s to name a few back in the day…
That’s good to know—will no longer spend any money on these products…unfortunately, I just recently got some Alesis equipment 🫤
Nah. Probably a disgruntled ex-employee spreading malicious falsehoods. Wait for the Moog version.
It‘s a shame.
The good old times are over now
Although you generally have a point, InMusic is neither Venture Capital nor a Hedgefund, just good old privately held evil and greed.
The good old times were over long ago
I will continue to love and appreciate my vintage Moog instruments, now more than ever.
Same. So glad and thankful I collected so many Moog instruments over the years.
Bob is rolling over in his grave.
Let’s not forget, Moog were taking out loans just to make payroll. They were about to go extinct. We can blame InMusic all day long for playing the capitalism game – but they still saved Moog from complete death.
I don’t see how you can’t understand that this was predatory capitalism at its absolute worst. Any acquisition that isn’t predatory leads to a rise in stock prices, and a nice payout for the shareholders, including the employees who owned 49% of that stock. 49% is just under the threshold for the employees to have any say inb blocking inmusic from fleecing everyone, except inmusic.
Using your incendiary analogy, this situation is “survivalist capitalism” rather than predatory. Moog was already teetering on the brink of insolvency, and on a course towards inevitable bankruptcy – without bankruptcy protection in sight because of their lack of cash flow and lack of margins. Instead of allowing it to fall into the hands of some out of touch PE firm, InMusic swooped in and bought Moog’s assets before they were put in the discount bin. All of these comments blaming “capitalism” are ridiculous. Moog was never a non-profit company. Nor were they ever traded publicly so this phantom-stock-price you mention is only determined by the buyer and the bankers from both sides of the transaction AT the time of the transaction. This was a case of poor management decisions over the course of that last few years. They neglected certain segments of the market that could have dominated (sub $1k and sub $500 instruments, eurorack, effects), they overspent r&d and tooling on the Moog One, they discontinued popular lines at inopportune times – leaving voids in their catalogs – and they didn’t navigate the component supply shortage as well as their competitors buying from the same Chinese suppliers.
Bob, your business analysis is spot on!! At the end of the day, I blame Joseph Richardson and especially Michael Adams (President, who has been with the company for over 21 years) for his lack of fiscal leadership!! So sad to see Moog go to hell. What a shame.
Thanks for providing
Finally, a post by someone who has a proper understanding of the market!!
whilst its absolutely tragic for the individuals concerned, it must never be forgot that some of the brands that Stephan etc “will never buy”…… well he wouldn’t have had that option had they they not been sold. They would have gone the way of a load of brands we all remember fondly yet simply dont exist anymore. It’s a tragic balance between capitalism and Moogs seemingly inevitable commercial demise. Let’s see what happens.
BTW Anyone who thinks Denon Pro and AKAI Professional as examples have had no product investment needs their head testing.
Full disclosure – I am an ex employee who has more reasons than not to diss the company.
Would have the opportunity to buy? Any institution that turns hallowed brand like Marantz, Denon, Akai, etc. into brands that everyone is better off avoiding. Full disclosure, I am an owner of vintage electronics that actually knows what these brands arenow lacking.
I can’t speak for Marantz or Denon, but Akai Professional had changed owners a few times before inMusic and it was nearly truly dead. The MPC Live operating system (in the Live, Live 2, One, X, and Mac/PC software) has put sampling and MPC workflow in the hands of more people than the 1980s/1990s MPC lines ever did. MPCs are everywhere now. I keep seeing MPCs pop up in places I wouldn’t even expect in different styles of music, different age groups, and different types of users (musicians, DJs, beat makers, etc). You might not like them but they sure are selling a ton of them, and people are buying multiples despite the software and most of the guts being the same across the line.
Yet they can’t make software that scales to 4k screens. And to get all software you need to register on multiple sites.
This for a device I bought last year. Ridiculous
Nothing to do with the conversation in hand.
Bob Linn, given how much you are speaking about tooling costs, white knighting for inMusic, etc….how long have you worked for inMusic? I’m not asking as a joke.
Yeah, they may be “hallowed brands” but they were/are also companies and a company doesn’t care about us vintage romantics, they care about making a profit and why shouldn’t they? You think Marantz (back in their golden era) didn’t care about making a return on their investment? That’s economics 101 on how to stay in business. I too am one of those guys that is fortunate enough to have a lot of pre-1983 gear and like most vintage analogue fanatics I put the stuff up on a pedestal and it’s basically holy to me. But there’s another side to all this that a lot of people are either just not smart enough to grasp or maybe they lack the capacity to be pragmatic, and that’s the business side. Like anything else in life that gives you ‘emotional heartburn’… DON’T BOTHER WITH IT!! If this upsets so many people, why on earth indulge? Guess you guys doing this like feeling pissy? Like having something to moan about?
And BTW, Moog is an American company and last I checked America is capitalist. I’m shocked some of you just learned capitalism can be cut throat and nasty?! Here’s news for you… so can socialism or any other system. I know socialism is trendy with the millennial generation but you couldn’t be further off the mark. I personally know people that have lived in socialist countries and boy am I glad I was not born in one. My heart goes out to the Moog employees who must’ve had the crappiest day in recent memory. Take it easy fellas and feel better soon.
John, having been born, raised, and started multiple businesses in a socialist country, I cannot tell you how delighted I am that you are were not as well. And please stay out.
If Moog was doomed, better to have given it to someone in the industry who would have treated it with some actual respect, even if it meant layoffs either way.
Nobody can afford to live/work in Asheville anymore.
Especially creative people.
The fact that only 49% of the company was employee-owned was always a red flag. In the end that 1% difference in ownership meant that the employees, who opposed the sale, could not actually stop it.
The “employee owned” thing was just a ruse, a marketing slogan that they could print on the boxes and synth name plates but in actual practice it meant nothing.
The vulture capitalists won again, they always do and that’s sad.
This is very close to the mark here. That is all that I will add…
EXACTLY! 49% is a BIG warning sign. It basically makes the company look good from the outside to people who know nothing how the market works. I suspect that’s why it was done.
But if you know even basics regards the market it looks VERY conspicuous! First question it poses; why did they purposely give them 49%? For those who don’t know… 49% market share means they have no say or control with anything on a corporate level. If they had 1% more all that would be completely different and they’d have a voice. If they were given a tiny 2% more they would literally be the ones controlling things, making the decisions. So whenever they got that 49% share it would seem to me that the powers that be at Moog knew something like this could possibly occur and they could’ve made things MUCH different for their loyal employees but they decided not to and gave them a 49% share which looks pretty from the outside but market-wise castrated them.
If true, it’s sad indeed.
However, the market is the deciding factor here. InMusic knows that a synth (Moog One for example) can not be sold in large (r) numbers if priced at $10,000 each. They’re taking production somewhere where there is cheap labor and bring the price down probably… and the quality is going to go down the drain for sure. Like with everything ‘Made In China’ or wherever they send production to, you get what you pay for.
There are still units for sale in stores, whoever really cares about this should go and buy what’s currently out there and pay for the quality that goes with an American made unit. I do own the Moog One, Voyager, DFAM, Subharmonicon, and Mother-32 and am thinking if there is anything else from Moog that I may need.
Otherwise, there is no point in bitching about it.
The issue with Made in China is that the capitalist who is sending the work to China is greedy and doesn’t want to pay to make a thing of quality. The Chinese will make you a very good product if you agree to pay for good components and good QA / testing. But if you’re like most labor cutting vultures, you’ll order the cheapest route to product. And we all suffer in the end
Imho, it’s also a question of pride… I cannot understand how Moog couldn’t be bought by an American company (like Sequential for example).
I have to respectfully disagree with you on the ‘good Chinese quality’. The only reason why anyone goes to China is to slash wages and get the cheapest labor. And why should I agree pay for good components and good QA/testing when I already had that here in Asheville?
I’d be interested to see how they’ll deal with warranties / repairs, and such…
It looks like Behringer may have found a competitor… insane… lol
Bad Chinese quality was a reality 40-20 years ago. Since then, China has moved on. In many industries their quality is at the same level as their American or European counterparts now, but still at a lower price level, although wages in China are on the rise. And they have mass production capability which has disappeared in the west.
To make things worse for the West, Chinese consumers start to appreciate Chinese products more than the awe they used to have for western brands.
The reality is that not only the bulk of production has shifted to Asia, but also the bulk of the consumer market is. Roughly 5 of the 8 Billion people on the planet live there now. Whereas the west (North America and Europe) is a bit more than 1 Billion people. With the knowledge the asian income is about 6 times lower than an average western income and increasing, you may notice their market in hard currency will surpass ours, while our competitiveness remains under a lot of strain, since quality is no longer an issue for asian industry. 49% of Chinese inhabitants were below the extreme poverty line in 2000, 17% in 2010, 1% in 2019. Similar trends in India. There is such thing now as an Asian consumer as key decision maker, and their consumer approach to quality is similar to ours as it was in the ‘80s. By 2040 their average income per capita will be about 4 times lower than ours still, but there will be 6 Billion Asians. The western numbers won’t evolve much anymore. Asian market will become the dominant industrial consumer market in the coming decades.
I don’t like that evolution a bit, but denying is not helpful.
This has nothing to do with evolution, this has to do with $ signs and potential profits. The Moog brand has taken a huge hit imo and it’s only to the benefit of the InMusic. InMusic doesn’t have a good track record with companies under its umbrella and this doesn’t make it for a good future for Moog. Time will tell and I do really hope that I am proven wrong…
It is a fact that’s cheaper to make everything in China than to make the corresponding product in the US, simple as that. QC will not be the same because different regulations are in place in the US and different type of regulations are in China. It boils down to: make it for cheap, sell it for the same or more.
I do not believe a bit that InMusic bought Moog because China is the future of consumerism. Look at the other brands they have, all down the drain of what they used to be before, with the exception of maybe Akai.
The only reason why I bought the Moog One — at a crazy price — and not going for a Behringer at a 1/10 of its price — is because I wanted to support the people in Asheville and get a product made by the people that ‘own’ and pride themselves building these instruments and I do not regret it. The Moog brand stood for something in the market, employee owned (blah, blah), and most importantly and the selling point for me, designed and made in the US.
Now, the chances that Moog will become a glorified Behringer have gone exponentially up. And in the name of ‘evolution’ why should I even look at the InMusic Moog when I can still get Behringer or other clones? They’d probably be made in the same factory in Asia somewhere… Behringer have already positioned themselves to cover the market, even if all the ‘legit’ synth makers would cease to exist.
In any case, we’re still living the ‘golden age’ of synthesis with so many interesting companies out there making some amazing synths…
Sequential? You know they are owned by Focusrite, an English company.
Sequential is owned Ed by UK company Focusrite which also owns Novation
Yes, indeed… a British one, and not Chinese.
So there’s really no reason to not buy Behringer now.
Actually the industry situation is very different today. Most US and EU production facilities struggling very hard to deliver constant high quality while CN gaining overall high stability levels in high tec production. This is very sad from my POV but unfortunately true. US and EU managers killed our jobs with decisions made 20 years ago. (removed by the admin – no politics!) You will not only loose jobs, but basic human rights, too in less than 20 years.
My last employer had structured our company as “Employee Owned” by using an ESOP. After ten years if all went acvording to “plan” we would have a reasonably good bundle to use for retirement. That changed but in a way, for the better when we were bought by a mega conglomerate who due to the nature of our ESOP , was required to dissolve the plan and pay the full projected amount of the matured value of the plan to those who were in the plan in order two complete the buyout. Employee owned company’s come in a few different flavors. We were lucky. I hope that the Moog employees gain something as a result of this . All that said, I will boycott all companies owned by inmusic.
Devastated!
Oh yeah, with that list provided earlier?? I will not purchase anything from them…. That’s why I was lucky and blessed to be able to purchase 2 Moogs today because they are flying off the shelf…. If it says BACKORDERED… More on the way… Ummm I don’t think I’d hold my breath…. This on a postive note is a good time to but these last original Moogs now because the way the market has been….. I think the Moog you buy now while you can will become in demand in no time and like stocks the value skyrockets… Anyhow that list… Thank you!! Boycotted!!!
Minimoog clone
Subharmonicon
Moogerfooger
Dfam on the way.
Damn, we should of all come together and pulled a Gamestop . . .Imagine if synth heads came together and bought up Moog stock? Could this still be possible?
Pretty much the only constructive comment here.
Not blaming others but saying “We are responsible” – rly appreciated.
There was no such thing as “Moog stock”. It wasn’t a public company.
I guess I’d better hurry up and get that DFAM I’ve wanted while the US-made ones are still available.
Perhaps most of the staff got laid off because it was a grossly inefficient and mismanaged mess? Some of the interviews with Moog staff over the past few years have not inspired confidence. It could be that inMusic has saved the company and the brand and will produce better quality product at a much better price.
There’s no denying that the Minimoog reissue is ludicrously overpriced and has had shockingly poor quality control.
So instead of dogpiling inMusic there’s good reason to believe things will take a sharp turn for the better.
That is an unpopular opinion but mostly true. Employee unions work if the company is very large like UPS or the UAW who are going to strike. But synths are, to the surprise of many here, non-essential goods with a lot of competition (now more than ever). Being a small, independent, manufacturing company of consumer electronics which got to do warranties and pretty much everything themselves requires tons of money just to operate. Then unions ask more money, more benefits and sure they can ask for all that but the reality is that revenue will not be enough to cover that so dont even think about profit.
Manufacturing going to China doesnt need to be a bad thing. Over there manufacturing is mostly automated and automation engineers have the experience to make it work. It’ll be InMusic fault to choose the right factory and inverst in proper vertical integration components for the sake of the quality of all their products. Almost everything nowadays is made in China so in you still operate under that 90s mentality, you should take a closer look at the label. Apple, Sony, Asus, Nintendo, LG, Samsung… all those consumer electronics are made in China now, people still buy them and still products can break regardless where they are made. This situation is more common than you think with the difference of it hitting a super niche market on a very unique company with a lot of history.
Please substantiate, for those of us not in the know, your statement that “the Minimoog reissue… has had shockingly poor quality control.”
Just look up the aftertouch issue of the first 1500 units.
If they manufacture in china and use the same parts the quality wont go down. Having worked in a synth company myself, i think a lot of these companies hire amateurs who are not specifically trained in dealing with electronics. I think it is just an illusion that working for a company like moog would be kind of a dream job. The assembly jobs are just horrible and repetetive work and mindnumbing. The difference might just be that people get bad wages compared to american wages and in china, who knows actually. They might get paid the same if you consider the living standard there. Again, these jobs are pleasant. You are basically a machine that has to do things over and over and over. Either way customers profit from people having to do these shitty jobs.
You nailed it—especially the “wages vs the background conditions”. China clearly fails on human rights and censorship etc. But yeah—- hilariously the workers would have far better conprehensive health care and a bunch of other stuff. People I know who worked at moog, many struggled.
*people that make music on AKAI and Novation equipment*
“Oh it’s gonna be such a cheaply made product now! ;.^( Anyways, [EDM/synthwave] continues!”
Remember when Moog made the Model 15 Reissue (a very basic synthesizer) for $10,000? Huh, wonder why their business was flailing…
Companies with leftist attitude but prices for rich boys because of exploiting the Moog legend should finish like that.
No regrets, at all besides Moog was already not Moog since 80s
Employees with good skills will be welcomed in other synth companies
Agreed! The current moog was nothing more than a facade for making overpriced hipster products. Not to mention the awful QC they had the past years. The entitled employees have nobody to blame but themselves.
What?! No more strikes?! So sad
warum werden nicht diejenigen kritisiert, die 51% verkauft haben!?
Moog hatte zudem die Gelegenheit, kostengünstiger Produkte anzubieten, aber ließen sich den Namen bezahlen.
Außerdem kommen die meisten Komponenten aus China und in den USA wird nur ein Teil verschraubt und verpackt, damit „made in USA“ drauf stehen kann. 😉
Made in China wird immer besser, das sollte das Problem der ganzen westlichen Welt sein!
I had to laugh about the Reddit quote „…the majority will be made overseas and of lower quality.“
I bought many Moog products over the years and with each single one, I had problems. Loose knobs, dirty sticky keybed, broken reverb tanks, Sub25 producing nasty noises, poor built quality in general, So don’t tell me about „lower quality“, I rather expect that Moog will finally start to produce higher quality.
Dont get the made in china = bad quality arguement. Ever read the back side of a Macbook pro?
Sounds like I’ll be buying that Subsequent 37 afterall then. Never owned a Moog, but it doesn’t hurt to have an “original”. Lots of dumb shit being said about China production though: the quality depends on what’s being requested, cheap or expensive… There’s a spectrum of quality here to choose from. Other companies cheapening out, doesn’t mean it has to be the case. Lots of good gear being made in China, but you pay a higher price for this.
New Moog probably keeps the price about avarage, because it know people will pay for the brand because people want the sound. You see that in other brand’s approaches to Moog designs. Ah well, new era. I’m not feeling bad about a company failing that didn’t change it strategy to stay viable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EORbL8N-R8
Building a companies identity on beeing from a specific nation is a bad idea in the first place.
… ideas, Technology, Music are things that matter here, and many others …
Just look at it as a new opportunity for pretentious braggers to say their box of assorted generic parts sounds ‘warmer’ and ‘punchier’ because it was screwed together in that specific nation.
lol
Have you ever bought a Taylor made in USA?! But a Korg made in Japan?! But an Warwick made in Germany?!…
Looking forward to the plastic cased, VA based Moogs and the obligatory (made from old pie tins) Eurorack garbage.
If we’re lucky we get a software “boutique” desktop unit!
Lucky old us.
Then again, it won’t be $3K for the same old crap year-in-year-out…
A sad day on one level -historically- but tempered by “clearly we saw this coming”
On the other hand…. Would we prefer the company had gone bankrupt?? Tough call. Or maybe not
Moog components, circuit boards, chips, internal guts… were MADE IN CHINA , for ages now, like JUST ABOUT ALL ELECTRONICS, with few exceptions like the stuff outta Latvia (?) or IK Multimedia manufacturing in italy.
Now…. It’ll be “ASSEMBLED IN TAIWAN”… rather than “ASSEMBLED IN ASHEVILLE”
What would be interesting is a side by side chart comparing worker conditions, pay and access/coverage for health care, student debt, etc
Anyway. A long time coming…. This has been collapsing for ages, living in Asheville as a musician…. You tend to know a dozen current and ex Moog employees at any moment in time. Stories abound.
There could be interesting results from all this. But also the lesson of “we wish it was made in America!!” Means, OK then it will cost $xxx
I have an American Fender Strat. It cost me $1000 (in 2011).
I could have chosen an identical Mexican made one (made a few meters across the boarder) which was $600 at the time.
The Asian made ones, not identical were $300.
I wonder if a similar play is possible here.
It really is a simple question of how much premium (if any) people would be willing to pay for the Made in America badge.
Capitalist apologists explaining how markets work. I think we know, we can still be upset that a legendary company is being hollowed out. There will be nothing left but a name, hopefully the staff can get together and start building other synths under a new name.
If they haven’t made a profitable synth business under the Moog branding, what hope will they have with an unknown startup?
Sentimental claptrap. And ex-Moog employees already got together and made a new company… it was called Polyfusion.
If you’re concerned about where it was made, learn to solder, learn some basic electronics, and buy DIY kits. You will know a whole lot more about it, than just taking it out of a box. And you’ll have some pride in what you made. My “Moog” is a 5U system built from Synthesis Technology kits. Unless you fashion your own instruments, you will always be a victim of capitalist money grubbing. Synthesis Technology dropped their 5U stuff years back. There are still providers here and there, but… If there is something you want/need now try to get it now. It will go away. I have a lot invested in technology as that is how I create. But I feel like a constant victim as companies change/drop things or just go out of business. But that’s how it works. Learn to be satisfied with what you have and learn the skills to keep that stuff alive for as long as possible.
But that takes actual effort and entirely depends on the person. Seems many here would rather sit on their duffs, feel sentimental crying over Moog which hasn’t existed since something like 1980 anyway. Your suggestion is excellent and it’s what I’ve been doing since the late 90s. My MOTM system was the first DIY modular I ever built. Sure was a great introduction to learning about electronics. 25 years later I don’t have to worry about the myriad of vintage gear I own breaking down as I’ve honed the skills to diagnose and fix them myself. Too bad more people don’t have a more industrious attitude. (removed by the admin – no politics!)
Corporate scvmbags strike again. I was pumped to get a Moog One. Now that will never happen. Inmusic execs will fill that space with the new “Turd II” ..Made in China No doubt. (smh)
I have an ASM Hydrasynth Desktop which is fully Made in China. Build quality is excellent and much better than any american brand i´ve owned so far.
Therefore…i have high expectations, that finally Moog will produce really high quality products.
The Hydrasynth I think was made specifically in Hong Kong (which is not mainland China ofc), and the factory is sustainable, passed OSHA inspections, and gives its workers fair wages.
Don’t spread disinformation, there is no such factory in Hong Kong. Everyone in international business knows that all factories are in mainland China, not Hong Kong which is mainly a financial hub.
Another one down…
So…this means that sooner or later wee’ll be seeing Reverb prices sky rocketing for the “not Chinese, American made Moog” ones….
What’s funny is that people here are busy defending inMusic by saying “oh, be happy, at least the brand can continue.” The thing is however that inMusic fired the people that made Moog a brand you want to buy from. The quality could be great with overseas products, but it isn’t Moog. It is inMusic. You could literally buy a Behringer Moog clone now and it has as much to do with Moog as an inMusic Moog. The badge might make you feel good, but it’s just a name badge.
Here is the company that you inMusic Stans (employees?) are busy defending:
-Bought Alesis. Fired everyone. Refused to honor in-progress warranty repairs, which led to warehouses filled with ADAT machines that the studios couldn’t even get back as they were just trashed.
-Bought Akai. Fired most of the Akai team (including the JJ of JJos, who ended up putting out the firmware that the MPC was supposed to have as a 3rd party upgrade). Ended up putting out the garbage MPC-5000 as a way of saving the investment of the equally garbage Alesis Fusion 8 (complete with the same bugs).
-Bought Rane. Fired everyone. Put out the Rane One, which is just a Numark ns7mk4 (the PCB’s are stamped with Numark part codes that would correspond to the Numark brand, when all inMusic product PCB’s are stamped with which brand they are for.
-Bought Mix Meister. Never put out promised updates. At least the founder started 1010 Music, which is a good brand who makes good products.
-Has continually coerced their acquired employees to sign non-compete agreements as part of their sign on, only to fire them within a year and held them to said agreements after they get the knowledge they wanted from them. This ruins lives, as at least if they were not held to a non-compete they could find work in the industry, but as it stands they basically put a piece of paper in front of you that says “your friends were already fired, sign this to keep feeding your family” only to then fire them a year later and say “good luck champ! Don’t work for any other company though or we will take you to court!!”
I could go on, but seriously, you can look at Glassdoor and see the dismal ratings. You can look at LinkedIn and see the sea of people who got canned after a year or two. InMusic isn’t your friend. They are not any musician’s friend. They are a company that is just trying to present the illusion of choice by owning half of the brands that you buy in a store. Anyone here saying “oh, be happy you can buy Moog anything” should be saying “be happy you no longer have any ideological barrier for buying a Behringer Moog clone, as at least they are honest in that they are a rip off.”
Wow, huge thanks for the highly detailed receipts, CZ !
But the people that were just fired (the ones that you said made it “Moog”) never assembled a Memorymoog, etc!! My point is, the company has gone through so many different owners and changed hands so many times. But for some reason so many think the ‘Asheville’ Moog was the REAL ONE. What about the Buffalo based Moog? I like that one. 😆
All of the speculation about a manufacturing transition is probably very very late. InMusic would not lay off the Asheville manufacturing staff until they had at least a couple of containers of offshore Moog products sitting at the Port of Los Angeles ready for shipment to distributors. Holiday buying season is not the time to plan a gap in production. Likely the opposite: expect new product and pricing announcements.
I’d guess that for at least a year before the acquisition was announced they had quietly been re-engineering the products, doing pilot production runs, and verifying that they could pull the trigger on the acquisition and layoffs without interrupting the supply and pissing off the dealer network.
The Voyager was the last great Moog synth and first InMusic victim, expect more desktop modules and software versions (moogerfooger? I mean come on).
Feeding the masses now not the musicians.
The Voyager has not been made in years…Nothing to do with the InMusic purchase…
Moog was already dead, anything after lilPhatty 🤮
I am a Chinese music producer
I have a moog voyager
Unfortunately, it often breaks down (using a defective IC batch from Texas), so he replaced it with a new motherboard given by MOOG. After half a year of use, it still has problems, and it is now being repaired by an agent in China.
I would say that Made in America doesn’t make me feel very reassured.
Made in China is not bad.
You get what you pay for. I believe that if Chinese factories are given the same treatment, the synthesizers they produce will be very good.
It’s a pity that MOOG has been swallowed up by capital. I believe I will never buy MOOG products in the future.
That’s true. Given the same budget (treatment as you said), there is no reason why a well established factory in the Asian region cannot produce quality products. Just look at the 5G/cell phone and EV markets, the Chinese now produce top notch products.
We’ll all end in a plate of chop suey.
Let’s keep the record clear on Focusrite and Novation. Novation is an English company and always has been since it’s inception (same quality as always…top notch). It’s been owned by Focusrite since 2004. Sequential/Oberheim has been owned by Focusrite since mid 2021 and their entire team is still intact with new products done the Dave Smith (RIP) / Oberheim way. All Focusrite acquired companies have THRIVED since acquisition (ADAM Audio, Martin, Sonnox, etc).
Talk all the acquisition heartbreaks that you like (almost all of it here is well deserved), but leave Novation and Sequential/Oberheim out if it because that’s acquisition done right!
This was inevitable and but makes kind of sense. Let’s not forget Moog under this last management would not have survived. Mass production of some of the moog catalogue means the higher end products can still be made at moog hq. There is a lot of in-brands kicking but I don’t see it as their fault whatever you think of them overall.
“Until now all moog was hand made in Asheville NC and of the highest quality.”
This is simply not true. I had to return 2 moog products in the past 3 months alone because they had serious QC issues. This whole idea that something is “high quality” because it’s assembled in the US with Chinese made parts is just absurd.
The past years QC at moog has been an utter disaster and they have nobody to blame but themselves. What a bunch of delusional lies. Maybe now that assembly is moving to Asia the QC can get back to normal. My experience with synths made in Asia has been far better these past years compared to supposed “high end” brands.
Certainly shocking that the old guard has been sold off to new owners recently; Sequential, Moog…with Behringer taking up the slack. That’s a good thing for the majority of music makers who could only dream of owning one of those brand’s synths.
“-inMusic fired the people that made Moog a brand you want to buy from.”
This is not true. The person that made me want to buy a Moog was Jan Hammer, Kit Watkins, Stu Goldberg, Benoit Widemann, Eddie Jobson, Rick Wakeman, T. Lavitz, Larry Dunn, Mark Kelly, Bernie Worrell etc etc… not the hipster assemblyman with no electronics background that doesn’t bother to wear an anti-static wrist strap while assembling electronics.
Whether it was the Moog Voyager that i bought brand new in 2004 whose mod and pitch wheels rubbed on the wheel housing assembly or the reissue Minimoogs with aftertouch strip and low F that rubbed. After my experience with the Minimoog Voyager, I never bought another Moog product again.
Every…Single…Person that bought a Minimoog reissue that I know of has had quality control issues with their units. All over Gearspace, all over Moogmusic forum. It’s enough that it made me NOT open my wallet and buy a reissue Minimoog both in 2016 and then again in 2023. I just read horror story after horror story about people having to send this heavy beautiful $5,000 purchase back again.
Their issue was quality control. Bad quality control= people scared to make a $5,000 purchase. People scared to make a $5,000 purchase=your company makes no money and they go out of business. Just think of all the Minimoogs they would have sold if they took quality control seriously. Let this be a textbook whitepaper lesson to all manufacturers that cut corners and don’t take QC seriously and don’t think QC will affect your bottom line. In my little meaningless amateur musician, non-famous person bubble I know 5 people x $5,000 that didn’t buy a Minimoog reissue but wanted to but were scared of the QC issues. That’s $25,000 right there.
Their attention to detail was not there. Let’s talk about the Minimoog reissue. Other than all the quality control issues from a design standpoint, they put aftertouch (always was a stupid useless feature) on an instrument that never needed aftertouch and didn’t originally have it either. They put an extra LFO on there that didn’t need to be there because the folks that work at Moog Music couldn’t remember that the best of best Minimoog players like Jan Hammer used 1 or 2 oscillators at a time and the 3rd was used as an LFO. They put the “oreo cookie” pitch and mod wheels from a 9 hole, rev3, 75-81 Minimoog on a 6 hole rev 2 reissue that should have had either the smooth clear wheels from a Musonics rev 1 (best looking wheels) or the smooth cream wheels from a rev 2.
What a disappointment of a company Moog music was ever since Bob died. Thank god there are folks that are passionate about sound that are still making quality products that actually know what they’re doing. (Thank you Studio Electronics)
Dang…
Well, back to Roland and Korg stuff then.
Shame, I was just starting to get into Moog after I got a M32/SubHarmonicon and a Sub25.
Goodbye Moog.
I will only purchase legacy at this point in honor of the people who built them with pride.
I won’t be supporting their new releases even if it’s cheaper and it sounds better …
I’ve got Behringer for that … ehrmm. Sorry