Sub Phatty

Sweeps the tone of Oscillator 1 from soft and hollow (triangle) to bright and buzzy (sawtooth) to reedy (square) to thin and nasal (narrow pulse).

tip: Because it's continuously variable, you can park it partway between two waveforms for tones most synths can't make.

Sweeps the tone of Oscillator 2 the same way as Osc 1's WAVE knob.

tip: Mix a triangle on one oscillator with a sawtooth on the other to emphasize a single harmonic without adding clutter.

Detunes the second oscillator against the first. A tiny amount gives lush movement; larger amounts give musical intervals.

tip: In Shift mode this same knob sets 'beat frequency' — a constant detuning in Hz that beats at the same rate on every note; center it if you want true unison.

How loud Oscillator 1 is in the blend — and past the halfway point it starts to grit up.

tip: Push a single source above 6 while keeping others below it to dirty up just part of your sound.

Adds a deep square-wave tone one octave below Osc 1 — the secret to huge Moog bass.

tip: Even a moderate amount of sub gives kicks and basslines serious weight.

How loud Oscillator 2 is in the mix.

tip: Balance Osc 1 and Osc 2 evenly for detuned width, or favor one for a cleaner core tone.

Adds a wind/waterfall-like hiss useful for percussion, breath, and texture.

tip: In Shift mode this knob instead sets the External Input Level for signals coming into the rear EXT IN jack. Sample-and-hold modulation on the filter with noise turned up makes great random textures.

The master brightness/darkness control. Turn down to make sounds muffled and dark; turn up to make them bright and open.

tip: The lower you set CUTOFF, the more room the filter envelope has to sweep it dramatically.

Adds a whistling emphasis at the cutoff frequency that makes filter sweeps sing. Crank it and the filter becomes its own sound source.

tip: High resonance plus sample-and-hold modulation on the filter creates classic squelchy, bubbling textures.

The dirt knob — from a subtle warm edge to full-on gnarly distortion.

tip: MultiDrive makes sounds far more reactive to resonance, waveform, and oscillator-level changes; a touch (around 9 o'clock) adds thump to a kick drum.

Decides how much — and in which direction — the filter envelope automatically opens or closes the filter each time you play a note.

tip: Its effect depends on the CUTOFF setting; if cutoff is already maxed, turning EG AMOUNT up does little. Leave headroom in CUTOFF for the envelope to work.

Makes higher notes brighter and lower notes darker, so the filter tracks the pitch you play instead of staying fixed.

tip: Turn it up to keep high notes from sounding dull, or crank to maximum to make the filter self-oscillation play in tune across the keyboard.

How quickly the filter opens when you press a key — instant snap or slow swell.

tip: In Shift mode this knob sets Filter Envelope Delay, adding a timed pause before the attack begins.

After the filter opens, how fast it settles back down to its held brightness.

tip: In Shift mode this knob sets Filter Envelope Hold, a fixed pause at the peak before decay. Short decay with zero sustain gives a percussive filter 'pluck.'

How bright the sound stays for as long as you hold the key down.

tip: In Shift mode this knob sets Velocity-to-Filter-Envelope amount, making harder key presses brighter.

How long the filter stays open (fading down) after you lift your finger.

tip: In Shift mode this knob sets how much velocity affects filter decay/release times.

How quickly the note fades in — sharp and immediate or a slow swell.

tip: In Shift mode this becomes Amplifier Envelope Delay (only active in envelope Looping mode). Fast attack for percussive sounds, slow attack for pads.

After the note hits full volume, how quickly it drops to its held level.

tip: In Shift mode this knob sets Amplifier Envelope Hold. For plucky sounds set sustain to zero and use decay to shape the tail.

How loud the note stays for as long as you keep the key pressed.

tip: In Shift mode this knob sets Velocity-to-Amplifier-Envelope amount, so playing harder makes notes louder — great for dynamic patches.

How long the note rings out after you let go of the key.

tip: In Shift mode this knob sets how much velocity affects amplifier decay/release times.

How fast the low-frequency oscillator wobbles — slow sweeps to fast flutter.

tip: When synced to MIDI clock, fully counterclockwise is a 4-whole-note cycle and fully clockwise is a 1/64 triplet — perfect for tempo-locked effects.

Picks what does the modulating — a smooth wobble (triangle), a two-step trill (square), rising/falling sweeps (saw/ramp), random steps (sample-and-hold), or the filter envelope's shape.

tip: Set SOURCE to FILTER EG to use the filter envelope as a modulator for pitch, filter, or waveform — great for evolving, one-shot sweeps.

How much the wobble affects pitch — a little gives vibrato, a lot gives sirens and wild pitch effects.

tip: For natural vibrato, set PITCH AMT around 2 with a triangle LFO and nudge the MOD wheel up on sustained notes.

How much the wobble opens and closes the filter — for wah, wobble, and pulsing effects.

tip: Sample-and-hold on the filter with resonance up at least halfway makes classic random-stepped filter movement.

How much the wobble morphs the oscillator tone over time — the source of lush pulse-width-style animation.

tip: Set a pulse wave and apply slow triangle modulation to WAVE AMT for a rich chorusing shimmer. In Shift mode you can route this to Osc 1, Osc 2, or both.

Nudges the whole instrument's tuning to match other players or instruments.

tip: Center it to A440 for standard pitch; leave it centered unless you're tuning to something else.

Makes notes slide smoothly into each other instead of jumping instantly.

tip: In Shift mode you can set Legato Glide (only glides when you hold overlapping notes), choose glide curves (linear rate, linear time, exponential), and turn on Gated Glide.

The main volume knob for your amp or mixer output.

tip: Presets can recall their own saved volume or ignore it in favor of the live knob, set via a Shift-mode global parameter. Always start low and bring it up.

A separate volume just for your headphones.

tip: MASTER VOLUME must also be turned up for headphones to produce sound.

The wheel you push up to add wobble/vibrato while playing — how much depends on which modulation amounts you dialed in.

tip: You can choose whether presets recall their saved MOD wheel position or use the live position via a Shift-mode global setting.

The self-centering wheel for bending notes up and down as you play.

tip: Set the up-bend to 12 semitones for guitar-style octave dive-bombs while keeping down-bend smaller.

Ties the two oscillators together so that changing Osc 2's tuning aggressively reshapes the tone — the classic screaming 'sync' sound.

tip: With sync on, modulate Osc 2's FREQUENCY (or sweep it with the FREQUENCY knob) to step through the harmonic series for that tearing lead sound. In Shift mode this button becomes Oscillator Gate Reset.

Makes the vibrato/pitch wobble hit only the second oscillator, for shimmering, moving textures.

tip: With HARD SYNC on, modulating only Osc 2 changes its harmonics without changing pitch. In Shift mode this button becomes LFO Gate Reset.

The left column of buttons that chooses which group of four sounds you're pulling from.

tip: Holding BANK 4 and then pressing ACTIVATE PANEL is how you enter Shift mode to reach all the hidden parameters.

The right column of buttons that picks which of the four sounds in the current bank you hear.

tip: To save: press and hold the desired BANK button, press the target PATCH button, and hold both for at least a second until they flash and go solid.

Switches between playing a saved sound and hearing exactly what the knobs are currently set to. Press it when you want to build your own sound from scratch.

tip: While saving, hold ACTIVATE PANEL to preview the sound currently stored in the target slot before you overwrite it.

Chooses how high or low Oscillator 1 sits — like picking which octave you're playing in.

tip: Set to 16' for deep bass patches; the sub oscillator will then sit an octave below that for a monstrous foundation.

Chooses the octave for Oscillator 2 independently of Oscillator 1.

tip: Set Osc 2 an octave apart from Osc 1 for instant thickness, or match them and detune slightly for a fatter unison.

Shift the whole keyboard up or down in octave jumps, giving the 25-key keyboard a full seven-octave reach.

tip: Learn to hit these mid-performance to extend your range beyond the two physical octaves.

A little light that flickers to confirm incoming MIDI is being received.

tip: If external MIDI isn't triggering the synth, check this LED to confirm data is actually arriving.

Where you plug in headphones for quiet practice.

tip: Start with HEADPHONE VOLUME down and bring it up slowly to protect your ears.

The playing keys — they sense how hard you strike them, which can control brightness, loudness, and envelope times if you set that up.

tip: Since it's monophonic, default note priority is last-note; you can switch to low- or high-note priority in Shift mode.

The on/off switch.

tip: Allow up to 60 seconds after power-on for oscillator tuning to fully stabilize, especially if the synth has been cold.

Where the power cord plugs in — works with any mains voltage worldwide.

tip: Always use a properly grounded outlet; this is a Class I device that requires protective earth.

The main output — run this to your amp, powered speaker, mixer, or audio interface.

tip: Set MASTER VOLUME to zero before connecting to avoid pops.

Lets you run another instrument or microphone through the Moog filter and MultiDrive to Moog-ify it.

tip: You must open the gate to pass external audio — press a key, use a Moog FS-1 footswitch, or plug any 1/4-inch cable into the KB GATE jack.

An input that lets an external voltage or pedal control the pitch.

tip: Feed it from a modular sequencer's 1V/octave output to have the Sub Phatty track external pitch sequences.

Lets a pedal or external voltage sweep the filter cutoff with your foot.

tip: Plug in an EP-2 expression pedal for hands-free wah-style filter sweeps during performance.

Lets a pedal or voltage control volume, like a foot-operated swell pedal.

tip: Great for volume swells and fades without taking your hands off the keys.

An input that starts (triggers) notes from an external source instead of the keyboard.

tip: This is also how you open the gate to pass external audio through EXT IN — plug in any cable or footswitch.

Where MIDI comes in to play or control the synth from other gear.

tip: You can set the receive channel, input path (DIN, USB, or both), and merge behavior in Shift mode.

Sends out MIDI so the Sub Phatty can play or record into other gear and DAWs.

tip: Because every control sends MIDI CC, you can record your knob moves into a DAW and play them back.

A single cable to your computer for MIDI, and to use the free editor/librarian software.

tip: Use the free editor/librarian plug-in over USB to store unlimited presets and edit sounds graphically.