Moog E1-M

[TheGuitarPlayer]

Earlier this week at NAMM, Moog announced an upgraded version of the Moog guitar, and low and behold it has a 13-pin output.

It has been designated the Moog E1-M and is available with a fixed bridge, or with a whammy bridge.  The hexaphonic pickup is piezo based, and the guitar has all three standard GK controls (GK Vol, S1/S2, output select).  The piezo saddles are from Graph Tech, so presumeably it is a Graph Tech Ghost pickup system.



Moog E1-M with Whammy Bridge

• Price: USD$4,395
• Available in three finishes: Candy Red, Butterscotch, Black

Moog E1-M with Fixed Bridge

• Price: USD$4,195
• Available in three finishes: Candy Red, Butterscotch, Black

YouTube Demo Video

So, who wants one?

[vanceg]

I'm having my E-1 Modded as we speak. I should have it back in a week or two.  Whoooohoooo. Should be a great combination with the VG-99 and the StringPort.

For those of you who might be interested:  There is not a way to attach a GK-3 pickup to the Moog guitar. Attaching any sort of magnetic device (or even piece of metal) to the E1 may cause the internal electronics of the Moog sustain system perform poorly.  UNfortunately, you'll have to spring for the E-1m. 

[A to the T]

I voted No only because there wasn't a  "No, I'd love to have one but its $3000 too much!"

[TheGuitarPlayer]

Thats what the "Yes, but not this year" option is for.  The question was do you want one, not will you buy one.

[A to the T]

So my answer "No" still stands then.  I don't want one (especially at that price).  Just like I don't want a Bentley. lol
I'm sure its a really cool guitar though.  Funny though, there are lots of people that are willing to buy expensive guitars.  If only I was in that income bracket.
Personally, I'd never pay $4000-$5000 for a Taylor either but if it was affordable and sounded THAT much better than my Tak I'd probably go for it.
I think everyone has their limits.  You know, maybe if that Moog was wireless I'd drool some more over it but I don't know.
I'd be more inclined towards an Ibanez shred model guitar with a wireless bluetooth GK embedded system or something a little less wired.
This IS the wireless age you know......

[TheGuitarPlayer]

That seems contradictory to me, you said, and I qoute "I'd love to have one".  Like I said, the question was not "would you buy one" or in fact anything about the cost/performance ratio.  The question was purely about wanting or not wanting the guitar on it's merits as an instrument.  It's your vote though, I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do with it.

On the subject of expensive guitars.  I'm certainly not in the income bracket that can justify throwing money away on guitars, but for me, the possibilities with the E1-M make it worth the money.  It's sustaining features are siginificantly more advanced than the Sustainiac I have, and the only reason I wouldn't have bought one before is the lack of a 13-pin output (and the inability to install a after-market one).  That's no longer a problem, so now I will get one.  I'm not even particularly interested in how it sounds seeing as I've been using V-Guitar systems to generate modelled guitars for years now.  As long as the sustainer and the 13-pin output work well, I will get one.

[kmaus10]

Then, I'm voting a definite 'yes, no, maybe, I don't know'! :-)

[Elantric]

I'll wait 18-36 months, and pick up a used scratch & dent E1 with 13 pin on ebay or Craigslist for 50% off.

Yes i want one, but i will only spend under $2k.

But I still prefer the sound of the GK-3A over Piezos.

[A to the T]

That seems contradictory to me, you said, and I qoute "I'd love to have one". 

yup, it is contradictory.  i changed my mind.  i think.  heres the thing.  "want" is derived by a desire to have.  i seemed to have lost the desire.  i think i may have thought myself right out of it.  maybe i realized that the original desire for the guitar slowly dissolved when i thought about the cost + the taxes + the shipping + the dent it would accidentally acquire a week after i bot it lol.  ;-)

[A to the T]

You know, I think I'm back to wanting it again.  lol.  After checking out some more specs and videos it has a lot of great features.
One feature Roland would surely be able to implement with a firmware update to the VG-99 IMO.

Basically, under the COSM guitar model you would take away the guitar noise gate and create an "Individual String Gate" for the 6 strings.
I think that this would emulate what Moog is doing when they claim that the guitar detects what strings you're playing and just mutes the others.

[vanceg]

You know, I think I'm back to wanting it again.  lol.  After checking out some more specs and videos it has a lot of great features.
One feature Roland would surely be able to implement with a firmware update to the VG-99 IMO.

Basically, under the COSM guitar model you would take away the guitar noise gate and create an "Individual String Gate" for the 6 strings.
I think that this would emulate what Moog is doing when they claim that the guitar detects what strings you're playing and just mutes the others.

Yup. A very full featured specification and feature request related to modifying the Freeze feature on the VG-99 so that it functions a little more like the Moog guitar was sent to Roland US almost two years ago. It may happen someday. But I'm not holding my breath.

The StringPort should be able to implement this feature at some point. I have a version of it running using the StringPort to get each of my six strings into the computer individually, then I use six copies of a plugin called "TimeFreezer" to freeze each individual string. I have the trigger for engaging the Freeze function tied to the amplitude of the string, so each time I play a new note on any particular string, the sound of that string is frozen.  It's actually quite cool.  You can get close with the VG-99 and some fancy pedal footwork.