The Little Phatty is a

monophonic Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...

analog synthesizer An analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of ...

manufactured by

Moog Music Moog Music Inc. () is an American synthesizer company based in Asheville, North Carolina. It was founded in 1953 as R. A. Moog Co. by Robert Moog and his father and was renamed Moog Music in 1972. Its early instruments included the Moog synthesi ...

from 2006 to 2013, preceded by the Voyager and succeeded by Voyager Old School. Its design was conceived, in part, by

Robert Moog Robert Arthur Moog ( ; May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesi ...

himself, and is the last instrument to have that distinction, although the primary engineer was Cyril Lance. It is also the first Moog product to be produced following his death.

Jordan Rudess Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles Rudes; November 4, 1956) is an American musician, software developer and composer best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive metal supergroup Liquid Tension Experime ...

of the band

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

also assisted with the design of the product. It is one of the few

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

s to utilize

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

from the factory (the others being the

Minimoog Voyager The Minimoog Voyager or Voyager is a monophonic analog synthesizer, designed by Robert Moog and released in 2002 by Moog Music. The Voyager was modeled after the classic Minimoog synthesizer that was popular in the 1970s, and is meant to be a suc ...

and the earlier Memorymoog+). This allows for better integration in the modern studio and for live performance. On 9 September 2013,

announced the discontinuation of the Little Phatty analog synthesizer.

Versions

There are currently four versions of the Little Phatty. Aside from a few cosmetic differences (and price), all units have nearly identical sound generation circuitry.

Tribute Edition

The earlier 'Tribute Edition', a limited run of 1200 units, featured blue LED lighting, wooden side panels and Bob Moog's signature decaled onto the convex back panel.

Stage Edition

The later 'Stage Edition' featured orange and red lighting, grey rubberized panels and the classic Moog logo replacing the signature.

Stage II

The third version, called the Stage II, had some minor mechanical and electrical tweaks as well as adding a USB interface, a new arpeggiator and tap tempo.

Limited Edition

There is also a rare limited edition with blue LED lighting that came in a purple aluminum case. This version also has the USB interface. It has the regular Moog logo on the back panel and shipped in a custom flight case with the Moog logo on the case. This was a limited run of 100 units.

References

External links

Little Phatty
from Moog Music site
Moog Announces Discontinuation of Little Phatty Analog Synthesizer
{{Moog Music Moog synthesizers Monophonic synthesizers Analog synthesizers