Great vehicle for opening up to an understanding of colliding sound waves and modulators and the possibilities. Great studio addition.

Love this synth. The sound is warm and beautiful and touch of all knobs and keyboard superb. With four oscillators, stereo filter, stereo analog delays and true modular design this is a winner. Check out the drones!

I've wanted a Moog for 40 years. Instantly playable, but the patching opens up other worlds, and as semi-modulars go, this one is inviting and intuitive. Sounds like nothing else. Built to artisan standards.

I believe a synth is only as good as it is able to unleash one's creativity. This is why I dislike menu-diving. This is also why I respect the control the creators of the Matriarch have given us, as serious thought went into this layout which has extensive capabilities, yet which doesn't seem cramped. Rarely have I taken so immediately to an instrument with such joy and could work with it without realizing how the hours flew by. Watch YouTube demo videos, and you will see this instrument is full of smiles and "happy accidents" which make synthesis more fun. I believe this synth sounds great over a wide range of types of sounds you can coax from it, as opposed to having just a single "sweet spot." I believe it could sit well in any mix and pair especially well with more aggressive synths or with "glassy" sounding synths. I believe some people might balk at the price. However, if one considers attempting to replicate the Matriarch's functionality with modules, the cost would be much greater, and it may not sound as good. I would recommend this instrument both as a stand-alone and used as a hub for a more advanced setup. I think this instrument really shines with the signal path being stereo from the filter on out. One can also patch different oscillators to be panned in the stereophonic field. I would recommend a stereo speaker setup. If listening in mono, be careful of the filter setup to ensure maximum fatness of sound and the delay synching and panning setup. Be careful with chained hard sync oscillator frequencies. Experiment with voice modes and note order. Keep a TS cable with a splitter on it attached to the keyboard velocity and aftertouch patch points on the back side so as to not forget to use. Patch for longer delays. I would recommend immediately obtaining two speakers for stereo, a dust cover, stackable TS 3.5 mmm patch cables of different lengths, and signal splitters, such as Hosa Knucklebones, to enable multiple signal routes.

The Moog Matriarch is something special. Paraphonic, extremely patchable, with circuitry based on some great old Moog modules, arpeggiator/sequencer, built-in analog delay, many modulation sources/destinations... and on and on. It works great standalone, or as a hub in a more extensive modular setup. It's well built and it sounds great, with the classic Moog vibe. Because it's semi-modular it can be more complex to use than many entry-level synths, but because it has "normaled" pre-wired connections (that can be overridden via patching) it is nevertheless *much* easier to use than a purely modular system. It can be an outstanding modular hub or starting point for modular synthesis since it includes so many standard modules that one would want as part of any modular system; and at much less cost than what comparable individual modules would cost. If I were starting from scratch with modular synthesis, I would start with something like this or the Moog Grandmother, and simply add a small Eurorack set-up over time to further enhance the system. This is a fantastic synth for anyone interested in sculpting unique sounds. Every time I sit down with it I come up with something interesting. I have used synths since the mid-80s (primarily for composing and studio work), have a good assortment of Eurorack and MU modular gear, some good digital synths, and both the Minimoog Model D and Moog Sub37 monosynths. I love them all, but the Matriarch is my favorite and can go well beyond what the classic Moog monosynths can do, while still being capable of reproducing those classic sounds. I really love this thing; it's still a new model, but is so good that I fully expect it to become a modern classic. Watch some good demos on YouTube to see what I mean.

I'll be exploring this piece for years. Great compliment to my Sub37 and DFAM/Mother32 combo. I'm an experienced player but novice at CV patching. I love this instrument!