The Little Phatty is a

monophonic Monaural sound or monophonic sound (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 reproduce sou ...

analog synthesizer An analog synthesizer () is a synthesizer that uses Analogue electronics, 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 var ...

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 sy ...

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 synthe ...

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 keyboardist, composer, and software developer, best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment. Early lif ...

of the band

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band comprises John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums), James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards). Dream Theat ...

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

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

s to utilize

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

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 su ...

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 were four versions of the Little Phatty as well as the 'Slim Phatty' which was the instrument without a keyboard. Aside from a few cosmetic differences (and price), all units have nearly identical sound generation circuitry and controls.

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 '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