Moog Prodigy (1980–1984)
Two oscillators, one ladder filter, and a price tag that undercut everything else in the shop. The Prodigy was Moog's answer to a market that was starting to look elsewhere.
Overview
The Prodigy is the Moog you bought when you couldn't afford a Minimoog but didn't want a Japanese monosynth. Moog built it as Domestic Model 336A and Export Model 336BX. It put a genuine Moog ladder filter in a chassis small enough to sit on top of an organ or a Rhodes. The architecture is lean: two voltage controlled oscillators, two envelope generators, one voltage controlled low pass filter, one voltage controlled amplifier, a modulation oscillator, and a regulated power supply. No patch memory, no menus.
The keyboard runs 32 notes, F to C. That short span tells you what the Prodigy was: a lead and bass instrument, not a performance piano. The F-to-C layout also means the lowest note is an F, which shaped how players voiced basslines and how they tuned the oscillators against a band.
Two VCOs feed the filter, and the Prodigy's filter is the real thing - the patented Moog 24dB per octave low pass design with exponential control of cutoff frequency. A positive feedback loop injects a variable-height resonance peak at the cutoff point, and the FILTER EMPHASIS control sets the height of that peak. At full emphasis the filter goes into self-oscillation and produces a sine wave on its own. According to the service documentation, an internal "Emphasis" trimpot sets the oscillation threshold, and a separate resistor adjusts the filter output offset. You want to know about both when a unit has drifted and the resonance no longer behaves the way it did leaving the factory.
The filter's cutoff isn't controlled by a linear voltage. The standing current in the ladder comes from a "poor man's exponential voltage to current converter," and the manual notes that for every 18mV increase in base voltage on the control transistor, the current doubles. Small knob movements near the top of the range open the filter dramatically.
Two independent four-part envelope generators handle the VCA and the VCF separately. Each has three controls: ATTACK time, INITIAL FINAL DECAY time, and SUSTAIN level. A RELEASE switch activates the final decay mode. The keyboard sends a V-trigger, and the circuitry converts it into the S-trigger pulses the Moog envelope topology expects, including a 200 microsecond S-trigger pulse generated alongside every V-trigger. Both envelope generators are electrically identical, so the service manual documents only the VCA's in detail and lets the VCF's follow.
The modulation oscillator produces a 3 volt peak-to-peak triangle and a 24 volt peak-to-peak square wave, and a MOD SHAPE switch selects between them. Lowering the MOD RATE control raises the frequency of oscillation. A diode and resistor network derives a 0 to 3 volt square wave as well. The signal then passes through a buffer and into the MODULATION wheel, which uses a special taper that lets the wiper reach nearly full value within 100 degrees of rotation. It's a deliberately fast wheel. Two switches, OSCILLATOR MOD and FILTER MOD, route the modulation to the oscillators, the filter, or both.
Two serial-number eras exist. Units above serial 4160 and units at or below serial 4160 differ in their circuit blocks, and the filter and envelope sections use different component designations across the two runs. Anyone ordering replacement parts or comparing schematics needs to know which side of that break their instrument falls on. A schematic for the wrong era will send you looking for transistors that aren't there.
Period coverage is thin but pointed. Sound on Sound (December 1995, p.194) listed the Prodigy as a Moog analogue monophonic synthesizer made from 1980 to 1984, designed by Rich Walborn and Tony Marchese, at an original price of £295. The Prodigy's reputation was built partly on the other side of the Atlantic, where the price made it a realistic first Moog rather than a luxury purchase.
The Prodigy's flaws are the flaws of its era and its price point. There is no patch memory, so every sound is a live performance of knob positions. The 32-note F-to-C keyboard is limiting for anything beyond bass and lead work. It still became the entry point into real Moog ownership for a generation of players who couldn't stretch to a Minimoog.
Market Value
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MOOG PRODIGY Nov 2026 │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ High $1,391 Latest $684 │ │ Median $917 Trend — │ │ Low $608 Volume ~2/mo │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ $2,000 ┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ $1,400 ┤ │ │ │ . │ │ │ . . . . │ │ │ . . │ │ $600 ┤. .. .│ │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │ vol │▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄█ ▄ ▄│ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│ │ 2026-03 2026-06 2026-08│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
eBay completed sales. Excludes accessories, parts, and non-working units. Hover points for details.
eBay Listings
Recently sold on eBay: $684–$1,108 (median $917, based on 11 completed sales, past 12 months)
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