Moog Synthesizer IIIp (1969, Reissued 2018)
The Moog Synthesizer IIIp is one of the rarer early Moog systems. Originally released in 1969, the IIIp was the company's first portable system. It was a roadworthy version of the larger IIIc, housed in three tolex cabinets instead of built into furniture. It put the Moog sound on the road, and it was used by artists like Isao Tomita and George Harrison.
In 2018, Moog Music brought the IIIp back as a reissue, announced at $35,000 and limited to just 40 units worldwide. Each one is handcrafted from the original documentation, including circuit diagrams dating back to 1964, using the same assembly methods as the original factory. Inside are thirty-seven hand-stuffed, hand-soldered discrete modules, including ten 901-series oscillators, the 984 Matrix Mixer, 902-series VCAs, and a 905. The design is 100% discrete, with no op-amps anywhere in the signal path.
This is not a modern synth dressed up as a vintage one. As Moog itself has noted, a new IIIp is built exactly as the originals, and it behaves exactly as the originals. That means tuning instability and susceptibility to interference are part of the design. A single unit has appeared on the used market at $32,000, with Noisebug listing serial number 5 of 40 complete with the 953 keyboard.
Very little was written about this instrument in period sources. Audio-era publications from the late 1960s barely covered it, and most of what is known today comes from the 2018 reissue announcement and the handful of dealers who carried it. The original IIIp's production years are undocumented, and detailed module-by-module specs are scarce.
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