Moog Sub Phatty Review 2025
Aggressive. Grungy. Sterile? There are a lot of very interesting opinions about the Sub Phatty out there, and only a few of them overlap. Released in 2013, it was the beginning of the Sub series of synths from Moog, and it marked a shift in tone for Moog synths for a while. So how does it stack up in 2025? Is it worth getting today? Let’s dive in.
OSCILLATORS
The first thing you’ll hear, are the oscillators. There’s 2 main oscillators, plus a Sub Osc that is permanently set to Square, and plays 1 octave below Osc 1, and a Pink Noise generator.
Compared to the Slim Phatty, the Sub Phatty raw oscillator tone is aggressive and in your face. Where the Slim Phatty has a smoother rounder tone (partly due to the lower cutoff point for the filter, and also because of the chips used for the VCOs) suitable for vintage 70s and 80s sounds, the Sub Phatty is brighter and dirtier and punches through in a mix more noticeably. It’s not brassy like the Prophet Rev2, but much more aggressive than the Slim.
The 2 main Oscs have full wave sweep capabilities, ranging from pure Triangle wave all the way to narrow Pulse, in a continuous function. It’s quite nice for creating some very exotic dirty electro basses and Psytrance noises.
The Osc Sync function is interesting, although it doesn’t feel like it can penetrate the same territory as the Slim Phatty’s Osc Sync. The Slim’s Sync can veer into full on FM territory with a little coaxing, and DX7 style sounds can be managed on it, whereas the Sub Phatty’s sync never quite achieves the same variety of metallic and hollow sounds.
The Pink Noise generator is helpful for some classes of sounds - the manual states producers like to use it for Percussion sounds. But for modern Techno, House, and Trance producers, Pink Noise is much less useful for modern sound design, since the low frequencies tend to crowd out the rest of the sound and mess with the tone balance. Pure White Noise or some kind of sweepable Noise generator that allows for Pink and White Noise would have been much more useful for making modern Melodic Techno and Progressive Trance sounds.
The 2 layers of Detune capabilities for the Sub Phatty are a welcome touch though, as the single Freq knob on the Slim Phatty makes it very difficult to create detuned Trance and Psytrance saw leads without veering off into uncontrolled tuning territory. Being able to detune very slightly on the main Frequency knob and then adjust the secondary knob a tiny to taste makes it easy to make usable sounds very quickly.
It’s worth noting that pushing the Oscs too loud starts to overdrive them, so factor that into your sound design choices when working with it. A delicate approach is needed when trying to make smooth and gentle sounds with these oscillators.
FILTERS
Besides the Oscillators, this is really what everyone goes to Moog for. But does it have that Classic Moog Ladder Filter Sound?
The Sub Phatty is brighter, is our first impression. It certainly cuts off at a higher frequency than the Slim Phatty. And that sound brightens up further when you reduce the filter slope curves. Tricky part is accessing those slope curves. There’s some obtuse ways to access them via some front panel controls, which I did manage with the manual handy. But it was far from convenient. With the VST editor from Moog, it’s much much easier to change those, and access some other deep settings that expand the sound design capabilities of the synth.
The resonance pushes into self-oscillation and yields some extremely gnarly sounds when cranked in tandem with the Multidrive. It doesn’t quite sound as bright on 303-style Acid sounds that use a low cutoff and moderate Envelope Amount settings, but it can achieve some nice grit that adds fun textures to Techno and Trance tracks.
It didn’t feel quite as ‘round” and smooth as the Slim Phatty, or even the Prophet Rev2, but it did surprise us with its character while experimenting with Plucks and deep Basses.
ENVELOPES
The Envelopes here are pretty normal, as far as synths go, so there’s not too much to say here. The Attack is a bit shorter and tighter than Some folks may be accustomed to, so you have to push it really far to make slow evolving sweeps. It’s great for Plucked sounds, though. The snappy envelopes make Techno and Trance plucks a breeze to design.
LFO
Now this is where some serious excitement is to be had. The Sub Phatty has 3 different LFO Speed Modes, which can be changed via obtuse key combos on the synth… or more easily on the VST editor. And that’s where the fun begins. Switching between Slow, Mid, and Hi speeds allows you to do really gentle wavering swells, more moderate vibratos, or even insane audio rate modulation. We got a lot of great use out of these settings while designing buzzy Hands Up and Progressive House Leads, and on some cinematic sweep type patches. This is one of the Sub Phatty’s strongest points, and really puts it in a league more in line with crazy super-mod synths like the Blofeld or Virus.
MODULATION
As this is an analog synth marketed as more of a budget synth a notch or two beyond the Little Phatty, there isn’t too much to talk about here. Routing options are pretty minimal. It would have been nice if the Amount controls began at 12:00 and could be changed to positive or negative values to yield more exotic modulations. But for the synth’s overall capabilities, the modulation options are workable.
EFFECTS
“Effects” is a bit of an inaccurate header for this section. All the Sub Phatty has is Multidrive. Which we found to be more of a Saturator on lower settings, and then at higher settings, it turns into distortion. It doesn’t mangle the sound quite as nicely as the Overdrive on the Slim Phatty or the Feedback + Multidrive combo on the Sub37, but it does yield some nice added grit to sounds.
CONCLUSION
So, at the end of all things, is the Sub Phatty worthit? Is it still relevant in 2025?
While it lacks in modulation capabilities and the Pink Noise isn’t nearly as useful as the manual claims, this synth has a lot of heft to it, and if you are looking for a snappy semi-modern sounding Moog that can do aggressive sounds and more serene tones, this one would work well for you.
Its oscillators are big and aggressive, and the filter does add a lot of nice character.
In the right contexts, this synth could stand front and center in some very big tunes, and add a lot of welcome character. It definitely works great for Tech and Electro House basses.
So while it might not be our first choice for an analog synth, if you happen to find one at a good price, it could serve a lot of solid uses in your tunes and set you apart from everyone else. Its aggressive gusty character almost takes it to Prodigy territory, and if you can run it through other FX for reverb or distortion or chorus, you will get some very exciting tones out of it.
So overall, we might recommend a couple other synths before this one to Synth Newbies, but we would not turn our nose up at future opportunities to work on it either. We’d recommend it for producers and keyboardists after a specific kind of gritty sound.
That’s our take on it, anyway.