Omg-1 Contest
OMG-1 | Winners
The OMG-1 Story
OMG-1 Technical Details
  • Moog Little Phatty™ analog synthesizer
  • Internal Mac Mini™
    2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
    8GB memory
    256GB Solid State Drive
    USB2/Firewire800
    Mini Displayport Video
  • 2 Apple iPads™
  • 2 Apple iPods™
  • Akai LPF-25™ secondary mini-keyboard
  • Built-in Airport Express™ Wireless network
  • XLR Main Computer Audio Outputs
  • Optical Digital I/O Computer Audio
  • DB25 Multipin connector for rear audio outputs of iPads/iPods
  • DC25 to 1/4 andTT cable snakes included
  • Hinged iPad and iPod Doors for service access
  • Rear Panel Sustain, Expression/Modulation Pedals included
  • Custom SKB Flight Case included
  • Custom Studio Slips™ soft gig bag and dust cover included
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State of the Art Performance Instrument
The OMG-1 is a stunning custom hardware synthesizer created by Eric Persing that integrates the worlds of analog synthesis, computers, software synthesis and the latest multi-touch surfaces into one extraordinary instrument. Persing designed it as a live performance instrument, and it is not a commercial product — it's truly one-of-a-kind. The state of the art dual manual OMG-1 combines a Moog Little Phatty® analog synthesizer, Spectrasonics' flagship Omnisphere® software synthesizer, a powerful internal Apple Mac Mini computer, dual Apple iPads®, dual iPods®, and Spectrasonics' Omni TR™ iPad app — all integrated into a beautiful, hand-crafted curly maple cabinet created by American artisan Daniel Auon.

OMG-1 Construction OMG-1 Construction OMG-1 Construction OMG-1 Construction


"I'll never forget the first time I played a Minimoog when I was a little kid…it truly changed my life!" says Eric Persing, Founder and Creative Director of Spectrasonics, "So it's a privilege after all these years to give back to the foundation honoring my hero Bob Moog and keeping the spirit and history of his inventions alive for the next generation. I had a blast designing the OMG-1 with Dan and we wish Grand Prize winner Torley Wong many years of inspiration with it!"

Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation noted, "We are grateful to Eric Persing for creating and sharing this one-of-a-kind innovative instrument. The foundation's mission is to ignite creativity at the intersection of music, science, history and innovation. It is fitting that Eric's OMG-1 does just that. His instrument represents the contemporary convergence of analog and digital, hardware and software. I think Bob would applaud Eric's efforts to transcend boundaries in order to create an instrument with new and unique capabilities."
OMG-1
Michelle Moog-Koussa, Daniel Auon and Eric Persing at NAMM 2011


Eric Persing gives a quick tour of the OMG-1


Frequently Asked Questions about the OMG-1

Where can I buy an OMG-1?
You can't. :-) It's a one-of-a-kind custom instrument.

Will Moog be producing OMG-1s to purchase?
No. There's no affiliation between Spectrasonics and Moog Music (which makes hardware synths). The OMG-1 is just a personal custom project of Eric Persing's and he donated it for this contest to raise money for the Bob Moog Foundation.

Why is Eric giving the OMG-1 away?
As a way of saying thanks for the inspiration that Bob Moog's life and work as an American inventor has meant to his career with synthesizers and electronic music. Spectrasonics simply would not exist without Bob Moog and we are a result of his legacy. The Bob Moog Foundation is very much about keeping the creative spirit of innovation in Electronic Music alive and at Spectrasonics, we are all very much behind their mission of inspiring the next generation.

So Moog and Spectrasonics are working together now?
No. The Bob Moog Foundation is a separate entity from Moog Music and is a 501( c )(3) non-profit organization. Spectrasonics is partnering with the Bob Moog Foundation for this benefit, not with Moog Music.

Will Spectrasonics be getting into manufacturing the OMG-1s in the future?
No. The instrument would be way too costly to produce and market commercially!

How much did the OMG-1 cost to make and how much is it worth?
Priceless! :-)
The raw materials cost alone is well over $7,000. Then add to that the labor time of 8 months of custom engineering and craftsmanship of Eric and Daniel and you can see that the raw labor and materials cost alone is extremely high. Since it's a one-of-a-kind instrument, that makes it even more valuable!

What's the second keyboard for?
To extend the range of the keys, since 3 octaves on the Little Phatty keyboard is fairly limiting for polyphonic playing. Each keyboard can be transposed independently.

What do the iPods do?
They can be used for any MIDI control surface apps or additional soundsources.

How can the OMG-1 be polyphonic if the Little Phatty™ is a monophonic synth?
The Little Phatty outputs MIDI polyphonically.

How is Omnisphere integrated into this instrument?
Omnisphere runs on the internal Mac Mini computer. It can be controlled from seven places:

  • Both Keyboards
  • Omni TR iPad App
  • iTeleport iPad App for remotely accessing the desktop like a video monitor
  • Little Phatty front panel controls are integrated with Omnisphere with custom MIDI Learn template that auto-loads on boot up

Can I run other software instruments on the OMG-1?
Of course! It's possible to run any iOS app and any Mac or Windows software on the internal Mac Mini…whatever you like, even Pro Tools!