I'm not sure a minimoog is what you're looking for (althoug like @Pinhead12, the first thing I thought of was Dr. Dre when I heard that sound), but my favorites for the minimoog sound, in order are

- Of course the real thing (duh)
- Behringer Model D - obviously a lot of kablingy to drop if you're just trying to do one thing, but just saying... it sounds fantastic, and I am starting love working with hardware.
- UAD Minimoog - it is wellllll worth the $39 on sale, or even full price, if you just want to go the cheaper route. iLok sucks though, but I've come to terms with it as I've dived into some UAD stuff, and wow they make some good sounding plugins. Anyways, this one blows me away because the drive from this thing (the overload) seems closer to the real deal than the other VSTs. I don't really like Softube 72 as much or the Arturia one.
- Lastly, Synapse Legend / Legend HZ. Well, I haven't really used the OG Legend a lot, but Legend HZ is pretty damn fun to sound design with, although it is a bit of a cheat-mode, super-powered Model D. I just recommend it for versatility, but I like simplicity (read: lack of features) when it comes to vintage synth emulating, so this one might be one to avoid for that reason, but you also don't have to use all 6 oscillators and other enhancements either.

 

Last edited: Jan 7, 2025 at 5:23 AM

Owned a Mini since 1978, and a Model D and my favorite Mini VST is Softube Model 72. Legend is close. Haven't tried the UAD.

 

Interesting.. can't say I have $5k+ to buy a real one, so I would have to take the word of someone who owns one for comparison. I actually do need to revisit the Model 72, to be honest.. I haven't tried that one in quite some time and I don't remember what it was that I didn't like about it initially but it sounds like I didn't give it the time it deserved, based on what you say, Smeghead.

FYI, I'm not sure how involved they were, but apparently Moog Music helped UAD with modeling the UAD Minimoog. Again, I don't own the real deal to compare, so I'm not sure which gets closer, though.