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Moog Music has unveiled a limited-edition version of its Minimoog Model D reissue, the Bob Moog Tribute Edition, of which only 500 units will be available worldwide.

Each Bob Moog Tribute Edition Minimoog Model D will be hand-assembled in Moog’s North Carolina production facility.

Not only honouring the legacy of Bob Moog and celebrating “the technology and imagination of electronic musical instrument design”, but supports The Bob Moog Foundation, an independent non-profit dedicated to preserving Bob Moog’s legacy. The Bob Moog Tribute Edition will be hand-built by the Moog Music team in North Carolina.

Functionally, the Tribute Edition is the same synth as Moog’s 2022 reissue of the Minimoog Model D, combining a meticulous all-analogue recreation of the sound engine and signal path of the original ’70s instrument with a handful of modern enhancements.

These updates include comprehensive MIDI support, an analogue LFO with triangle and square waveforms, a self-centering spring-loaded pitch wheel and a Fatar keybed with velocity and aftertouch accessible via top-panel CV ports.

There’s also a neat mixer modification that allows you to dial in the same feedback-based overdrive that ’70s synthesists achieved by routing the synth’s output into its external input, giving you that classic warm and distorted tone with the twist of a knob.

What’s new:

The differences are purely aesthetic: the Bob Moog Tribute Edition arrives in a custom quartersawn white oak cabinet (the 2022 reissue was bedecked in Appalachian cherry wood) and you’ll find a custom Bob Moog Foundation decal on the rear panel. The synth also comes with a semi-rigid case custom-built for the Model D.

The instrument features a custom badge that uses a metal photo-anodization process, which harkens back to the modular panel graphics found on the System 55, System 35, and Model 10 synthesizers, as well as select early R.A. Moog Co. Minimoogs.

And while the Bob Moog Tribute Edition’s aesthetic tweaks are relatively minor, the bragging rights associated with its limited-edition status might well be priceless to the diehard collectors amongst you. And, $500 from the sale of each synth will be donated directly to the Bob Moog Foundation, supporting the Moogseum, Dr. Bob’s Sound School, and the preservation of the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, so you’ll get a side order of good karma too.

The Bob Moog Tribute Edition Minimoog Model D is priced at $3,999.

Find out more on the Moog Music website.

Today, Bob Moog Foundation announces its fundraising raffle for a brand new Geddy Lee Minimoog Model D synthesizer.

The limited-edition synth, serial number GLMD-0233, was hand-built in Asheville, NC, and is one of 500 released by Moog Music on March 20, 2025. It comes with several exclusive items, including a certificate of authenticity signed by Geddy Lee.

Crafted in limited quantities, and destined to become a collector’s item, the Geddy Lee Minimoog Model D pays tribute to the Rush legend. The synth boasts an exclusive satin red finish as a nod to Rush’s Grace Under Pressure tour setup. Its custom VCA allows an extra sonic punch that elevates the classic Minimoog sound to new heights.

“It’s a thrill to see the Minimoog Model D in that stunning red, so representative of one of the most fertile periods in Rush’s creative history,” noted Geddy Lee. “I’ve always been mad for custom color instruments, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. It’s just so beautiful.”

The Geddy Lee Minimoog Model D delivers the advanced features of Moog Music’s modern Model D:

• Original discrete analog circuitry re-engineered and optimized for authentic vintage Moog sound
• Modern upgrades like MIDI, a premium Fatar keybed with velocity and aftertouch, and a rock-solid power supply
• 44-note Fatar keybed with spring-action pitch wheel and modulation for expressive performance
• MIDI connectivity (In, Out, Thru) and full support for Note, Velocity, Pitch Bend, Aftertouch, and SysEx commands
• Extensive control voltage options, including Loudness, Filter, Oscillator, Modulation inputs, and Aftertouch, Pitch, V-Trig, and Velocity outputs
• Dedicated analog LFO with triangle/squarewave options for deep modulation

Included with the synth are:

• Numbered Certificate of Authenticity personally hand-signed by Geddy Lee
• Custom “Starman” badge on the front and matching sticker on the rear
• Limited-edition 10-inch red translucent vinyl record featuring Rush’s “Xanadu” and “Jacob’s Ladder”
• Exclusive Geddy Lee Minimoog Model D poster

Funds raised from the raffle will be used to expand the Bob Moog Foundation’s hallmark educational project, Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, which has inspired over 35,000 elementary school students through the science of sound. The raffle also helps support the Moogseum, an immersive, experiential museum located in Asheville, NC, which brings the science of sound and synthesis alive for people of all ages, through Bob Moog’s pioneering legacy. The Moogseum opened in May 2019, and has since welcomed over 45,000 visitors from all over the world. It is still recovering from the long-term financial impact of Hurricane Helene.

Raffle tickets can be purchased at this link. Raffle tickets are $25 each, 5 for $100, 12 for $200, and 35 for $500. The raffle runs from now until 11:59 pm on May 19, 2025, Eastern (US) Standard Time. The raffle is open internationally. All proceeds benefit the projects of the Bob Moog Foundation.

Synthesist Jay Hosking shared this video, noting that the Moog Minimoog Model D is “the archetype for a reason”.

The Minimoog has been copied, cloned, knocked off and emulated for decades, and synthesists have more options for getting that sound that ever.

But Hosking argues that the Minimoog isn’t ‘magically better’, but it is a beautiful instrument, and there are real reasons why it’s still the archetype of a synth, even after 50 years.

Here’s what he shared about the video:

“This is an exploration of the Moog Minimoog Model D, no goals other than to have fun. The Walrus Slöer adds reverb and sounds beautiful. There was no additional processing to the sound. And what a beautiful sound it is.

The Minimoog Model D is one of the two main instruments that started my love of synths in the first place. I’ve long wanted one, and the reissue’s wood looked especially beautiful, but I had to wait until I saw it at the right price. That happened last week, and here we are.

Yes, I know there are clones, and I know those clones can sound very very good. I’m not telling you that this is somehow magically better; it probably isn’t. But I can tell you it feels like an instrument, it’s beautiful to the touch, it has a heft to it, and the wood makes it feel like an installation piece or furniture or something that occupies physical space in the environment. I feel like I’m sharing the room with it, a creative environment, and that’s a harder thing to quantify.

Some full songs will be coming with it at some point. How could they not? It’s just incredible.”