Everything about Moog's Music Synthesizer is built on a new and original design. Transistors, especially chosen for voltage sensitivity are used to create each module. Each module is responsible for a separate part of the instrument's tonal character that can be arranged in endless variations. The Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCO) are used to convert voltage into pitch and basic tonal shape. Voltage Controlled Filters (VCF) refine and define the timbre of each note. The Filter module is where most of the tonal personality is generated. Within the Filter module is Moog's amazing 'ladder type' Low Pass Filter. The ladder style filter is a huge part of Moog's fat, gritty knockout punch signature sound. The VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) regulates the volume of each note but can be set to control the level of anything the player assigns it to. The Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) is an ingenious use of a pitch creating Oscillator (VCO) that operates below the human hearing range. Moog cleverly uses it as a kind of 'auto pilot controller' for sequencing, vibrato, or virtually any parameter desired.

Another of Moog's most important contributions is the Envelope Generator (aka Contour control). The EG is responsible for creating the selected "shape" or ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release) for each note. 'ADSR' helps the player choose the natural character of brass, winds, reeds, strings, voice, or anything imaginable (including 'backward' sounds). Without the EG, every one of the millions of sounds an artist can coax out of the Moog Synthesizer would have the same contour as a cheap electric "cord" Organ. No matter what the player is searching for, sounds without contour just don't sound musical, natural, or real (and not in a "good" way).