i have always thought that in a ‘live’ situation, you (the player) will have to create patches ‘on the fly’ (due the the Minimoog not having any Memory). So an understanding of Synthesis is important to enable the player to perform these instant programing actions. And that there are only two methods of operation here :-
1 - To visually memorize the settings (on the control panel) of your patches so that you can re-create these as and when required.
2 - To be able to turn the dials on the control panel without actually playing the keyboard (ie. being able to hear the sound in your head).
i would guess that all of the best players will be able to do both methods !!