Synthesizer Pioneer Bob Moog Dies 258
Sigalarm writes "CNN is reporting that synthesizer pioneer and all-around vanguard of electronic music Bob Moog has passed away at age 71. Dr. Moog built his first electronic instrument -- the theremin -- at age 14 and made the MiniMoog, 'the first compact, easy-to-use synthesizer,' in 1964. He was the first to bring the electronic synthesizer within reach of most musicians, and his MiniMoog is still highly praised and often emulated, to this day."
Moog Archives (Score:5, Informative)
Bye bye Bob... (Score:5, Interesting)
He was able to get his trademarks back and his designs, and a new version of the Minimoog came out at the most recent NAMM convention in California in January. Here's a non-sponsored link to it. [zzounds.com]
He was a geek's geek, and put the tech in techno. He will be missed.
He Milked the Mini-Moog Then Fell Behind (Score:2, Interesting)
His latest products rock! I have the MF-101 and 104 and they are truly a delight. Hope his sons further the business.
Re:He Milked the Mini-Moog Then Fell Behind (Score:4, Informative)
I read a David Luce paper in Journal Of The Audio engineering Society. Nice measurements of musical instrument spectra, completely faulty mechanism for describing how they changed with amplitude.
Here's a link to a good history of Moog Music, including how Luce was chosen to run the outfit after Moog left.
http://www.synthmuseum.com/moog/ [synthmuseum.com]
Re:Bye bye Bob... (Score:4, Informative)
CBS Music never owned the Moog trademark. In the 1970/80s it was owned by Norlin, who also owned Gibson guitars, Lowrey organs, Maestro FX pedals, Pearl Drums, among others.
The Moog trademark lapsed by the mid 90s and was snatched up by Don Martin. After promises of reissued Moog products, accepting 50% deposits, and very little product delivered, Don was forced into bankruptcy and the assets were liquidated. Bob Moog stepped in to reacquire the trademarks to his name and the instruments, and operated as Moog Music since 2002.
Bob's 21st century Minimoog, the Voyager, is an outstanding product. I have one of the early Voyagers and it is a high quality product, as is the other Moog products they currently make.
We lost a great man this weekend.
Re:Moog Archives (Score:3, Informative)
Bob's musical instruments not only helped create the electronic music genre but also subtly changed many other musical genres.
With the introduction of ever more powerful instruments you'd be hard pressed to turn on the radio and not hear a synthesizer of one form or another in the mix.
There's an interview with Bob here [electronicmusic.com] which is also mirrored here [kurzweilai.net]
Re:Moog Archives (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Moog Archives (Score:3, Interesting)
Isao Tomita [wikipedia.org]:
Synthesizers 'round the world have this to say (Score:2, Funny)
bweeep boop bweep
Pronunciation (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Pronunciation (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Pronunciation (Score:4, Funny)
"Yes, the name is pronounced Moag, but Mr. Moag has said that his instruments can be pronounced either way..."
Re:Pronunciation (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Pronunciation (Score:3, Informative)
sources: http://members.tripod.com/vermontreview/Interviews /moog.htm [tripod.com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Moog
No worries (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Pronunciation (Score:2, Funny)
Better Guide (Score:5, Funny)
It's pronounced "moag", as in, "Worf, son of".
Re:Better Guide (Score:2)
Re:Better Guide (Score:2)
Info Brought to You By (Score:2)
Re:Pronunciation (Score:2)
Haunted House (Score:5, Funny)
And where would boardwalks be without haunted houses? Childhood as we know it would collapse.
Re:Haunted House (Score:5, Informative)
on a related note... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Haunted House (Score:2)
Twilight Zone reruns OTOH...
BTW - Bob didn't invent the Theremin, it was Lev Sergeivitch Termen (later Leon Theremin)
Re:Haunted House (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Haunted House (Score:2, Informative)
A russian, Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Leon Theremin) invented the theremin in 1919, 45 years before the Moog prototype was made.
Re: Bob Moog (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: Bob Moog (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Bob Moog (Score:2)
Needless to say, I also have SOB and WTS as Walter. SOB-II album I have and Sonic Seasonings has `Wendy` on it.
20 years ago, I build my own monophonic synthesizer using (I think, it's been a while) 755 and 756 Voltage Controlled Oscillators with Bob Moog and Wendy clearly being the motivation.
We (had a friend in with me) built a 1-octave key bank and kept most everything on breadboards.
We did etch a few copper plates for o
Re: Bob Moog (Score:3, Informative)
Damn sad day... (Score:3, Interesting)
RIP Bob (Score:5, Interesting)
So long, and thanks for all the samples!
Re:RIP Bob (Score:2)
I think you will find that the first digital sampling synthesiser was the Fairlight [wikipedia.org].
The first analog sampling synthesiser was the Mellotron [wikipedia.org].
Anyone know what the first digital synthesiser was?
That covers both meanings of "sam
Re:RIP Bob (Score:2)
Re:RIP Bob (Score:2)
Re:First song (Score:4, Informative)
The server seems getting slower, so... (Score:5, Informative)
The Man Behind the Machines
What would the world of modern music be like without the inventions of Bob Moog? One answer would be: very boring. Bob Moog's namesake analog synthesizers have affected popular music in ways he might not have expected back in 1954 when he began building theremins with his father. But 50 years later, Bob's musical instruments have catapulted so many styles of music into the future, and his contributions to both players and technicians grow even more profound in retrospect.
Where would R&B, rap and hip-hop be if groups like Parliament and Funkadelic hadn't used Moog keyboards? Where would rock and roll be if groups from Yes to the Beatles hadn't used Moog keyboards? Would jazz music have branched off into fusion without Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea using Moog keyboards? And would classical music have enjoyed such resurgence without Wendy Carlos and her modular Moog synthesizer? The questions are hypothetical, of course, because synthesizers have infiltrated every style of music, and so many companies have tried to recreate that analog sound. But above all the copycats and spin-offs, it always comes back to one name: Moog.
After ten years of making theremins, providing unearthly sounds to science fiction movies and avante garde musicians, Bob Moog met experimental composer Herbert Deutsch, whose search for electronic sounds inspired Bob to create the first Moog Modular Synthesizer. Though Bob took on the project just for fun, when he premiered it at the Audio Engineering Society Convention in October of 1964 the response was immediate and Bob started taking orders on the spot. By the time he received a graduate degree (PhD in Engineering Physics, Cornell University) in the summer of 1965, the R. A. Moog Co. had delivered several modular synthesizer systems, mostly to academic and experimental composers. But it would be a few years later when public awareness of Moog synthesizers would leap ahead beneath the nimble fingers of Wendy Carlos.
Carlos' renowned album "Switched-On Bach" was released on Columbia Records at the
end of 1968, achieving immediate success. The album went on to sell over a million copies, creating a sharp demand for Moog modular synthesizers throughout 1969 and early 1970. Many "switched-on" records were produced during that period. By the end of 1970, the now incorporated R. A. Moog Inc. introduced the Minimoog®, a compact performance synthesizer based on the technology of Moog modular products, enabling keyboardists to take the Moog on the road. And that began a decade of music that would be forever altered by the Minimoog and its incomparable sounds.
R. A. Moog Inc. officially changed its name to Moog Music Inc. in 1971 and became a division of the now defunct Norlin Music in 1973. Moog synthesizers were widely used by professional musicians and the "Sound of the Moog" became an integral part of our musical culture. The list of songs is far too long to print here, but from rock to R&B, from jazz to classical music, the Moog sounds were everywhere.
At the end of 1977, Bob left Moog Music and in 1978 founded Big Briar for the purpose of developing and building electronic musical instruments with novel player interfaces. Actual Moog keyboards were made for the better part of the next decade by Norlin Music, but with the heart and soul of Moog gone, Moog keyboards ceased production by 1986. Though gone from his namesake company, Bob's interest in synthesizers and instruments could not be quelled. From 1978 to 1992, Bob operated Big Briar on a small scale and kept building custom instruments. He was also representing Synton, a Dutch manufacturer of modular equipment, and providing consultation services to other music technology manufacturers. In addition, Bob served as Kurzweil Music Systems' Vice President of New Product Research from 1984 through 1989, and taught music technology courses at the University of North Carolina at Asheville from 1989 to 1992.
Re:The server seems getting slower, so... (Score:2)
He had the "operation" to become Wendy after Switched-On Bach was produced.
Re:The server seems getting slower, so... (Score:2)
Tribute (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Tribute (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Tribute (Score:3, Insightful)
I used the novation bass station's built in converter to talk to a Moog Rogue, worked fine.
Goodbye, mr Moog.
Re:Tribute (Score:5, Insightful)
That would make for an awful tribute, in my opinion. Moog pioneered and championed analog, imperfect, and continuously variable signals. MIDI is all about crisp, quantized, digital, perfectly sequencable and recordable signals.
A better tribute, in my opinion, would be to play taps on some his own gear (or at least a Theremin or something) run through a class Moog ladder filter.
That would get him self-oscillating, I'm sure.
Re:Tribute (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Tribute (Score:3, Informative)
The entire control aspect of MIDI, the entire frequency range and "note" aspect of MIDI, all of MIDI's timing, and every other control or signal is quantized, perfect, reproducable, and digital.
You can't -continuously- vary the tempo, the frequency of gate signals, the frequency of any oscillator, the resonance value of any filter, etc. Oh, sure, you can get 16 bits or more of resolution on these dig
Re:Tribute (Score:4, Interesting)
Matched, differential transistor pairs are stacked to form a ladder. The transistors aren't being used for gain, though. The control voltage varies the current through the stack which causes the conductance of the transistors to vary... a lot. The cutoff frequency can be swept through five orders of magnitude by the control voltage alone.
I showed that circuit to quite a few EE profs before I found one who could give an adequate explanation of how it worked.
Sheer genius.
Re:Tribute (Score:2)
Documentary about Moog (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.zu33.com/moog/ [zu33.com]
While the movie doesn't work for everyone (it's a little arty and a little weird), it has a lot of interview footage with Bob Moog and his unique outlook on life. It's well worth getting and a very dreamy, very loving portrait of the man.
How lucky we are that Fjellestad took this project on.
My Respects before i bring a lightheart here (Score:2, Funny)
So long, and thanks for all the BASS.
respect,love, and continuation,
jamesr.
Minimoog was released in 1970! (Score:5, Informative)
A sad day in music history (Score:5, Funny)
Robots, Computers and Satan would have nothing to dance to if it weren't for him."
Re:A sad day in music history (Score:5, Informative)
The government is waging war on its own citizens under the guise of the war on drugs, now blatantly violating the constition. It's clear that if you are not a good christian who drinks beer and watches football, you're a second class citizen. I'm just glad nobody died.
Re:A sad day in music history (Score:3, Informative)
looks like the video link is gone.
I found more info at wikinews [wikinews.org] with links to videos.
-metric
Re:A sad day in music history (Score:4, Informative)
Now as for the permits, they were destroyed by the police. If you don't believe it, we'll find out when it all goes to court. The police just didn't care that this event was as legal as an Allman Brothers concert. The linked article is extremely poorly researched, and deliberately biased towards the government.
Anyway, if you've ever been to a rave you'd know that there's almost never any trouble. Ravers are peaceful friendly people. Most all raves are well planned with security and medical. The only "problems" that happen are people consuming drugs of their own volition. Illegal yes, but does that justify waving assault rifles in their faces?
Besides, if you care so much about law and order, you should be concerned that this raid happened in a lawful manner. It wasn't.
Re:A sad day in music history (Score:3, Informative)
That doesn't really do justice to it:
Source: From the account of one of the headline DJs [404audio.com]
Other choice quotes:
Listening Suggestion (Score:5, Informative)
Switched on Bach by Wendy Carlos, especially the last track (Initial Experiments). You can hear Wendy working with a prototype Moog pressure-sensitive keyboard, trying various settings and arrangements. Wendy's narration provides great background to the experiments. As a geek, it is (by far) my favorite track on the CD.
RIP, Bob.
Re:Listening Suggestion (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Listening Suggestion (Score:3)
Bury him in a 19" wide, rackmountable casket... (Score:5, Funny)
Oscillate wildly, Robert Moog.
See also: Robert Moog [wikipedia.org] Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia Article (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Wikipedia Article (Score:3, Funny)
Cyberpunk Fuction (Score:5, Funny)
"Whose synthesizer is this?"
"It's a sampler, baby."
"Whose sampler is this?"
"Bob's."
"Who's Bob?"
"Bob's dead, baby. Bob's dead..."
Re:Cyberpunk Fuction (Score:4, Funny)
> "It's a sampler, baby."
> "Whose sampler is this?"
> "Bob's."
> "Who's Bob?"
> "Bob's dead, baby. Bob's dead..."
"Y'know what they call industrial music over there? Electro Body Music!"
"Electro Body Music? What do they call techno?"
"Well, techno's techno. Except in Paris they call it 'le techno'."
"What do they call house?"
"I don't know, I don't listen to that shit. But you know what put on drums in Holland?"
"What?"
"Flange."
"Goddamn!"
"They fuckin' bury 'em in it..."
The first track of the album [ink19.com] album also features a bit of dialog that, by itself, is worth the price of the entire album:
"All right, everybody, be COOL! I'm your new SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR!"
"Any of you fucking Ewoks move and I'll terminate every last motherfucking job on the mainframe!"
Re:god damn liberals (Score:2)
Or worse, they play that devil rock and roll "music" (if you can even call it that). In twenty years, church music may finally move from the 60's to the 80's, meaning no more Peter, Paul, and Mary-esque "As the Deer," just Kraftwerk-esque "Tour du Heaven."
FreshAir interview (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?stor
Re:FreshAir interview (Score:2, Informative)
Einstein? (Score:3, Informative)
Wow, deep stuff, man, but don't bogart that joint. At first sight, I though Mr. Carlini must be some hack that CNN tapped for a quote. Turns out, Carlini is a force in the NYC entertainment industry -- http://carlinigroup.com/pdf/bio.pdf [carlinigroup.com]. Sorry for the PDF.
Let me join the rest of the music world in wishing Dr. Robert Moog peaceful journeys. Without his genius, we might never have experienced music as we know it today.
Moog's Hometown Newspaper Story (Score:2)
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article ?AID=/20050822/NEWS01/50822006/1001 [citizen-times.com]
Good-bye, and thank you.
If was your instrument and Walter--later Wendy--Carolos'work, which brought me to classical music.
Steven
Mini-Moog inspired my career (Score:2)
I got to meet him once at an Audio Engineering Society convention; just shook his hand and said "Thanks".
He was the real thing.
Sigh.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Keith Emersons' heart stopping sounds at
the close of the single "Lucky Man" was
probably my first exposure to synthesizer
music. I later heard Switched on Bach as
well as many of the electronic german bands
who specialized in synthesis.
Some synthesizer-predominant artists
such as Tangerine Dream, Synergy,
Kraftwerk, Michael Hoenig, Klaus Schulze,
Ash Ra Tempel, Vangelis, Wendy Carlos,
and SFF among many, many others simply
wouldn't sound the same OR actually
sound at all without them.
I think of an interview with the canadian
band Saga who at one time owned "one of
everything" that Moog made and was offered
an endorsement deal from Moog and they said
"why bother? We already own everything you
make!" That's a ringing endorsement.
And the secret to the Moog sound was the filters
in those instruments. Every synthesizer made
had their own unique sound. But everyone tried
to copy the Moog filter sound and didn't quite
succeed.
I bet they will still be buying Minimoogs' in
100 years - something about that design and
sound with tweakable knobs urges playing.
Small wonder that in the 80s when synth
makers went to touch panels or increment and
decrement buttons players liked them less
even though the sounds were unique because
the interface made you play a certain way.
The sound was more alive when you could
manipulate the sound with knobs while
playing.
Notable makers who used the "knobs as sound
shaping devices" were Wolfgang Palm of the
venerable PPG (and later Waldorf) as well as
Roland who resurrected the "plethora of knobs"
idea with their JD800. Knobs work and Mr.
Moog must have just understood this. Some
others did too.
But the Moog sound was instantly identifiable.
And it is still used today. And very likely
100 years from now. That Minimoog voyager
with blue LEDs is an object of lust for more
than just a few.
Bon Voyage, Robert:
Let's hope he'll rest in peace or spend eternity
driving God insane with giant filter sweeps on
the biggest modular in the universe.
I have an excerpt from his funeral... (Score:5, Funny)
Had a MicroMoog (Score:2)
My old man owned a copy of Switched on Bach when I was little, and I loved Walter (later Wendy) Carlos' interpretations.
As I grew up learning the piano, then getting to love electronics and later computing, the Micromoog was in my electronics lab right beside the soldering iron, so I could riff while I worked. I got it as a cast off gift from a musician when I repaired hi
RIP (Score:2, Interesting)
"Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone..."
Synth genius, but not the first (Score:2, Informative)
Switched On -- Honorably... (Score:5, Interesting)
Bob Moog proved that the term "honorable businessman" is not an oxymoron, at least not in his case.
Bob had the occasion to visit Raymond Scott in his studio, and see one of Scott's secret inventions-- the sequencer. Scott unfortunately, was very protective of his ideas-- so much so that he undoubtedly took many of them to his grave. Scott didn't want his secret invention to get out-- though apparently needed some confirmation from someone qualified to appreciate it, else why would Bob be seeing it in the first place?
Consequently, the Moog Synthesizers did not have sequencers until the competition came up with them and started beating Moog up in the marketplace, so finally Scott let Bob off the hook and allowed Bob to manufacture sequencers for his synthesizers. Bob probably could have just stolen the idea, though in fact it's likely he would have arrived at it independently, but because Bob was honorable, he didn't use the sequencer concept without Scott's OK.
Just one of a wide variety of great stories. They don't make them like that anymore...
I got to meet Bob briefly in L.A. at the unveiling of the Fairlight CMI in the 1970s (or was it early '80s, I forget)-- he was involved in some of the PR of the instrument. It was a small group, and Bob gave a nice talk on music technologies. Great guy...
The Moog VCF is still being emulated (along with most of his other components) in digital "virtual analog" synthesizers today. I had a chance to pick up a classic Moog modular setup in the '70s for about $500. I still kick myself for passing it up. (big darn thing though, I had an Arp 2600 at the time (still have) and preferred the convenience of it, but while the 2600 has increased in value, not nearly as much as an original Moog modular-- plus the coolness factor now of a big 1/4" jack patched synth would now be pretty hard to beat)...
Almost Bought a MiniMoog... (Score:2)
Only $300...
That thing was fun to play with...
I kept going to the store and amusing the owner with all the weird noises I made with it, but I just kept procrastinating over buying it and eventually someone else got it...
Thanks (Score:2)
Regards
Ed Almos
Budapest, Hungary
Interesting name, Moog. (Score:2)
(1) See Fletch: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089155/ [imdb.com]
"Moog" is a Dutch (from Holland) name (Score:2, Interesting)
From this link [google.com] (or Google cache [64.233.187.104],
He "got it" (Score:3, Insightful)
My Theramin (Score:2)
Back when I was a kid my dad made one for my mom, that used optical sensors. It always fascinated me, and I enjoyed the way it was used in so many shows and movies, everything from The Outer Limits to The Day The Earth Stood Still.
Guess I'll get it out tonight
Minimoog was released in 1970 (Score:2)
well they bungled the Theremin description (Score:3, Interesting)
Um, no. Theremins are not played by "passing the hand through and around vibrating radio tubes."
There are two ANTENNAS protruding from the cabinet and you wave you hands around the antennas.
FFS, how can someone be so blinking ignorant?
I saw an old film of the Theremin being played by Termen and I fell in love with it. I have found schematics and other instructions to build one with tubes. I'm currently scrounging around garage sales for the stuff I need to build one as they were originally designed.
I've read that the tube based ones sound much better than the IC based ones..
Eek! (Score:2)
Moog! (Score:2)
I remember being a kid and listening to this album [franklarosa.com] over and over and over again on my father's 4-channel system (while tripping out on the cover art).
My father still has that old Sansui quadrophonic setup (and the original speakers).
Come to think of it, he might still have this vinyl sitting in the middle of his "Kingston Trio" collection...
Moog Inspired My Career in Electronics (Score:2)
When I was about 8, I remember hearing Switched on Bach in someone's car. The sound of the Moog synthesizer intrigued me, and after that point I tried to find recordings and information about synthesizers. In my teens, I started tinkering with electronics kits to make various oscillator circuits, and I continued to collect synthesizer related material. I went into electrical engineering in college and have since made a career out of electronics.
Just last year, I bought a Moog Theremin, which included an
Farewell, Dr. Moog (Score:2, Informative)
Moog at a gig (Score:2)
The audience went absolutely apeshit. Everyone there knew about him, about the instruments, and to say they were glad to see him was an understatement --- the way it was reported to me he got more applau
Moog set the standard (Score:2)
I own a Moogerfooger Low Pass Filter (and a Control Panel) and it is way cool as an ef
A great man, leaving behind a wide wake (Score:5, Interesting)
I was just an undergraduate, assigned to maintain the synthesizer at the University/Buffalo; Bob would often visit and show me nifty wrinkles and hacks for the system. It was a time when your fingers were likely found on a sliderule, an oscilloscope probe, or the cork of a soldering iron.
For his large synthesizers, Moog's circuit cards were etched and soldered by hand, and fitted into a wood frame work, with a spiffy black anodized front panel. The potentiometers were a constant headache: even milspec pots developed noise after a month of hard use by musicians.
Bob standardized on one volt per octave for his voltage controlled oscillators; my job was keeping these working
A visit from Bob Moog might mean experimenting with nonlinear mixers, measuring how an audio expander could minimize apparent noise, or the Fourier transforms of trumpets and coronets. With patch cords hanging around his neck, Bob helped rewire my homebrew Theramin to minimize drift, using a 2N107 germanium transistor as a thermal sensor.
Thirty five years later, I've been an astronomer, computer jock, writer, lecturer, and Klein Bottle mogul. But I'll never forget Bob Moog
- Cliff Stoll 2005/8/22
Compact??? Easy to use??? (Score:2, Informative)
Having used a Mini-Moog, I can tell you it is far from compact, and it is certainly not easy to use. Other than that, the Mini is nothing short of brilliance. Two VCOs form the basis of its authoritative sound. It falls short of a full blown ADSR, but it gets the job done.
One interesting thing I read is that there was a club that used to have jam sessions where guys would bring out their Minis and set them all to the same EXACT settings and exhibit completely diff
Re:Moog (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Fuck you Moog (Score:5, Interesting)
Pro-electronic music: synthesizer and samplers are instruments, just like a harpsichord or a bassoon. Instruments are just tools that channel the creativity of composers and performers. Therefore you still have to be a good composer or performer to make good music with electronics.
Against electronic music: synthesizer and samplers sounds very good with little to no effort or talent. Therefore, a whole generation of people without talent, or the ability or patience to learn to play an instrument through years or practice, started to spew out what they think is music, but really isn't much more than a cold, soulless collection of sounds at best.
My opinion is: yes, both.
Guitars are just an image thing (Score:2, Insightful)
The synthesizer (or actually the sequencer) disconnected technical quality from talent, but to this day creativity has very little to do with neither electronics nor fast fingers.
Then consider this: guitars and drums make anyone look cool playing them, thus no need for worthwhile music being played. Synths (or laptops...it's the 200
Re:Fuck you Moog (Score:2)
Assuming for the moment that you're right about the skill required for real electronic synthesizers rather than the toys. What is the proble
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:An archetect of many eras of music (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What was he thinking.. (Score:3, Informative)
He was thinking "...and back". Lots of contemporary electronica/trip hop bands actually use analog synthesizers (Moog included) for many reasons. If you don't understand these reasons, just listen to groups such as Air [wikipedia.org].