Dr. Robert Moog (1 Viewer)

[CharlesD]

Sad news: Dr. Bob Moog, the synthesizer pioneer died this weekend from a brain tumor, he was 71.

Moog invented the first practical electronic synthesizer, the Moog Modular, a large rack mounted collection of voltage controlled oscillators, envelope generators, amplifiers, filters and mixers configured by path cords. Later he developed the Mini Moog, a portable monophonic synth made famous by the likes of Yes's Rick Wakeman & was the first such instrument to become widely used in recording and live performance by rock bands.

If you've ever seen the Moog documentary recently released on DVD you'll know that Bob Moog was a wonderful warm and generous person who will be greatly missed.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

I'm not very familiar with the man and his personality, but I am familiar with his work.

Thank you for bringing music into the space age, Dr. Moog.

 

[Colton]

Somewhat off-topic, but I used to have this album:



- Colton

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i consider the "a clockwork orange - original score" by wendy carlos to be among my very favorite albums. rip dr. moog.

CJ

 

[Ted Lee]

ted's trivia tip of the day.

 

[CharlesD]

Moog did say that he was happy with either pronunciation for his synths, and even preferred the "cow" pronunciation.

 

[Linda Thompson]

Speaking of Moog trivia...

Did you know that Micky Dolenz, of The Monkees, was one of the first (some sources actually say THE first) professional musicians to own a Moog? And, that the Monkees are generally credited with being the first popular act to release a record featuring the Moog?

Also, don't discount Dr. Moog's contributions regarding the theramin. (I've seen Jimmy Page play one from third row center, and it was a phenomenal experience.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moog

RIP, Dr. Moog...

 

[Ted Lee]

odd ... that goes against his direct quote which i listed above???

 

[CharlesD]

not really, your quote was asking about the pronunciation of his family name, but as far as the instrument goes most people used the "cow" version & he was happy with that.

 

[Ted Lee]

oh...i see what you mean. thx!

 

[Alex-C]

Wow !

The Moog syntesizer in all its incantations was revolutionary !

I have that Dick Hyman album as well as Exotic Moog with Les Baxter and Martin Denny and The Moog Cookbook Cds.

If you are unfamiliar with The Moog Cookbook, you have to find a way to hear their version of Basket Case.

 

[Kevin M]

It should be noted that Walter/Wendy Carlos had a close friendship with Moog throughout the sixties and was instrumental (no pun intended) in helping him develop the professional version of the Moog Synth before it was ever sold to the public* so I would think that Walter was one of the first to own one not an ex-monkey. Perhaps Micky was one of the first high profile "Pop" musicians to actually buy one.

*Making it very odd that "she" isn't in the documentary MOOG at all.


BTW, Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey, a film I have owned on LD for years and never thought would be put out on DVD has also been released recently, I recommend this wonderful documentary for anyone interested in electronic music.

 

[CharlesD]

Walter/Wendy Carlos used the big Moog Modular, and the Monkey had the Mini Moog.

It was the Mini Moog that was the real breakthrough as it was portable and easier to use in the studio and on stage than the Modular synth with its mess of patch cords.

Interestingly analog synths of all types are making a comeback recently, there are several vendors making new (and expensive) modular synths (Synthesizers.com for instance) and more affordable "virtual analog" DSP based synths (such as the Alesis Ion) which let the user create sounds in the same way as an old Moog synth but for 100s of dollars rather than 1,000s...

 

[CharlesD]

Here's a good NPR interview with Dr. Moog.

 

[Linda Thompson]

Not to hijack this thread into a debate over who had what (and when), but...no, Micky's Moog was a modular...the Mini didn't hit until 1970.

http://www.moogarchives.com/modnames.htm

http://www.moogarchives.com/modular.htm

http://www.moogarchives.com/chrono2.htm

http://www.moogarchives.com/mawelc.htm

The only name I recognize on those lists as perhaps belonging to a professional musician is "Kingsley", whom I assume to be Gershon Kingsley of Gershon Kingsley's First Moog Quartet.

The Monkees' "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones" (featuring the moog) was released on November 14, 1967 (the invoice shows Micky purchased his moog on 9/15/67); Carlos' "Switched On Bach" was released in 1968.

Wendy was, of course, VERY instrumental in the development of the moog, and thus had access/ownership before others, and Walter likely shared that access, by extension. But the point remains that, according to records, Micky Dolenz was indeed one of the first "outside" professional musicians to own (and use) a modular moog.

 

[Linda Thompson]

Clarification of my previous post:



I was referring specifically to the list at the second link, and to Kingsley as being the only professional musician whose name I recognize (if it was indeed Gershon Kingsley) listed as purchasing before Dolenz:

http://www.moogarchives.com/modular.htm

 

[Kevin M]

Ah, yes Walter* was not a "professional" musician at the time of his assistance to moog...in fact from everything that I have read his biggest contributions were with the development of the mini moog more so than the modular.



*That is who Carlos was at the time & I refuse to refer to "him" as "her" until Carlos actually became "her".

 

[Kevin M]

I was wrong about the mini, Walter did in fact help with the ergonomics of it from a musicians POV but his main contributions were indeed with the modular moog which he apparently used exclusively, never the mini as far as I can tell.

An interesting photo of Walter's studio circa 1968.



Look at that beast and the 8 track ampex recorders! It must have taken forever to get all of the various layers in those early CBS albums.

I remember seeing Robert Moog on an episode of The Screen Savers (back when it was still TechTV) that had him offering up a newer version of the traditional analog mini moog.....it was still a huge thing by todays standards.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

better change your *, walter became wendy in 1967. look at the image of her studio you posted.

CJ

 

[Linda Thompson]

That actually depends upon how technical you want to get on the subject. The sex-reassignment surgery was performed in 1972, but Walter had been making preparations by living as a woman for three years prior to the surgery, and by undergoing hormone treatments even before then.