Deltachord

Find all the Music Gear you need here at GuitarTrader.com , from Guitars to Guitar Accessories .

Fender Guitar

Dear Reader,

Hey, you do remeber the moog, don’t you? We finally got back to it.

The first totally easy to use moog, the Minimoog Model D, came out in 1970. Basically, before that Robert Moog produced the modular systems and the thermin. In 1972 the Sonic 6, Satellite, Modular System “12″, “921″, Oscillators debuted.

In 1975 the Taurus and the Polymoog were released. Robert Moog went on to produce several other products and started and sold several companies. Lastly, he produced thermins again.

His family decided to start The Bob Moog Memorial Foundation for Electronic Music, after he died in 2005. The goals of the foundation can be seen at

http://www.moogfoundation.org/.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_synthesizer
http://moogarchives.com/
http://www.moogfoundation.org/

Robert Moog invented the first moog to utilize a keyboard in 1964. According to Wikipedia, the moog wasn’t a performance instrument at first, but was used as “a sophisticated, studio-oriented professional audio system which could be used as a musical instrument; the keyboard was simply a convenient and familiar way to control it.”

Herbert A. Deutsch relates an intriguing antedote in The Moogs First Decade 1965-1975. He tells the story of his and Robert Moog’s incident with the Canadian customs officials who were watching for people smuggling weapons across the border in 1965.

The first officer was suspicious of the contraption sitting on the back seat of Moog’s Volkswagen. They didn’t have a keyboard or anything else, on hand, that could identify it as a musical instrument. Two other officers came and took them in the office for questioning, though they enthusiastically explained that the contraption was a moog and about its musical capabilities, the customs officers were incredulous.

They wouldn’t let them go into Canada with the moog, nor take it back to the U.S. But a stroke of luck solved their dilemma, when a young customs officer happened along to listen to their story.

Here’s Deutsch quotes the young officer “Oh! Musique concrete–musique electronique–je comprende.” He let them go on to Toronto, where Professor Gustave Ciamarga waited for their arrival at the University of Toronto, along with his electronic music compostion students.

The writer for www.moogfoundation.org in On Bob Moog explains that he was known “for his humilty, yet he won “dozens of awards, including the Polar Music prize, and two Grammy’s.” He also was in awe of nature and found strength by living in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Moog first made theremin kits with his father in 1954. His sales of theremins picked up after he had published an article in Electronics World in January of 1961. Around that time he met Herbert Deutsch, an experimental composer; his influence inspired Moog to create the Moog Modular Synthesizer. He had made and sold thermins for ten years.

The writer of Robert Moog and Moog Synthesisers states that Moog seized on the idea “of building new circuits that would be capable of producing sound.” He garnered that concept at a convention in 1963.

In 1965 the R.A. Moog company sold several modular synthesizer systems. Their biggest buyers were academic and experimental composers. In 1968 Wendy Carlos had instant success with Switched On Bach, playing a Moog synthesizer, which caused a huge rise in interest of the moog. One million copies of Switched On Bach were sold.

Robert Mogg died August 1, 2005 of a brain tumor.

The moog will be back.

For More Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moog_synthesizer
http://moogarchives.com/
The First Moog Synthesizer
an Excerpt from:
THE MOOG’S FIRST DECADE
1965 - 1975
an article appearing in NAHO, Fall 1981 / New York State Museum / The State Education Department

http://www.moogfoundation.org/
http://www.till.com/articles/moog/
http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/moog/index.html
http://www.moogmusic.com/history.php
http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-moog

Cool Sites

http://www.moogmusic.com/
http://www.zu33.com/moog/
http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/equipment/synthesizers/analog/moog/Moog.html
http://www.synthzone.com/moog.htm

Moog Minimoog Demo Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2AeD0Tn4Y

Video of Robert Moog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gno7xqWR9fg

Music Blog Directory

Dear Reader,

Have you ever heard of an instrument called the Theremin? The singer for Analog Missionary, plays the Theremin. Hear their music at http://myspace.com/analogmissionary

Leon Theremin, invented the theremin in 1920. The therminist waves his/her hands near the two antennae that control pitch and volume. Alfred Hitchcock’s film Spellbound (1945) featured the theremin in its musical score and its composer, Miklós Rósza, won an Oscar. The theme was psychosis. Many other movies included it in their score in various film genres like noir, science fiction, comedy, and epics.

Robert Moog, the invented of the moog synthesizer, first made theremins. The moog changed the course of popular music. Clara Rockmore is credited as being the greatest theremin player by Charlie Lester of scfidimensions.com. Musicologist Olivia Mattis quotes Leon Theremin from their 1989 interview:

“the conductor just moves his hands, and his moverments have an effect on the music.”

Leon Theremin succeeded in his concept of making an instrument that was played like a conductor instructs his music. A vast renewed interest in the theremin amongst musicians has exploded since the release of the 1994 film Theremin: an Electronic Odyssey.

Our Merseybeat saga hasn’t been forgotten. Its coming back soon. Stay tuned for update.

For More Information:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038109/
http://www.scifidimensions.com/Sep00/theremin.htm
http://www.thereminworld.com/
http://spellbound.purplenote.com/
http://theremin.ca/

Directory of Music Blogs