In 1949 New York engineer Robert Moog (1934-2005 ) inspired by the sound of the early Theramin, decided to construct his own. In 1954 he designed a D.I.Y. Theremin kit and took to the road as a Theremin salesman to subsidise his studies in Engineering Physics at Cornell University from 1958-9.
The philosophy of Robert Moog was to make electronic music performable by mainstream musicians. His first customers were the Columbia-Princetown students, fascinated by the superior technology of his keyboard based Modular Moog. Other engineers were designing prototype synthesizers like ARP but these were not as well received as the Moog Modular ‘flexible’ systems. Thus the Moog Modular became the industry standard in sound synthesis.
Moog worked in a disused gelatine factory producing handmade Moog Modulars. The basic components of the Moog Voltage Controlled Synthesizer are filter, oscillator, amplifier, ring modulator, mixer (for voltage), envelope generator and white noise generator. Typically, they would have three waveforms – square, triangle and sine – in addition to pink and white noise generators, filters including ‘glide’ function (to control glissandi), L.F.O. and various high/mid/low pass filters. The Moog treated pure sounds as an element, reproducing actual sound without storage or manipulation. And therein lies the secret of the analogue synth when compared to digital ‘models’. The sound of the Moog filter is unique to this day, with various effects boxes now available to guitarists also.
Chuck Leavell, Moog’s main salesman, pioneered synthesizer sales with by touring music stores with the Moog Modular, taking it directly to musicians. This ‘word of mouth’ principle led to the East Coast Moog craze around 1967. Keith Emerson, George Harrison, Stevie Wonder and other early Moog disciples helped to dispel the image of synthesizer owners as lab scientists and established synthesis as cool.
In 1968, Moog he embarked on a recording project which would increase the popularity of the Moog synthesizer a thousand-fold. Switched on Bach by Walter Carlos, a collection of J.S. Bach ‘hits’ played on the Modular Moog, was a surprise smash selling a million copies worldwide. It succeeded due to the inspired musicality of Carlos (a former Princetown-Columbia student), inventing sublime nuances and tone colours from the synthesizer while genuinely reinventing Bach’s music in ways the composer could never have foreseen. It appealed to a mass audience by staying true to the original music and tonality.
In 1969 the world went Moog crazy with thousands of Carlos-style take offs.
Then in 1971 came the MiniMoog, the first truly portable synthesizer. With a three and a half octave keyboard, pitch wheels and headphone adapter, it contained most of the effects of the Modular Moog without the need for complex patching. Buttons, dials and knobs for ‘real time’ control allured boffins and intellectuals. Ideal for practice, portable enough to carry and cheaper than a full Modular, it was the obvious choice for live musicians. In 1968, R.A. Moog changed its name to Moog Music to emphasise performance, and was later bought up and re-named Big Briar Inc., leading to the worldwide production, distribution and marketing of the Moog synthesizer brand.
During the period 1975 – 1991, there was a lull in popularity and production, and finally the extinction of the Moog Synthesizer. .. The reasons for this were four-fold:
Firstly the ‘overkill’ of Moog in the 70s, many poorly recorded and packaged, “the repetition of sounds everyone was so crazy about were actually quite boring when the novelty wore off,” – Walter Carlos. The composers had little say over the way records were marketed; many were often sold with attractive, semi-naked women adorning the covers.
Secondly, many of the original synthesizer manufacturers like ARP, Moog Music and Kurzweil went bankrupt in the early 70s due to financial mismanagement and tough competition from new markets. Robert Moog himself was put under undue pressure to release the first polyphonic Moog (PolyMoog) ahead of competitors. Designs were plagued with faults and returned by angry customers to the stories in the hundreds.
Thirdly, the social and political optimism of the 60s and 70s gave way to economic downturn and the uncompromising Reagan and Thatcher regimes in America and Britain. |
“My MiniMoog Voyager sits proudly under the analogue patch bay in the corner of my studio” |
Humorous music and records for ‘lifestyle’ became redundant as the Punks in 1976 were waiting to kick in the expensive and elitist Moog synthesizers as owned by ‘rock dinosaurs’ like E.L.P, Rick Wakeman and Pink Floyd. Once again, guitars became the musical weapons of this new generation of rockers.
Number four? By the early 80s Japan was becoming the centre for technological development. Casio, Yamaha and Roland, tired with making motorbikes and calculators, had moved on to exploring and developing digital, polyphonic synthesis. With immense financial backing and superior technology, the Japanese were able to swiftly capture the market in mass producing cheap synthesizers, which would truly ‘democratise’ electronic music on a global scale. The ‘cottage industry’ instruments built by individuals like Moog gave way to corporate Japan.
The ‘analogue’ pure synthesis of the early synthesizers was scoffed at by the new technologists; Moog’s were discarded. As CDs, the new ‘high fidelity’ became the standard audio format towards the late 80s, the music industry encouraged consumers to throw out their archaic vinyl. Musicians struggled to get to grips with what, as they were led to believe, was the superior ‘pre-programmed’ technology of buttons activating samples of instruments to replace patching. Initially difficult to achieve any variety within the limited range of sounds, the 1980s became renowned musically for repetitive sounds - a transitory period in music and music technology. Aesthetic experimentation was exchanged for convenience and corporate profit, and the original concerns of musicians over the synthesizer were ironically realised following the demise of the original ‘analogues’ as every song in the charts utilised the same old pre-programmed samples. Though some of these have subsequently become ‘classic’ sounds (like the Korg M1 piano and ‘Universe’ samples), they were tedious in the extreme and lead to a period in popular music notable for its lack of ‘electronic creativity. Great for adverts and Phil Collins maybe, but mind numbingly dull.
This lead to renewed interest in analogue synthesizers in the 1990s with bands of all flavours, but particularly in the Hip Hop and dance scene, digging out old Moog’s and others to create ‘Phat’ bass lines, the like of which no digital synth could simulate. Old and broken analogues synths then became valuable and, in particular, those which had the ‘Moog’ name were like ‘Rocking Horse Poo’. Very rare and therefore even more valuable. The MiniMoog was the ‘King’ with its truly fat sound.
And so it was that in 2002, Bob Moog built his re-creation of the classic ‘Model D’ (1971) MiniMoog. The MiniMoog Voyager was destined to change the sound of contemporary music, just as the original MiniMoog did in 1971.
There are some improvements to the original model, not least of which being the fact that the oscillators now stay in tune. (The originals used to drift out of sync as the voltage stabilisers were simply not advanced enough.) The new MiniMoog looks like something out of Star Trek and sounds like….well…a MiniMoog! Only better.
On 21 August 2005, Bob passed away and the music world was in shock. At least he lived long enough to see his unique creation re-establish itself as the only synthesizer capable of challenging the electric guitar when it comes to ‘face melting’ solos which stir your soul. (Listen to early Rick Wakeman or Keith Emmerson material if you don’t believe me)
Go turn on your radio and listen. So many current artists have rediscovered the unique sound of this instrument, from the Black Eyed Peas& Kaiser Chiefs. I won’t begin to list them all for they are legion. It is difficult to go more than half a dozen songs without it making an appearance The sound of the filter sweeps leaps out from the mix and cannot even be replicated faithfully by the soft synth version, now available.
A whole new generation has awoken. Nobody has yet mastered the classic and unique ‘face melting’ lead solo abilities of the original masters but any day now, somebody, somewhere is going to realise that this truly original beast of an instrument is capable of things they have not yet imagined. Like the guitar (or any other instrument), it requires great skill to play it well. This beast does not ‘do it all for you’, but it will do just about anything if you, the performer, have the talent to ‘make it sing’.
The King is dead…Long live the MiniMoog.
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Do you have a favourite instrument or gadget? Modern or Classic? Does your Amp ‘turn up to 11’ in true Spinal Tap tradition? Or do you have an original Vox AC30? Or an original Adolf Sax Saxaphone? Whatever turns you on…let me know and we can enlighten everybody. E-mail me.
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Mark Cocking |
