Robert Moog, father of synthesizer, R.I.P.

Robert Moog (of Moog synthesizer fame) has passed. .

The world's first real exposure to the Moog Synth was in an instrumental pop hit called Popcorn and in the familiar, soaring riffs from Emerson, Lake & Palmer's What a Lucky Man. His contribution to the music industry was huge.

Sorry to see that one. I always looked forward to seeing what kind of new inventions he came out with. What a cool innovator. Long live minimoog!

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E.T.

My father bought a Moog synthesizer back in the early-1970s, and one of the first special effects he learned was the sound of thunder.

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The_LED_Museum said:
My father bought a Moog synthesizer back in the early-1970s, and one of the first special effects he learned was the sound of thunder.

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Cool, Craig! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif Was it done entirely with VCAs, VCFs and VCOs or did his unit also include a spring reverb for effects like that? I learned how to create "thunder" with a spring reverb, although it sounded a little bit boingy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

When I was a teenager I got inspired by synths and especially the PAIA do-it-yourself kits. I wanted to build a full synth but only got as far as the VCF module. It was the neatest thing, though, to feed that little module with square waves and get a cool wah-wah sound out of it as I turned the pot and swept the filter from low-pass to high-pass and back.

Robert Moog gave a little... well.... I guess you'd call it more a demonstration than a concert.... at the university I was attending back in '71or 72. Started out with a Theremin, and worked his way up through the history of electronic instruments all the way up to a full blown synthesizer. I was totally hooked on the sound from that moment.

I wanted a Moog so bad I could taste it.... Alas, my empty wallet and complete lack of musical talent prevented it. I did manage to build my own theremin from a kit though, (and made the most horrible sounds imaginable come out of it.)

Even before ELP, there was Keith Emerson and the Nice! I had a few of his early records with the Nice back in the late 70s.... Wonder what happened to them....

Had all of Walter / Wendy Carlos' albums too.... Although it seemed to me most of the talent departed about the same time as the .... Err... appendage.

RIP Bob Moog

Oh yeah, I forgot about Carlos... another leading-edge musician, at least until her personal issues took center stage.

What is the "Nice?" I've never heard of it before. Is it a synth?

Another semi-well-known synth artists at the time were Perrey-Kingsley. They produced the very first electronic pop music using combinations of synths as well as real instruments processed through synths. They were able to coax some of the neatest voices out of those combinations.

I think that Kingsley was the guy who colloborated with some MIT students to produce Popcorn; one of the first tunes that was produced by people who were engineers first and musicians second. Always thought that was a fascinating combination, a wonderful blend of art and science.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

The Nice was the "band":
" In his twenties, he formed a band called "The Nice" with bassist/vocalist Lee Jackson, drummer Brian Davison and guitarist David O'List which backed ex-Ike and Tina Turner's singer P.P. Arnold."

About 1971-2 I was attending UCSD. The music Dept. had an early Moog vacuum tube synthesizer. It was capable of some cool harmonics, but couldn't do a chord. (Damn, I'm old!)

Larry

Guess I'll have to play Baroque Hoedown extra-loud tonight.

Larry and all of us Old Ones. There was an album by Claude Denjean that was rock/pop songs of the 70's. IMHO, one of the best early Moog albums. It's the album labeled MOOG!
http://www.vinylvulture.co.uk/moog/analog_archeology.php

Ahead of his time, Bob, along with Hugh Le Caine, changed the world of music...

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PhotonWrangler said:
Cool, Craig! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif Was it done entirely with VCAs, VCFs and VCOs or did his unit also include a spring reverb for effects like that? I learned how to create "thunder" with a spring reverb, although it sounded a little bit boingy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

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I have absolutely no idea if the unit had a spring reverb in it or not...sorry about that. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
The thunder did not sound "springy" or "boingy" though, so I'm at least reasonably certain it was all solid-state.

Shame about that. Seems that everyone who's name I know is disappearing these days...

Popcorn...wonderful tune though. Was always going to get Hot Butter's album, I think that now would be a fitting time to do so.

*goes off and puts the afforementioned track a little bit too loud*

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GJW said:
Guess I'll have to play Baroque Hoedown extra-loud tonight.

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Ahh, Baroque Hoedown... yes...

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UncleFester said:
Larry and all of us Old Ones. There was an album by Claude Denjean that was rock/pop songs of the 70's. IMHO, one of the best early Moog albums. It's the album labeled MOOG!
http://www.vinylvulture.co.uk/moog/analog_archeology.php

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Claude Denjean - THAT'S the name I was trying to remember! I had his synth version of "Na Na Hey Hey' running through my head just the other day and I was wondering who the artist was because I wanted to locate that album again. Thank you for jogging my memory, UncleFester. Now it's off to the record store!

Ah wel ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
One more piece of living history goes ...

The sound will live forever though!
I'd like to throw in Uriah Heep's Ken Hensley in the melting pod of artists having used the Moog synths ... ah ... nostalgia /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

bernie

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The_LED_Museum said:
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PhotonWrangler said:
Cool, Craig! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif Was it done entirely with VCAs, VCFs and VCOs or did his unit also include a spring reverb for effects like that? I learned how to create "thunder" with a spring reverb, although it sounded a little bit boingy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

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I have absolutely no idea if the unit had a spring reverb in it or not...sorry about that. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
The thunder did not sound "springy" or "boingy" though, so I'm at least reasonably certain it was all solid-state.

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Hmm... thinking (a dangerous thing for me)... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

Actually I think I've thought of a way to make a thunder clap using a white noise source, a VCA and a swept bandpass filter, so it probably WAS a solid-state effect on your dad's part! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I also remember that one of the popular white noise generator ICs had a very distinctive low frequency rumble to it. I can hear that characteristic rumble at the very end of Mannheim Steamroller's Stille Nacht (Silent Night) when there's a "whoosh" sound that was made by sweeping a VCF across that chip. That must have been a popular IC.

Aloha Oe Mr. Moog,
You were a visionary of our time.

I was fortunate enough to sit in on a concert Mr. Moog held in Honolulu at the Univ. of Hawaii Manoa campus' Outdoor Amphitheater in 1971, springtime.
It was a revolutionary concert of sound as we had ever heard. We were indeed lucky to have experienced his technique and wizardry. \
Sleep well Mr. Moog.
Jay /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif