Moog synthesizer

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First Moog synthesizer, 1964
A micromoog
A Minimoog Voyager (2002-15)
A Moog Taurus
Moog One (polyphonic)

Moog synthesizers are the electronic musical instruments produced by Moog Music , a company founded by Robert Moog .

history

Beginnings

Moog made the first attempts at electronic sound generation in the 1950s. It was only when the transistor replaced the electron tube in the 1960s that Moog was able to manufacture a studio device that was acceptable in terms of power consumption and size. It hit the market in 1964 with a modular synthesizer system that resembled a cabinet with a piano keyboard.

In 1968 a music album was released that suddenly made the Moog synthesizer known as a serious musical instrument, especially among pop musicians: Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos . This album interpreted music by Johann Sebastian Bach in a purely electronic way. It sounded so revolutionary and catchy that Switched-On Bach became the world's best-selling classical album at the time. Carlos recorded the album in New York using a modular Moog system. Because the Moog sounded monophonic , i.e. unanimous, and MIDI , personal computer and sequencer programs were not yet available, it played the music in many cycles by hand on an eight-track tape recorder .

George Harrison used a Moog synthesizer on his Electronic Sound record with The Beatles on Abbey Road in November 1968 .

However, the company only achieved its economic breakthrough with the Minimoog , the first portable compact synthesizer with an integrated keyboard.

1970s

In the 1970s, the device was hardly missing in any studio. The use of synthetic sound was famous. B. in the music of Keith Emerson and Chick Corea , Stevie Wonder , Uriah Heep , Manfred Mann , but most noticeable in electronic bands like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream . Pink Floyd used the Mini-Moog in 1975 in the piece Shine On You Crazy Diamond to imitate the sound of a trumpet. Steve Winwood recognized the synthesizer's potential for powerful bass sounds. From 1978, the Canadian bombast rock band Saga used the Moog synthesizers for their keyboard-influenced music. In the 1990s, the Moog synthesizer was already considered a "retro synth". Typical examples of its use can be found in that of Warren G or Dr. Dre represented G-Funk . In addition to the rich bass, the device also provided high-frequency whistling sounds with portamento .

Klaus Schulze and Pete Namlook dedicated a whole series of albums to the synthesizer and its inventor under the title Dark Side of the Moog .

The Minimoog is still used today as a reference for assessing the sound of current hardware synthesizers and sounds generated by software synthesizers . The Minimoog lacks MIDI capabilities, touch dynamics and the ability to save sounds. In addition, the Minimoog is a purely monophonic synthesizer.

That is why Moog developed further models in the following years, such as the Micro Moog, the Memorymoog in 1975 or the “Polymoog” in 1976.

In order to make the characteristic Moog sound affordable for everyone, Moog developed the “Prodigy” in the late 1970s. This very compact synthesizer was to become the most successful model after the Minimoog. The band The Prodigy named themselves after this synthesizer.

The rare bass pedal “Moog Taurus” (1976–1981) is now famous . This pedal synthesizer produces a very voluminous sound.

In 1977 Robert Moog left the company.

1980s

The " Liberation " model , the first series-produced Keytar, attracted attention with its special visual presence . She was u. a. popularized by Nena , the Spider Murphy Gang , Asia and Jan Hammer . It was technically based on the Moog Opus 3 and offered a polyphony based on the frequency divider system .

Jean Michel Jarre uses a wide variety of different Moog models in his productions. For example, on Oxygene u. a. Moog Modular and Minimoog are used.

After the bankruptcy in 1987, the era of the original Moog synthesizers ended. The Moog Prodigy was produced until 1984. There are approximately 11,000 copies.

Others

Moog ladder filter

A key component of many of his synthesizers is a voltage-controlled filter developed by Robert A. Moog himself , which was patented in 1966. It consists of transistors which, depending on a control signal, switch one or more load capacitances through to different degrees and in this way change the cutoff frequency of a 24 dB low-pass filter .

Due to its special sound, it is often copied and used in various ways in today's synthesizers. Extensive copies of the original exist and modifications in the form of analog electronics in analog and hybrid synthesizers, as well as digital implementations as software in DSPs, FPGAs and VSTs, and are the subject of scientific studies. The function was investigated by different authors and mathematical models made available. An emulation of the MiniMoog and the ladder filter are available as pure data code.

There are also derivatives with diodes to replace the transistors. A variant modified in this way is used in TB 303 . But this differs in sound, u. a. because of an additional envelope.

Moog synthesizers in museums

A number of Moog synthesizers are on display in museums. The prototype of the Moog synthesizer, built by Robert Moog for the composer Max Brand around 1960, is in the Max Brand Archive in Langenzersdorf ( Austria ).

Web links

Commons : Moog Synthesizer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marko Ettlich: Moog - Minimoog Synthesizer. In: www.retrosound.de. RetroSound, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Power plant - motorway. Moog Music, 1975, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Blue Box: Moog Micromoog analog synthesizer. In: AMAZONA.de. May 29, 2010, accessed on July 8, 2020 (German).
  4. ↑ Marko Ettlich: Moog - Micromoog. RetroSound, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  5. ^ "Moog Polymoog" model ( memo from November 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive ).
  6. ↑ "Moog Prodigy" model .
  7. ↑ Liam Howlett - Biography (in English) . In: imdb.com . Retrieved January 16, 2011.
  8. ↑ Marko Ettlich: Moog Taurus 1 - Bass Pedals Page. In: retrosound.de. RetroSound, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Tom Wiltshire: Adventures in Top Octave Generation | Electric druid. October 2016, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  10. ↑ by Henrik Bruns: Studio visit with Jean Michel Jarre. June 5, 2016, accessed on July 8, 2020 (German).
  11. ↑ Peter Grandl: Blue Box: Moog Prodigy, analog synthesizer. In: AMAZONA.de. July 1, 2017, accessed August 4, 2020 .
  12. ↑ J. Donald Tillman: Robert A. Moog - U.S. Patent 3,475,623 - Moog Ladder Filter. In: till.com. October 10, 1966, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  13. ^ Sam Gallagher: Analyzing the Moog Filter. all about circuits, July 17, 2019, accessed July 8, 2019 .
  14. ↑ analogue / digital hybrid synthesizer. In: Modal Electronics. Modal Electronics, 2020, accessed July 7, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Antti Huovilainen: analzing the Moog filter. Helsinki University of Technology, October 8, 2004, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Jürgen Schuhmacher: Moog Filter Module in VHDL 2005. A virtual analog ladder filter for FPGAs. Sound of LA Music, September 17, 2005, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Will Pirkle: Virtual analog filter implementation and Comparisons. In: www.willpirkle.com. 2013, accessed on July 8, 2020 .
  18. ^ Tim Stilson, Julius Smith: Moog Filter. In: stanford.edu. Music Department, Stanford University, 1990, accessed July 7, 2020 .
  19. ↑ S. D Angelo and V. Välimäki: Generalized Moog Ladder Filter: Part I Linear Analysis and Parameterization. IEEE Trans. Audio, Speech, and Lang. Process., Vol. 22, no.12, pp. 1825 1832 ,, December 2014, accessed August 2020 (English).
  20. ↑ The miniwoog. Pure Data Patch Repository, February 13, 2014, accessed August 2020 .
  21. ↑ Timothy E. Stinchcombe: Analysis of the Moog Transistor Ladder and Derivative Filters. In: timstinchcombe.co.uk. October 25, 2008, accessed August 2020 .
  22. ^ Deutsches Museum: Deutsches Museum: Moog. Retrieved July 8, 2020 .
  23. ^ Synthorama Museum for Synthesizers. Accessed July 8, 2020 (Swiss Standard German).