Robert Moog, Music Synthesizer Creator, Dies

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/22/technology/22cnd-m oog...

Robert Moog, Music Synthesizer Creator, Dies

By ALLAN KOZINN
Published: August 22, 2005

Robert Moog, the creator of the electronic music synthesizer that bears his name and that became ubiquitous among both experimental composers and rock musicians in the 1960's and 1970's, died on Sunday at his home in Ashville, N.C. He was 71.
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Chris Keane for The New York Times
Robert Moog with a modern version of his synthesizer.

Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
Hans Fjellestad said that in his documentary on the inventor and the instrument, he was interested in exploring how man and machine interact.

The cause of death was a brain tumor, according to his daughter Michelle Moog-Koussa.

At the height of his synthesizer's popularity, when progressive rock bands like Yes, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer built their sounds around the assertive, bouncy, exotically wheezy and occasionally explosive timbres of Mr. Moog's instruments, his name (which rhymes with vogue) became so closely associated with electronic sound that it was often used generically, if incorrectly, to describe synthesizers of all kinds.

Mr. Moog's earliest instruments were collections of modules better suited to studio work than live performance, and as rock bands adopted them, Mr. Moog expanded his line to include the Minimoog and the Micromoog, instruments that could be used more easily on stage. He also expanded on his original monophonic models, which could play only a single musical line at a time, to polyphonic instruments that allowed for harmony and counterpoint.

Even so, by the end of the 1970's, Mr. Moog's instruments were being supplanted by those of competing companies like Arp, Aries, Roland and Emu, which produced synthesizers that were less expensive, easier to use and more portable. (Those instruments, in turn, were displayed in the 1980's by keyboard-contained digital devices by Kurzweil, Yamaha and others.)

In 1978, Mr. Moog moved from western New York to North Carolina, where he started a new company, Big Briar (later Moog Music), that produced synthesizer modules and alternative controllers - devices other than keyboards, with which musician could play electronic instruments. His particular specialty was the Ethervox, a version of the theremin, an eerie-toned instrument created by the Russian inventor Leon Theremin in the 1920's that allows performers to create pitches by moving their hands between two metal rods.

It was the theremin, in fact, that got Mr. Moog interested in electronic music as a child in the 1940's. In 1949, when he was 14, he built a theremin from plans he found in a magazine, Electronics World. He tinkered with the instrument until he produced a design of his own in 1953, and in 1954 he published an article on the theremin in "Radio and Television News" and started the R. A. Moog Company, which sold his own theremins and theremin kits.

Mr. Moog was born in New York City on May 23, 1934, and although he studied the piano while he was growing up in Flushing, Queens, his real interest was physics. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and earned undergraduate degrees in physics from Queens College and electrical engineering from Columbia University.

By the time he completed his Ph.D in engineering physics at Cornell University, in 1965, his theremin business had taken off, and he had started working with a composer, Herbert Deutsch, on his first synthesizer modules. Mr. Moog was familiar with the huge synthesizers in use at Columbia University and RCA and those that European composers were experimenting with, and his goal was to create instruments that were both more compact and accessible to musicians.

The first Moog synthesizers were collections of modules, connected by electronic patch cords, something like those that connect stereo components. The first module, an oscillator, would produce a sound wave, giving a musician a choice of several kinds, ranging from the gracefully undulating purity of a sine wave to the more complex, angular or abrasive sounds of square and sawtooth waves. The wave was sent to the next module, called an A.D.S.R. (attack-decay-sustain-release) envelope generator, with which the player defined the way a note begins and ends, and how long it is held. A note might, for example, explode in a sudden burst, like a trumpet blast, or it could fade in at any number of speeds. From there, the sound went to a third module, a filter, which was used to shape its color and texture.

Using these modules and others that Mr. Moog went on to create, a musician could either imitate acoustic instruments or create purely electronic sounds. A keyboard, attached to this setup, let the performer control when the oscillator produced a tone, and at what pitch.

"Artist feedback drove all my development work," Mr. Moog said in an interview with the online magazine Salon in 2000. "The first synthesizers I made were in response to what [composer] Herb Deutsch wanted. The now-famous Moog filter was suggested by several musicians. The so-called A.D.S.R. envelope, which is now a basic element in all contemporary synthesizers and programmable keyboard instruments, was originally specified in 1965 by Vladimir Ussachevsky, then head of the Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center. The point is that I don't design stuff for myself. I'm a toolmaker. I design things that other people want to use."

University music schools quickly established electronic music labs built around the Moog synthesizer, and composers like Richard Teitelbaum, Dick Hyman and Walter (also known as Wendy) Carlos adopted them. For most listeners, though, it was a crossover album, Ms. Carlos's "Switched-On Bach," that ushered the instrument into the spotlight. A collection of Bach transcriptions, meticulously recorded one line at a time, "Switched-On Bach" was meant to persuade casual listeners who regarded synthesizers as random noise machines that the instrument could be used in thoroughly musical ways. Ms. Carlos's sequels included the haunting Purcell and Beethoven transcriptions used in the Stanley Kubrick film, "A Clockwork Orange."

Rock groups were attracted to the Moog as well. The Monkees used the instrument as early as 1967, on their "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." Album. In early 1969, George Harrison of the Beatles had a Moog synthesizer installed in his home and released an album of his practice tapes, "Electronic Sound," that May. The Beatles used the synthesizer to adorn several tracks on the "Abbey Road" album, most notably John Lennon's "Because," Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun" and Paul McCartney's "Maxwell's Silver Hammer."

Among jazz musicians, Herbie Hancock, Jan Hammer and Sun Ra adopted the synthesizer quickly. And with the advent of progressive rock in the early 1970's, the sound of the Moog synthesizer and its imitators became ubiquitous.

In 1971, Mr. Moog sold his company, Moog Music, to Norlin Musical Instruments Inc., but he continued to design instruments for the company until 1977. When he moved to North Carolina, in 1978, he started Big Briar, to make new devices, and he renamed the company Moog Music when he bought back the name in 2002. He also worked as a consultant and vice president for new product research at Kurzweil Music Systems, from 1984 to 1988.

In 2004, Mr. Moog was the subject of "Moog," a documentary by the filmmaker Hans Fjellestad.

"Bob Moog embodies the archetypal American maverick inventor," Mr. Fjellestad wrote when the film was released.

[This message was edited by b0b on 22 August 2005 at 10:43 AM.]

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

I think history will be kind to Bob Moog. Quite a vision.

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

I saw Bob Moog in concert in Western NY some time in the late '60's. He came out before the show and said the first half would be tunes we would recognize but the second half would be to show off the capabilities of the instrument.

The only thing on stage with him was two keyboards and a patch bay and an assistant.

The first half was enjoyable with tunes we did recognize but with odd, strange sounds coming from the instrument.

The second half was filled with out of this world sounds and rythums that were hard to describe. The cacaphony got old quickly and it lost all pleasure to listen to.

T.G.I.F. Thank God it's finished. He was a pioneer, but that night I enjoyed all that I could stand.

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

I spent a good decade in the electronic music world. I realize that electronic music can be an oxy-moron and debatable, but given its history, going back to the Bell Labratory in the early '50s (actually, John Cage did a piece in the mid '30s using sine tones from 78 rpm records), I think it has been an important addition to the musical world. I studied with Morton Subotnick and spent my time using a Buchla 200 and then later, a Serge, who I also used to work for and I still have my Serge. I lost interest in electronic music at the same time I was seduced by the steel guitar, almost 30 years ago.

Rick Schmidt · From: Prescott AZ, USA

I remember something somebody said in an early article I read somewhere about the Moog Synthesizer...They wrote something to the effect that you could make it sound "Like a steel guitar in a boxcar passing by at 50 mph". That image always stuck with me, even before I played either the steel or the synth.

RIP Mr. Moog

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I actually still have the '65 album of the Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center, which includes a piece by Ussachevsky. It's still way out there ahead.
It's not your dinner music.

I heard Moog quoted on the radio yesterday, to the effect that he didn't have an obsession for music, but rather one for building circuits, so that the music from what he built could become somebody else's obsession.

Webb Kline · From: Orangeville, PA

I have always considered the analog synthesizer to be in the same category of expressiveness as the steel guitar and the fretless bass. All are portamento instruments that offer unlimited ability for emotional expression, unrestricted by the 12 tone scale, unlimited dynamic capabilities, and capable of limitless tonalities.

For me, the Moog started my fascination with PSGs, Lapsteel, Dobro and the fretless bass. While electronic, the Moog always seemed a great source for wonderful organic tonal textures and has become as natural sounding as a gut-string guitar or a flute to me. It was a welcome addition to my Hammond B3, Fender Rhodes and Hohner Clavinet at the time and has out-lived them all.

I am forever grateful for Bob Moog's contribution to the music world.

[This message was edited by Webb Kline on 23 August 2005 at 05:19 AM.]

Bob Smith · From: Allentown, New Jersey, USA

The firat time i heard a Moog- Synth was on the TV vampire soap show "Dark Shadows". The theme song had that eerie moog- melody in there. Sure fit that show perfectly. bob

Mark Herrick · From: Bakersfield, CA

Theremin...mmmmmm!

If you look at the credits on the 1956 Sci-Fi movie "Forbidden Planet" (Anne Francis...mmmmm! And the debut of Robby the Robot of "Lost In Space" fame.) You'll see a reference to "Electronic Tonalities" rather than "Music". A friend in college told me that the musicians union wouldn't allow the soundtrack to be called "music" because it wasn't created with traditional instruments and performed by "musicians". Don't know if that's true or not...

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erik · Posted 23 Aug 2005 7:33 pm

Mark, don't know if that's true but it was with the Hammond organ. Pipe organ manufacturers tried to make them take the organ designation off.

How about if we list some famous songs we know used a Moog?

I think there is one in Bob Marley's Stir It Up

and Johnny Nash's I Can See Clearly Now
(same player?)

ELP - Lucky Man

Genesis- Follow You Follow Me (Moog?)

The Who used Arps as did Edgar Winter

Gorgio Marauder used either Moog or Roland modulars I think for his Disco stuff.

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-johnson

Mark Herrick · From: Bakersfield, CA

Cody Campbell · From: Nashville, Tennessee

I don't know any uses of Moog instruments that are particularly famous, other than those already mentioned. But here are the ones that stand out to me.

* Chick Corea and RTF!! (after the first record or two, after the group reduced its instrumentation to the rock quartet format, Synthesizers made up a larger portion of their sound).

* (as noted in article) Jan Hammer! (Mahavishnu Orchestra era). Also, "Spectrum" is a GREAT album by drummer Billy Cobham, (featuring Jan on keys and Leland Sklar on bass).

* (anyone who played with Zappa) but one guy I enjoy in particular is Andre Lewis on the live ('76) release "FZ:OZ"; as well as Preston and Duke, and many others I can't name.

* Allan Zavod, from violinist Jean-luc Ponty's classic fusion album, "Imaginary Voyage".

* And Herbie Hancock 'headhunters' was a big fusion record.

* The synth sound that Stevie Wonder used for 'boogie on reggae woman' was super funky, but I don't know if it was a moog sound.

* A very unique use of Moog instruments, as well as other synthesizers, is Isao Tomita's 'Snowflakes are dancing' album of Debussy piano works. Though bizzarre and ethereal-sounding, the recording contains an interesting interpretation of one of my favorite piano compostions, "Passapied" from the 'bergamasque suite'.

In conculsion, while I can't appove of what electronic music has become since those years, for the majority, I can however confidently say that much wonderful music has been (and will be) made using these keyboards and effects.

I may never find myself able to dance to music, especially the kind that requires no string vibrations or movement of wind. But that isn't to say I won't ever enjoy any.

And while I'm completely unable to beat any kind if video game, perhaps one day I'll be able to explore the art of composing the futuristic background music used in some of them.

Very informative post. I'm glad I saw it, and glad to try to contribute.

-cody

[This message was edited by Cody Campbell on 24 August 2005 at 07:46 PM.]

[This message was edited by Cody Campbell on 24 August 2005 at 07:57 PM.]

[This message was edited by Cody Campbell on 24 August 2005 at 08:02 PM.]

Mark Herrick · From: Bakersfield, CA

Bob Smith · From: Allentown, New Jersey, USA

The stuff Jan Hammer did with Jeff Beck comes to mind when i read these posts. Alot of great music made in those days. bob

[This message was edited by Bob Smith on 25 August 2005 at 04:57 AM.]

erik · Posted 25 Aug 2005 6:54 pm

Was the popular song Popcorn done with a modular moog?

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