Analog Days: The Invention And Impact Of The Moog Synthesizer Pdf Download UPDATED

Analog Days: The Invention And Impact Of The Moog Synthesizer Pdf Download

Electronic musical musical instrument

Moog synthesizer
Moog Modular 55 img2.jpg

A 1975 Moog Modular 55 system

Manufacturer R. A. Moog Co.
Dates 1965—1981, 2014—present
Technical specifications
Oscillator VCO
Synthesis type Subtractive
Filter VCF
Input/output

The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer adult by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's visitor R. A. Moog Co. (later known every bit Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and over again from 2014. Information technology was the get-go commercial synthesizer, and is credited with creating the analog synthesizer as information technology is known today.

The Moog synthesizer consists of split up modules which create and shape sounds, which are connected via patch cords. Modules include voltage-controlled oscillators, amplifiers, filters, envelope generators, noise generators, ring modulators, triggers and mixers. The synthesizer can be played using controllers including keyboards, joysticks, pedals and ribbon controllers, or controlled with sequencers. Its oscillators can produce waveforms of dissimilar timbres, which tin be modulated and filtered to shape their sounds (subtractive synthesis).

Past 1963, Robert Moog had been designing and selling theremins for several years. He developed his synthesizer in response to demand for more than practical and affordable electronic music equipment, guided by suggestions and requests from composers including Herb Deutsch, Richard Teitelbaum, Vladimir Ussachevsky and Wendy Carlos. Moog'south primary innovation was the voltage-controlled oscillator, which uses voltage to command pitch. He too introduced fundamental synthesizer concepts such as modularity and envelope generators.

The Moog synthesizer was brought to the mainstream by Switched-On Bach (1968), a bestselling album of Bach compositions bundled for Moog synthesizer by Wendy Carlos. In the late 1960s, it was adopted by rock and popular acts including the Doors, the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles. At its meridian of popularity, it was a staple of 1970s progressive stone, used by acts including Yep, Tangerine Dream, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. With its ability to imitate instruments such as strings and horns, it threatened the jobs of session musicians, and was banned from employ in commercial work for a period. In 1970, Moog Music released a portable, self-independent model, the Minimoog.

Development [edit]

Background [edit]

In the early 1960s, electronic music applied science was impractical and used mainly by experimental composers to create music with niggling mainstream appeal.[1] In 1963, American engineer Robert Moog, who designed and sold theremins,[2] met composer Herb Deutsch at a New York State School Music Clan trade fair. Deutsch had been making electronic music using a theremin, tape recorder and unmarried-pitch oscillator, a time-consuming process that involved splicing record. Recognizing the need for more practical and sophisticated equipment, Moog and Deutsch discussed the notion of a "portable electronic music studio".[3]

Moog received a grant of $16,000 from the New York State Small Business Association and began work in Trumansburg, New York.[three] At the time, synthesizer-like instruments filled rooms;[4] Moog hoped to build a more meaty musical instrument that would appeal to musicians.[5] Learning from his experience edifice a prohibitively expensive guitar amplifier, he believed that practicality and affordability were the near important parameters.[v]

Voltage control [edit]

Previous synthesizers, such as the RCA Marking Ii, had created sound from hundreds of vacuum tubes.[6] Instead, Moog used recently available silicon transistors — specifically, transistors with an exponential relationship between input voltage and output current. With these, he created the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), which generated a waveform whose pitch could exist adjusted by changing the voltage. Moog designed his synthesizer around a standard of one volt per octave. Similarly, he used voltage to control loudness with voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCAs).[3]

Moog developed a prototype with 2 VCOs and a VCA. As the VCOs themselves could output voltage, one could be used to modulate the output of another, creating effects such equally vibrato and tremolo.[three] According to Moog, when Deutsch saw this, he "went through the roof" and immediately began making music with the prototype, attracting the interest of passersby: "They would stand there, they'd listen and they'd shake their heads ... What is this weird shit coming out of the basement?"[three]

First customers [edit]

The composer Herb Deutsch (pictured in 2011) helped Moog refine his synthesizer.

In 1964, Moog and Deutsch demonstrated the synthesizer at the electronic music studio at the University of Toronto.[iii] Subsequently the presentation impressed the composers, Moog was invited by the Audio Engineering Guild to nowadays at their almanac convention in New York that October.[4] Though he had not planned to sell synthesizers at that place, some customers placed orders at the show. The choreographer Alwin Nikolais became the first person to purchase a commercially made Moog synthesizer.[3] Moog constructed synthesizers to gild.[half dozen] The first lodge for a complete Moog synthesizer, for which Moog had to design a keyboard and chiffonier, came from composer Eric Siday.[three] With no Moog books and no fashion to save or share settings, early on users had to larn how to utilise the synthesizer themselves, by word of mouth, or from seminars held past Moog and Deutsch.[1]

Moog refined the synthesizer in response to requests from musicians and composers.[7] For example, later on Deutsch suggested Moog observe a style to fade notes in and out, Moog invented an envelope module, using a doorbell push as a image.[3] At the suggestion of composer Gustav Ciamaga, Moog developed a filter module, a means of removing frequencies from waveforms.[3] His beginning filter blueprint created a sound like to a wah-wah pedal; he afterward developed the distinctive "ladder" filter, which was the but item in the synthesizer design that Moog patented, granted on October 28, 1969.[3] Further developments were driven past suggestions from musicians including Richard Teitelbaum, Vladimir Ussachevsky and Wendy Carlos;[seven] Carlos suggested the first impact-sensitive keyboard, portamento command and filter depository financial institution, which became standard features.[3]

Contend [edit]

Moog initially avoided the word synthesizer, as it was associated with the RCA synthesizer, and instead described his invention as a "system" of "electronic music modules". The classical significant of "to synthesize" is to get together a whole out of parts.[3] Later many debates, Moog somewhen told composer Reynold Weidenaar: "It's a synthesizer and that's what it does and nosotros're just going to accept to get with it."[iii] Moog used the word in print for the first time in 1966. By the 1970s, "synthesizer" had get the standard term for such instruments.[3]

In that location was also debate every bit to the role of the keyboard in synthesizers. Some, such every bit composer Vladimir Ussachevsky and Moog's competitor Don Buchla, felt they were restrictive. However, Moog recognized that almost customers wanted keyboards and establish they made the instrument approachable; by including keyboards in photographs, it helped users understand that the synthesizer was for making music.[3] Moog besides developed alternative controllers, such as the ribbon controller, which allows users to command pitch similarly to moving a finger along a violin cord.[three]

Virtually of the Moog modules were finalized by the stop of the 1960s, and remained mostly unchanged until Moog Music ceased trading in the 1980s.[one] Moog had pursued the evolution of his synthesizer as a hobby; he stressed that he was non a businessman, and had non known what a rest sheet was.[3] He likened the feel to riding theme park amusements: "You know you lot're non going to get injure also badly because nobody would let you lot do that, but y'all're non quite in command."[3]

Components [edit]

Modules: 921 VCO, 911 Envelope Generator; 902 VCA

The Moog synthesizer consists of carve up modules – such as oscillators, amplifiers, envelope generators, filters, racket generators, band modulators, triggers and mixers – which can be continued in a variety of ways via patch cords.[6] [3] The modules can too be used to control each other.[three] They do not produce sound until a workable combination of modules are continued.[i]

The synthesizer can be played using controllers including keyboards, joysticks, pedals and ribbon controllers.[half dozen] The oscillators produce waveforms of unlike tones and overtones, such as a "bright, full, brassy" sawtooth wave, a thinner, flute-similar triangle wave, a "nasal, reedy" pulse moving ridge, and a "whistle-like" sine moving ridge.[3] These waveforms tin be modulated and filtered to produce more combinations of sounds (subtractive synthesis).[3] The oscillators are difficult to keep in tune, and minor temperature changes cause them to drift rapidly.[1] Every bit Moog'south early on customers were more interested in creating experimental music than playing conventional melodies, Moog did not consider keeping the oscillators stable a priority.[six]

The Moog'due south 24db[eight] depression-laissez passer filter is particularly distinctive, with a "rich", "juicy", "fat" audio.[3] The filter, based on pairs of transistors connected by capacitors arranged in a ladder-like layout, attenuates frequencies above a level set up past the user, and boosts the frequencies around the cut-off frequency.[three] When overdriven, the filter produces a distinctive baloney described as the "Moog sound".[3]

Impact [edit]

Keyboardist Keith Emerson performing with a Moog synthesizer in 1970

The Moog was much smaller than previous synthesizers, and much cheaper, at US$10,000 compared to the six-effigy sums of other synthesizers.[4] Whereas the RCA Mark Two was programmed with punchcards, Moog's synthesizer could be played in real time via keyboard, making it attractive to musicians.[iv] New Scientist described it every bit the first commercial synthesizer.[9]

According to the Guardian, Moog'due south 1964 newspaper Voltage-Controlled Music Modules, in which he proposed the Moog synthesizer modules, invented the modern concept of the analog synthesizer.[6] According to the authors of Analog Days, "Though the notion of voltage control and Moog'south excursion designs were not original, Moog'south innovations were in drawing the elements together, realizing that the problem of exponential conversion could exist solved using transistor circuitry and edifice such circuits and making them work in a way that was of involvement to musicians."[3]

Most Moog synthesizers were owned by universities or record labels, and used to create soundtracks or jingles; past 1970, only 28 were endemic past musicians.[10] The Moog was kickoff used by experimental composers including Richard Teitelbaum, Dick Hyman and Wendy Carlos.[7] In 1968, Carlos released Switched-On Bach, an album of Bach compositions arranged for Moog synthesizer. It won three Grammy Awards and was the start classical album certified platinum.[11] [5] The anthology is credited for popularising the Moog and demonstrating that synthesizers could exist more than "random noise machines".[7] For a flow, the proper name Moog became so associated with electronic music that it was sometimes used as a generic term for any synthesizer.[7] Moog liked this, but disapproved of the numerous "cruddy" novelty records released with his proper noun attached, such as Music to Moog By, Moog Espana and Moog Power.[vii]

An early utilise in rock music came with the 1967 Monkees album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. [7] In the same year, the Doors used a Moog synthesizer on their song "Strange Days".[12] In 1969, George Harrison released an album of Moog recordings, Electronic Sound, and that year the Moog appeared on the Beatles anthology Abbey Road on tracks including "Considering", "Here Comes the Dominicus" and "Maxwell'south Silvery Hammer".[vii] Other rock bands who adopted the Moog include the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones.[ii] Information technology was also adopted by jazz musicians including Herbie Hancock, Jan Hammer and Sun Ra.[7]

In the 1970s, at the top of the Moog's popularity, it became ubiquitous every bit role of progressive stone bands such every bit Yes, Tangerine Dream, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.[7] Keith Emerson was the outset major rock musician to perform live with the Moog, and it became a trademark of his performances; according to Analog Days, the likes of Emerson "did for the keyboard what Jimi Hendrix did for the guitar".[3] Almost every element of Donna Summer'south 1977 influential song "I Feel Love" was created with a Moog synthesizer, with the producers aiming to creating a futuristic mood.[13] Robert Moog was disquisitional, saying the sequenced bassline had a "certain sterility" and that Summer sounded similar she was "fighting the sequencer".[fourteen] In later decades, hip hop groups such every bit the Beastie Boys and rock bands including They Might Be Giants and Wilco "revived an involvement in the early Moog synthesizer timbres".[7]

The Guardian wrote that the Moog synthesizer, with its dramatically new sounds, arrived at a time in American history when, in the wake of the Vietnam War, "near everything about the one-time club was upwardly for revision".[5] With its ability to imitate instruments such equally strings and horns, synthesizers threatened the jobs of session musicians. For a menses, the Moog was banned from employ in commercial work, a brake negotiated by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM).[iii] Robert Moog felt that the AFM had non realized that the synthesizer was an musical instrument to exist learnt and mastered like any other, and instead imagined that "all the sounds that musicians could make somehow existed in the Moog — all you had to exercise was push a button that said 'Jascha Heifetz' and out would come the nearly fantastic violin player".[15]

Moog features such as voltage-controlled oscillator, envelopes, racket generators, filters and sequencers became standards in the synthesizer market.[iii] [xvi] The ladder filter has been replicated in hardware synthesizers,[17] digital indicate processors,[xviii] field-programmable gate arrays[19] and software synthesizers.[20]

Models [edit]

Originally produced from 1973 to 1981, Moog reissued the System 55 in 2015 in a limited run of 55 units.[21] [22]

Although customers could choose any combination of modules, Moog sold several standard systems.

Name Produced Reissued Reissue price Sources
Ic 1967—1973 N/A N/A [23] [24] [25]
IIc 1967—1973 N/A North/A [23] [26] [25]
IIIc 1967—1973 2017 $35,000 [27] [28] [23] [25]
Ip 1967—1973 Northward/A N/A [23] [24] [25]
IIp 1967—1973 N/A N/A [23] [26] [25]
IIIp 1969—1973 2018 $35,000 [29] [30] [23] [25]
Emerson Moog Modular System 1969—1970 2014—2017 $150,000 [31] [32] [33] [34]
Model x 1971—1973 2019—present $nine,950 [35] [36] [37] [23] [25]
Model 12 1972—1973 N/A N/A [23] [38]
Model xv 1973—1981 2015 $x,000 [22] [21] [23] [39]
System 35 1973—1981 2015 $22,000 [22] [21] [23] [39]
Arrangement 55 1973—1981 2015 $35,000 [22] [21] [23] [39]

Successors [edit]

A Minimoog, a portable cocky-independent version of the Moog synthesizer

In 1970, Moog Music released the Minimoog, a portable, self-independent model, and the modular systems became a secondary function of Moog's business.[1] The Minimoog has been described as the most famous and influential synthesizer in history.[x]

After the sale of Moog Music, product of Moog synthesizers stopped in the early 1980s. The patents and other rights to Moog'southward modular circuits expired in the 1990s. In 2002, after Robert Moog regained the rights to the Moog brand and bought the visitor, Moog released the Minimoog Voyager, an updated version. From 2016 to 2017, Moog reissued the original Minimoog with some changes.[one] [40] In 2018, Moog released the Grandmother, followed past the Matriarch in 2019; parts of the circuitry used in these instruments were inspired by the Moog synthesizer.[41] [42] [43]

Clones and emulations [edit]

Afterwards product of the original Moog synthesizers stopped in 1980, some manufacturers, such every bit Synthesizers.com, have created their own modules and clones of Moog modules. Moog modules, known every bit the "dotcom" or "5U" format, are the dominant synthesizer format used today, along with Eurorack.[44] Since 2020, Behringer has manufactured clones of Moog modules in the Eurorack format, besides sold in configurations based on the original Moog systems.[45] [46]

The Moog synthesizer has been emulated in software synthesizers such equally the Arturia Modular V.[47] In 2016, Moog released the Moog Model 15 app, a software emulation of the Model xv initially for iOS and later in 2021 for macOS.[48] [49] [fifty]

See also [edit]

  • List of Moog synthesizer players

Notes [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d east f g Leon, Richard. "Dr Robert & His Modular Moogs". Sound on Sound . Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Obituary: Dr Robert Moog". BBC News. 22 Baronial 2005. Retrieved three December 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j chiliad fifty m n o p q r s t u v w ten y z aa ab ac advertising Compression, Trevor; Trocco, Frank (2004). Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer. Harvard University Printing. ISBN978-0-674-01617-0.
  4. ^ a b c d "Robert Moog biography (1934-2005)". Wired.com . Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d Stearns, David Patrick (25 August 2005). "Obituary: Robert Moog". the Guardian . Retrieved three Dec 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e f McNamee, David (10 August 2010). "Hey, what'southward that sound: Moog synthesisers". The Guardian . Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d due east f 1000 h i j k Kozinn, Allan. "Robert Moog, creator of music synthesizer, dies at 71". New York Times . Retrieved three Dec 2018.
  8. ^ Sam Gallagher (17 July 2019). "Analyzing the Moog Filter". all about circuits.
  9. ^ Hamer, Mick. "Interview: Electronic maestros". New Scientist . Retrieved 3 Dec 2018.
  10. ^ a b Weiner, Sophie (xx October 2017). "Minimoog: The First Truly Portable Synthesizer". Ruby-red Bull Music University . Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  11. ^ Bernstein, Adam (23 Baronial 2005). "Robert Moog Dies; Created Electronic Synthesizer". Washington Mail. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  12. ^ Davis, Stephen (2005). Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend. New York: Gotham Books. p. 197. ISBN978-1-59240-099-7.
  13. ^ Brewster, Bill (22 June 2017). "I Feel Love: Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder created the template for trip the light fantastic music as we know it". Mixmag . Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  14. ^ Snowden, Don (23 May 2012). "Robert Moog: 'I wouldn't call this music' – a archetype interview to marker a Google doodle". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  15. ^ Interview with Bob Moog, Plug, Fall 1974,p.two.
  16. ^ Vail, Marking (2014). The Synthesizer. Oxford University Printing. ISBN978-0195394894.
  17. ^ "analogue/digital hybrid synthesiser" (PDF). Modal Electronics. Modal Electronics. 2020.
  18. ^ Antti Huovilainen (8 October 2004). "Analzing the Moog Filter" (PDF). Helsinki University of Technology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2019.
  19. ^ Jürgen Schuhmacher (17 September 2005). "Moog Filter Module in VHDL 2005". Sound of L.A. Music.
  20. ^ Will Pirkle (2013). "Virtual Analog Filter Implementation and Comparisons" (PDF). www.willpirkle.com.
  21. ^ a b c d "Moog reissues the System 55, System 35 and Model 15 modular synths". Audiofanzine. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  22. ^ a b c d "The Return Of The Moog Modular". Retrieved three July 2021.
  23. ^ a b c d e f thou h i j thou "Moog Synthesizer 1c/2c/3c | Vintage Synth Explorer". www.vintagesynth.com . Retrieved two July 2021.
  24. ^ a b "1968 Modular Arrangement Synthesizer ane". MoogArchives . Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  25. ^ a b c d east f grand "1971 Moog Music Catalog" (PDF).
  26. ^ a b "1968 Modular Organization Synthesizer two". MoogArchives . Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  27. ^ "Reintroducing The Moog Synthesizer IIIc". Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  28. ^ "Moog has reissued one of their earliest synths: Sentinel". DJMag.com. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  29. ^ "We're Bringing the Moog Synthesizer IIIp Back Into Production". Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  30. ^ synthhead (16 Feb 2018). "Moog Synthesizer IIIp Modular System Reissued For $35,000". Synthtopia . Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  31. ^ "Announcing The New Emerson Moog Modular System". Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  32. ^ Reid, Gordon (2014). "The Rebirth Of Keith Emerson's Moog Modular". Sound on Audio . Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  33. ^ "The last ever Emerson Moog Modular System is being built and volition sell for $150,000". Mixmag . Retrieved four July 2021.
  34. ^ "The Terminal Emerson Moog Modular Arrangement". Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  35. ^ "The Moog Model 10 Synthesizer Returns". Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  36. ^ "Moog Announces Limited Reissue Of Model 10 Synth". WMC · Wintertime Music Conference - Virtual Edition - May xx-21, 2021. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  37. ^ Elisabeth (17 September 2019). "Moog Music Reprises Moog Model 10 Synthesizer". Synthtopia . Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  38. ^ "Moog Synthesizer 12". Synthmuseum . Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  39. ^ a b c "1976 Japanese Catalog" (PDF).
  40. ^ Rogerson, Ben. "Moog is catastrophe product of the Minimoog Model D". MusicRadar . Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  41. ^ Reid, Gordon. "Moog Grandmother". Sound on Sound . Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  42. ^ Gaston, Ryan. "Moog Matriarch: Who Needs Polyphony - Perfect Excursion". Perfect Circuit . Retrieved x July 2021.
  43. ^ Reid, Gordon. "Moog Matriarch". Sound on Sound . Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  44. ^ "Unlike Flavours of Modular Synthesizers". Assault Magazine. 17 June 2019. Retrieved x July 2021.
  45. ^ Willings, Sam. "Behringer clones over 20 Moog modules for Eurorack". MusicTech . Retrieved xix October 2021.
  46. ^ Willings, Sam. "Behringer bundles its System 55 Eurorack modules into 3 unlike rack sizes". MusicTech . Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  47. ^ Magnus, Nick. "Arturia Moog Modular V". Audio on Sound . Retrieved ten July 2021.
  48. ^ Reid, Gordon. "Moog Model 15 App". Sound on Sound . Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  49. ^ Sheah, Daniel (9 September 2021). "Moog's Model 15 app is finally bachelor as a VST". MusicTech . Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  50. ^ Betts, Will (20 Jan 2021). "NAMM 2021: Moog's Model fifteen synth app comes to desktop on macOS Big Sur". MusicTech . Retrieved 21 October 2021.

External links [edit]

  • Modular Moogs at Synthmuseum.com
  • Vintage Synth Explorer
  • Moog archives  (site top)
  • The Moog Synthesizer
  • The Rebirth of Keith Emerson's Moog Modular

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