Robert Moog
Encyclopedia
Robert Arthur Moog (ˈmoʊɡ ), commonly called Bob Moog (May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American pioneer of electronic music
, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer
.
, Moog attended the Bronx High School of Science
in New York, graduating in 1952. Moog earned a bachelor's degree
in physics from Queens College, New York in 1957, another in electrical engineering
from Columbia University
, and a Ph.D.
in engineering physics
from Cornell University
. Moog's awards include honorary doctorates from Polytechnic Institute of New York University (New York City
) and Lycoming College
(Williamsport, Pennsylvania
)
During his lifetime, Moog founded two companies for manufacturing electronic musical instruments. He also worked as a consultant and vice president for new product research at Kurzweil Music Systems
from 1984 to 1988, helping to develop the Kurzweil K2000
. He spent the early 1990s as a research professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Asheville
.
Moog received a Grammy Trustees Award
for lifetime achievement in 1970. In 2002, Moog was honored with a Grammy Tech Award, and an honorary doctorate degree from Berklee College of Music
.
He gave an enthusiastically-received lecture at the 2004 New Interfaces for Musical Expression
(NIME-04), held in Hamamatsu
, Japan's "City of Musical Instruments", in June, 2004. Moog was the inspiration behind the 2004 film Moog
.
Moog's first wife was Shirleigh Moog (née Shirley May Leigh), a grammar school teacher whom he married in 1958. The couple had three daughters (Laura Moog Lanier, Michelle Moog-Koussa, Renee Moog) and one son (Matthew Moog) before their divorce. Moog was married to his second wife Ileana Grams, a philosophy professor, for nine years until his death. Moog's stepdaughter, Miranda Richmond, is Grams's daughter from a previous marriage. Moog also had five grandchildren.
Moog was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme
brain tumor on April 28, 2005. Nearly four months later, he died at the age of 71 in Asheville
, North Carolina
on August 21, 2005. His end of life journey was captured using CaringBridge
. The Bob Moog Foundation
was created as a memorial, with the aim of continuing his life's work of developing electronic music.
was one of the first widely used electronic musical instruments. Early developmental work on the components of the synthesizer occurred at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, now the Computer Music Center
. While there, Moog developed the voltage controlled oscillators, ADSR envelope generators, and other synthesizer modules with composer Herbert Deutsch
.
Moog created the first voltage-controlled subtractive synthesizer to utilize a keyboard as a controller and demonstrated it at the AES
convention in 1964. In 1966, Moog filed a patent application for his unique low-pass filter
, which issued in October 1969. He held several dozen patents.
Moog employed his theremin
company (R. A. Moog Co., which would later become Moog Music) to manufacture and market his synthesizers. Unlike the few other 1960s synthesizer manufacturers, Moog shipped a piano-style keyboard
as the standard user interface to his synthesizers. Moog also established standards for analog synthesizer control interfacing, with a logarithmic one volt-per-octave pitch control and a separate pulse triggering signal.
The first Moog instruments were modular synthesizer
s. In 1971 Moog Music began production of the Minimoog
Model D which was among the first widely available, portable and relatively affordable synthesizers.
One of Moog's earliest musical customers was Wendy Carlos
whom he credits with providing feedback that was valuable to the further development of Moog synthesizers. Through his involvement in electronic music, Moog developed close professional relationships with artists such as Don Buchla
, Keith Emerson
, Rick Wakeman
, John Cage
, Gershon Kingsley
, Clara Rockmore
, and Pamelia Kurstin
. In a 2000 interview, Moog said "I'm an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers. They use my tools."
In 1953 at age 19, Moog founded his first company, R.A. Moog Co., to manufacture theremin kits. During the 1950s, composer and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott
approached Moog, asking him to design circuits for him. Moog later acknowledged Scott as an important influence. Later, in the 1960s, the company was employed to build modular synthesizers
based on Moog's designs.
In 1972 Moog changed the company's name to Moog Music
. Throughout the 1970s, Moog Music went through various changes of ownership, eventually being bought out by musical instrument manufacturer Norlin. Poor management and marketing led to Moog's departure from his own company in 1977.
In 1978 after leaving his namesake firm, Moog started making electronic musical instruments again with a new company, Big Briar. Their first specialty was theremins, but by 1999 the company expanded to produce a line of analog effects pedals called moogerfooger
s. In 1999, Moog partnered with Bomb Factory
to co-develop the first digital effects based on Moog technology in the form of plugins for Pro Tools
software.
Despite Moog Music's closing in 1993, Moog did not have the rights to market products using his own name throughout the 1990s. Big Briar acquired the rights to use the Moog Music name in 2002 after a legal battle with Don Martin who had previously bought the rights to the name Moog Music. At the same time, Moog designed a new version of the Minimoog called the Minimoog Voyager
. The Voyager includes nearly all of the features of the original Model D in addition to numerous modern features.
as early as 1948. Later he described a theremin in the hobbyist magazine Electronics World and offered a kit of parts for the construction of the Electronic World's Theremin, which became very successful. In the late 1980s Moog repaired the original theremin of Clara Rockmore
, an accomplishment which he considered a high point of his professional career. He also produced, in collaboration with first wife Shirleigh Moog, Mrs. Rockmore's album, The Art of the Theremin
. Moog was a principal interview subject in the award-winning documentary film, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
, the success of which led to a revival of interest in the theremin. Moog Music went back to its roots and once again began manufacturing theremins. Thousands have been sold to date and are used by both professional and amateur musicians around the globe. In 1996 he published another do-it-yourself theremin guide. Today, Moog Music is the leading manufacturer of performance-quality theremins.
In a deleted scene from the DVD version of the documentary Moog, Moog describes the three pronunciations of the name Moog: the original Dutch /moːx/, which he believes would be too demanding of English speakers; the preferred Anglo-German pronunciation, /moʊɡ/; and a more anglicized pronunciation, /muːɡ/. Moog reveals that some of his family members prefer the anglicized pronunciation, while others, including himself (and his wife) prefer the Anglo-German pronunciation.
Interviews and articles
Patents
Obituaries
Tributes
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
.
Life
A native of New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Moog attended the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
in New York, graduating in 1952. Moog earned a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in physics from Queens College, New York in 1957, another in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in engineering physics
Engineering physics
Engineering physics is the study of the combined disciplines of physics, engineering and mathematics in order to develop an understanding of the interrelationships of these three disciplines. Fundamental physics is combined with problem solving and engineering skills, which then has broad...
from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. Moog's awards include honorary doctorates from Polytechnic Institute of New York University (New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) and Lycoming College
Lycoming College
Founded in 1812, Lycoming College is located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. One of the 50 oldest colleges in America, Lycoming enrolls 1400 undergraduate students from over 28 states and 12 foreign countries. Eighty percent of the college's students live on campus...
(Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. In 2009, the population was estimated at 29,304...
)
During his lifetime, Moog founded two companies for manufacturing electronic musical instruments. He also worked as a consultant and vice president for new product research at Kurzweil Music Systems
Kurzweil Music Systems
Kurzweil Music Systems is a company that produces electronic musical instruments for professionals and home users. Founded in 1982 by Raymond Kurzweil, a developer of reading machines for the blind, the company made use of many of the technologies originally designed for reading machines and...
from 1984 to 1988, helping to develop the Kurzweil K2000
Kurzweil K2000
The Kurzweil K2000 is a 16 bit sampler with a complex synthesis architecture by Kurzweil Music Systems, similar to the EMU Emulator III.The K2000 features a technology dubbed V.A.S.T., which stands for "Variable Architecture Synthesis Technology", a marketing term for the K2000's digital signal...
. He spent the early 1990s as a research professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Asheville
University of North Carolina at Asheville
The University of North Carolina at Asheville is a co-educational, four year, public liberal arts university. The university is also known as UNC Asheville. Located in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, UNCA is the only designated liberal arts institution in the University of North...
.
Moog received a Grammy Trustees Award
Grammy Trustees Award
The Grammy Trustees Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "individuals who, during their careers in music, have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording". Through 1983, performers could also receive this award...
for lifetime achievement in 1970. In 2002, Moog was honored with a Grammy Tech Award, and an honorary doctorate degree from Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
.
He gave an enthusiastically-received lecture at the 2004 New Interfaces for Musical Expression
New Interfaces for Musical Expression
New Interfaces for Musical Expression, also known as NIME, is an international conference dedicated to scientific research on the development of new technologies for musical expression and artistic performance...
(NIME-04), held in Hamamatsu
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. On July 1, 2005, the city merged with 11 surrounding cities and towns. It became a city designated by government ordinance on April 1, 2007.- History :...
, Japan's "City of Musical Instruments", in June, 2004. Moog was the inspiration behind the 2004 film Moog
Moog (film)
Moog is a 2004 documentary film by Hans Fjellestad about electronic instrument pioneer Dr. Robert Moog. The film features scenes of Dr. Moog interacting with various musical artists who view Moog as an influential figure in the history of electronic music....
.
Moog's first wife was Shirleigh Moog (née Shirley May Leigh), a grammar school teacher whom he married in 1958. The couple had three daughters (Laura Moog Lanier, Michelle Moog-Koussa, Renee Moog) and one son (Matthew Moog) before their divorce. Moog was married to his second wife Ileana Grams, a philosophy professor, for nine years until his death. Moog's stepdaughter, Miranda Richmond, is Grams's daughter from a previous marriage. Moog also had five grandchildren.
Moog was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme
Glioblastoma multiforme
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans, involving glial cells and accounting for 52% of all functional tissue brain tumor cases and 20% of all intracranial tumors. Despite being the most prevalent form of primary brain tumor, GBMs...
brain tumor on April 28, 2005. Nearly four months later, he died at the age of 71 in Asheville
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
on August 21, 2005. His end of life journey was captured using CaringBridge
CaringBridge
CaringBridge is a charitable 501 nonprofit organization offering free personalized websites to people facing a serious medical condition or hospitalization, undergoing medical treatment and/or recovering from a significant accident, illness, injury or procedure. Its functionality is similar to a blog...
. The Bob Moog Foundation
Bob Moog Foundation
The Bob Moog Memorial Foundation was created after the death of Dr. Robert Moog in 2005, and officially launched in August, 2006. His family established the foundation to honor the legacy of Moog "through its mission of igniting creativity at the intersection of music, history, science, and...
was created as a memorial, with the aim of continuing his life's work of developing electronic music.
Development of the Moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizerSynthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
was one of the first widely used electronic musical instruments. Early developmental work on the components of the synthesizer occurred at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, now the Computer Music Center
Computer Music Center
The Computer Music Center at Columbia University is the oldest center for electronic and computer music research in the United States. The Center was founded in the 1950s as the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center....
. While there, Moog developed the voltage controlled oscillators, ADSR envelope generators, and other synthesizer modules with composer Herbert Deutsch
Herbert Deutsch
Herbert A. Deutsch is an American composer, inventor, and educator. Currently professor emeritus of electronic music and composition at Hofstra University, he is best known for co-inventing the Moog Synthesizer with Bob Moog in 1964....
.
Moog created the first voltage-controlled subtractive synthesizer to utilize a keyboard as a controller and demonstrated it at the AES
Audio Engineering Society
Established in 1948, the Audio Engineering Society draws its membership from amongst engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products for audio, and persons working...
convention in 1964. In 1966, Moog filed a patent application for his unique low-pass filter
Low-pass filter
A low-pass filter is an electronic filter that passes low-frequency signals but attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is sometimes called a high-cut filter, or treble cut filter...
, which issued in October 1969. He held several dozen patents.
Moog employed his theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
company (R. A. Moog Co., which would later become Moog Music) to manufacture and market his synthesizers. Unlike the few other 1960s synthesizer manufacturers, Moog shipped a piano-style keyboard
Musical keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...
as the standard user interface to his synthesizers. Moog also established standards for analog synthesizer control interfacing, with a logarithmic one volt-per-octave pitch control and a separate pulse triggering signal.
The first Moog instruments were modular synthesizer
Modular synthesizer
The modular synthesizer is a type of synthesizer consisting of separate specialized modules connected by wires to create a so-called patch. Every output generates a signal – an electric voltage of variable strength...
s. In 1971 Moog Music began production of the Minimoog
Minimoog
The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. , and production was stopped in 1981. It was re-designed by Robert Moog in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager.The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of...
Model D which was among the first widely available, portable and relatively affordable synthesizers.
One of Moog's earliest musical customers was Wendy Carlos
Wendy Carlos
Wendy Carlos is an American composer and electronic musician. Carlos first came to notice in the late 1960s with recordings made on the Moog synthesizer, then a relatively new and unknown instrument; most notable were LPs of synthesized Bach and the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick's film A...
whom he credits with providing feedback that was valuable to the further development of Moog synthesizers. Through his involvement in electronic music, Moog developed close professional relationships with artists such as Don Buchla
Don Buchla
Don Buchla is a pioneer in the field of sound synthesizers, releasing his first units months after Robert Moog's first synthesizers...
, Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
, Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
, John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, Gershon Kingsley
Gershon Kingsley
Gershon Kingsley a contemporary German American composer, is well known as a pioneer of electronic music and the Moog synthesizer and founder of the First Moog Quartet, as a partner in the famous electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley, and for his rock-inspired compositions for Jewish religious...
, Clara Rockmore
Clara Rockmore
Clara Rockmore was a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument.-Biography :Born as Clara Reisenberg in Vilnius, Lithuania, Rockmore was a child prodigy on the violin and entered the Imperial conservatory of Saint Petersburg at the age of five...
, and Pamelia Kurstin
Pamelia Kurstin
Pamelia Kurstin is a theremin player who has performed and recorded with artists such as David Byrne, Richard Cheese, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, and Ulver and has performed on the television show Saturday Night Live...
. In a 2000 interview, Moog said "I'm an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers. They use my tools."
R.A. Moog Co. and Moog Music
In 1953 at age 19, Moog founded his first company, R.A. Moog Co., to manufacture theremin kits. During the 1950s, composer and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
approached Moog, asking him to design circuits for him. Moog later acknowledged Scott as an important influence. Later, in the 1960s, the company was employed to build modular synthesizers
Moog modular synthesizer
Moog modular synthesizer refers to any of a number of monophonic analog modular synthesizers designed by the late electronic instrument pioneer Dr. Robert Moog and manufactured by R.A Moog Co...
based on Moog's designs.
In 1972 Moog changed the company's name to Moog Music
Moog Music
Moog Music is an American company based in Asheville, North Carolina which manufactures electronic musical instruments. The current Moog Music is the second company to trade under that name.-R.A. Moog Co. and the original Moog Music:...
. Throughout the 1970s, Moog Music went through various changes of ownership, eventually being bought out by musical instrument manufacturer Norlin. Poor management and marketing led to Moog's departure from his own company in 1977.
In 1978 after leaving his namesake firm, Moog started making electronic musical instruments again with a new company, Big Briar. Their first specialty was theremins, but by 1999 the company expanded to produce a line of analog effects pedals called moogerfooger
Moogerfooger
moogerfooger is the trademark for a series of analog effects pedals manufactured by Moog Music. There are currently five different pedals produced, however one of these models is designed for processing control voltages rather than audio signal...
s. In 1999, Moog partnered with Bomb Factory
Bomb Factory
Bomb Factory is a recording studio and manufacturer of music plugins based in Los Angeles, California.-Music studio:Bomb Factory Studios features an extensive collection of vintage and historic equipment and musical instruments...
to co-develop the first digital effects based on Moog technology in the form of plugins for Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
software.
Despite Moog Music's closing in 1993, Moog did not have the rights to market products using his own name throughout the 1990s. Big Briar acquired the rights to use the Moog Music name in 2002 after a legal battle with Don Martin who had previously bought the rights to the name Moog Music. At the same time, Moog designed a new version of the Minimoog called the Minimoog Voyager
Minimoog Voyager
The Minimoog Voyager or Voyager is a monophonic analog synthesizer, designed by Robert Moog and released in 2002 by Moog Music. The Voyager was modeled after the classic Minimoog synthesizer that was popular in the 1970s, and is meant to be a successor to that instrument.-Design:Like the original...
. The Voyager includes nearly all of the features of the original Model D in addition to numerous modern features.
Theremin
Moog constructed his own thereminTheremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
as early as 1948. Later he described a theremin in the hobbyist magazine Electronics World and offered a kit of parts for the construction of the Electronic World's Theremin, which became very successful. In the late 1980s Moog repaired the original theremin of Clara Rockmore
Clara Rockmore
Clara Rockmore was a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument.-Biography :Born as Clara Reisenberg in Vilnius, Lithuania, Rockmore was a child prodigy on the violin and entered the Imperial conservatory of Saint Petersburg at the age of five...
, an accomplishment which he considered a high point of his professional career. He also produced, in collaboration with first wife Shirleigh Moog, Mrs. Rockmore's album, The Art of the Theremin
The Art of the Theremin
The Art of the Theremin is the first official album by Clara Rockmore, released in 1987 by Delos International.-Track listing:#"Vocalise" – 3:44#"Song of Grusia" – 4:15#"The Swan" – 2:56...
. Moog was a principal interview subject in the award-winning documentary film, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey is a 1993 documentary film directed by Steven M. Martin about the life of Leon Theremin and his invention, the theremin, a pioneering electronic musical instrument....
, the success of which led to a revival of interest in the theremin. Moog Music went back to its roots and once again began manufacturing theremins. Thousands have been sold to date and are used by both professional and amateur musicians around the globe. In 1996 he published another do-it-yourself theremin guide. Today, Moog Music is the leading manufacturer of performance-quality theremins.
Pronunciation
The surname Moog is one of the most divergently pronounced names in popular culture. The following interview excerpt reveals Robert Moog's preferred pronunciation:- — Reviewer: First off: Does your name rhyme with "vogue" or is like a cow’s "moo" plus a g at the end?
- — Dr. Robert Moog: It rhymes with "vogue." That is the usual German pronunciation. My father's grandfather came from MarburgMarburgMarburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. I like the way that pronunciation sounds better than the way the cow's "moo-g" sounds.
In a deleted scene from the DVD version of the documentary Moog, Moog describes the three pronunciations of the name Moog: the original Dutch /moːx/, which he believes would be too demanding of English speakers; the preferred Anglo-German pronunciation, /moʊɡ/; and a more anglicized pronunciation, /muːɡ/. Moog reveals that some of his family members prefer the anglicized pronunciation, while others, including himself (and his wife) prefer the Anglo-German pronunciation.
See also
- Bob Moog FoundationBob Moog FoundationThe Bob Moog Memorial Foundation was created after the death of Dr. Robert Moog in 2005, and officially launched in August, 2006. His family established the foundation to honor the legacy of Moog "through its mission of igniting creativity at the intersection of music, history, science, and...
- Moog (film)Moog (film)Moog is a 2004 documentary film by Hans Fjellestad about electronic instrument pioneer Dr. Robert Moog. The film features scenes of Dr. Moog interacting with various musical artists who view Moog as an influential figure in the history of electronic music....
- Moog MusicMoog MusicMoog Music is an American company based in Asheville, North Carolina which manufactures electronic musical instruments. The current Moog Music is the second company to trade under that name.-R.A. Moog Co. and the original Moog Music:...
- Moog synthesizerMoog synthesizerMoog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
- List of Moog synthesizer players
- MoogfestMoogfestMoogfest is a three-day electronic music festival that takes place in Asheville, North Carolina, United States, every year since 2010 towards the end of October. The festival is held in Asheville because it is the city where Robert Arthur "Bob" Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer and...
- Electronic musicElectronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
- Harald BodeHarald BodeHarald Bode was a German engineer and pioneer in the development of electronic music instruments.- Biography :...
- Herbert DeutschHerbert DeutschHerbert A. Deutsch is an American composer, inventor, and educator. Currently professor emeritus of electronic music and composition at Hofstra University, he is best known for co-inventing the Moog Synthesizer with Bob Moog in 1964....
- Gershon KingsleyGershon KingsleyGershon Kingsley a contemporary German American composer, is well known as a pioneer of electronic music and the Moog synthesizer and founder of the First Moog Quartet, as a partner in the famous electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley, and for his rock-inspired compositions for Jewish religious...
- Raymond ScottRaymond ScottRaymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
- Léon ThereminLéon ThereminLéon Theremin was a Russian and Soviet inventor. He is most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments. He is also the inventor of interlace, a technique of improving the picture quality of a video signal, widely used in video and television technology...
- Bruce HaackBruce HaackBruce Clinton Haack was a musician, composer, and pioneer of electronic music. He was born in Alberta, Canada.-From Alberta to New York :...
- List of notable brain tumor patients
External links
- Bob Moog — official website
- The Bob Moog Memorial Foundation for Electronic Music
- Robert Moog discography at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Moog Music — official website
- Moog Archives illustrated history of company and products
- MoogFest — festival celebrating Moog
- Vintage Synth Explorer
- Bob Moog's links at ThereminVox
- The Moog Taurus Bass Pedals, the Minimoog and the Moog Prodigy
- Pictures of Bob Moog
- Sound samples from the Moog Modular at BlueDistortion.com
- NIME-04 — International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression
Interviews and articles
- Bob Moog Interview at electronicmusic.com
- Article of Bob Moog and his relationship with Raymond Scott and the inventions they made in the mid 1950’s (the unaddressed letter and the UJT-Relay sequencer invention)
- Radio feature with Bob Moog on Voice Of America (MP3)
- Radio feature with Bob Moog on NPR (MP3)
- Article about Bob Moog on SynthMuseum.com
- Interview with Bob Moog on Amazing Sounds
- Article about Robert Moog's career on Salon.com
- Robert Moog interview in magazine New ScientistNew ScientistNew Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...
- Radio interview with Moog from 2004 on WNYCWNYCWNYC is a set of call letters shared by a pair of co-owned, non-profit, public radio stations located in New York City.WNYC broadcasts on the AM band at 820 kHz, and WNYC-FM is at 93.9 MHz. Both stations are members of National Public Radio and carry distinct, but similar news/talk programs...
(RealAudio) (Moog portion begins 30 minutes into program.) - Article with pictures of Bob Moog and various Moog synthesizers on Obsolete.com
- Sweetwater Video Interview with Bob Moog discussing his design philosophy and future of synthesis, on Sweetwater.com
Patents
- Descriptive list of Moog patents by J. Donald Tillman Electronic High-pass and Low-pass Filters Employing the Base-to-Emitter Resistance of Bipolar Transistors, issued October 1969 Electronic music synthesizer, issued September 1977 Phase shifting sound effects circuit, issued August 1978 Amplifier with multifilter, issued September 1978 Parametric adjustment circuit, issued August 1979 Distortion sound effects circuit, issued December 1979 Compressor-expander for a musical instrument, issued May 1980 Monophonic touch sensitive keyboard, issued July 1980 Frequency following circuit, issued July 1981 Arrays of resistive elements for use in touch panels and for producing electric fields, issued October 1988
Obituaries
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4696651.stm / http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4173510.stm in BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
- http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050823/NEWS01/50822035 in Asheville Citizen-TimesAsheville Citizen-TimesThe Asheville Citizen-Times is the major daily newspaper of Asheville, North Carolina. It was formed in 1991 as a result of a merger of the morning Asheville Citizen and the afternoon Asheville Times. It is owned by Gannett.-History:...
- http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/22/moog.obit.ap/index.html in CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
- http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-moog23aug23,1,5675320.story in Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/arts/music/23moog.html in The New York Times (may require free registration to access)
- http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4342438 in The EconomistThe EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
- http://mixonline.com/bob_moog/index.html in Mix magazine
- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1746407,00.html in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
Tributes
- Bob Moog Guestbook at CaringBridge
- Switched On and Ready To Rumble from The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- A Tribute To Robert Moog — tribute album, entry on DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Waves of Inspiration: The Legacy of Moog, museum exhibition
- We Will Miss You, Bob Moog from BlueDistortion.com