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| [bobportraitsm] |
| |
| Robert A. Moog |
| May 23, 1934 - August 21, 2005 |
| (click drawing for a large |
| version) |
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| #Bob Moog -- R.I.P. |
| |
| A good friend and wonderful human being is no more. Bob |
| Moog lost his battle with a brain tumor on August 21, |
| 2005, at his home in Asheville, NC. He was surrounded by |
| his family and died so gradually and peacefully you |
| couldn't be more exact than to say it was around 2 PM. |
| |
| Bob and I were friends for about 41 years. That sounds |
| incomprehensible now, but there you are. We met when I |
| accidentally woke him up. He was taking a much needed nap |
| on a banquette on the Mezzanine of the Barbizon-Plaza |
| Hotel, in NYC. The Moog Company had setup an exhibit at |
| one of the yearly AES conferences (the Audio Engineering |
| Society was a LOT smaller back then, and more informal -- |
| even the tech papers were free and handy, open to anyone |
| attending the exhibits). |
| |
| This was my first AES show. One of my professors at |
| Columbia, Vladimir Ussachevsky (who also knew Bob), had |
| suggested that as one of his more technically curious |
| graduate students I might enjoy wandering around the 1964 |
| exhibit for a few hours. So I took a break between classes |
| to subway down to midtown, and was gawking around during a |
| slow early afternoon, when most people were off to lunch. |
| |
| There were mikes and consoles and tape machines of all |
| sorts, all pretty impressive. Then I spotted a small booth |
| that had something called "Moog Synthesizer Modules." And |
| sunuvvagun, there they were: voltage-controlled |
| oscillators, filters, envelopers, controllers -- things |
| the still primitive world of electroacoustic music long |
| needed! I must have made noises, for suddenly I saw a |
| figure stir and rise up to greet me. |
| |
| Bob looked tired but friendly, and we chatted briefly, |
| traded phone numbers and addresses. It didn't take long to |
| establish a budding friendship. It was a perfect fit: he |
| was a creative engineer who spoke music: I was a musician |
| who spoke science. It felt like a meeting of simpatico |
| minds, like he were my older brother, perhaps. |
| |
| Soon I was to become one of his early customers, after |
| composer Herb Deutsch, who was crucial to the development |
| of the modules, Alwin Nikolai, an experimental dance guru, |
| and Eric Siday, a composer and commercial music hero I |
| befriended a couple of years later, thanks to Bob. By |
| early 1966 we were making plans for an initial custom |
| instrument. |
| |
| This first modest design Bob eventually delivered himself, |
| to my tiny walkup studio apartment on West End Avenue near |
| 79th Street. We carried it up together from his station |
| wagon. It was a lot more than I expected, a gorgeous |
| walnut cabinet with many additional adjunct devices and |
| wiring. These were in addition to what seemed a good |
| starting point: three oscillators (a magic number, or five |
| later on, since two or four don't blend as well), a white |
| noise source, a few envelopers, a few filters, amplifiers, |
| power supply, and so on. Pretty modest now, but in the mid |
| 60s this was cutting edge! (Here's what the final synth |
| grew into ten years later.) |
| |
| Several chapters of a book can easily be inserted here to |
| cover the years from 1966-68 (there's a lot of the story |
| in the liner notes to most of the "Switched-On" albums, |
| particularly the comprehensive booklet found in the " |
| Switched-On Boxed Set"). In any event, we quickly worked |
| out what was still missing and probably important (don't |
| know for sure until you try...), allowing our ideas to |
| jump back and forth, while zeroing in on what would permit |
| genuinely "musical" electronic music to be made. |
| |
| Ever modest, Bob always deferred on musical matters to |
| those of us who came from that side of the art/tech |
| equation. We, on the other hand, deferred to Bob on all |
| engineering decisions and designs. From the beginning it |
| was a balanced yin/yang relationship between a maker of |
| musical tools and the artists who used those tools. It |
| doesn't seem to work that way much anymore, and more's the |
| pity. |
| |
| Bob realized he needed an effective demonstration disk for |
| his company's new customers. As a struggling young |
| composer with few funds, I was able to "barter" my time |
| and skills in recording, composing, and assembling a |
| professional Moog demo LP, toward the purchase of |
| additional synth components. Bob asked me to fly up to |
| Trumansburg to work with him on the script, then I rushed |
| back to assemble something for the Fall 1967 AES |
| Convention. Fortunately I'd saved a lot of amusing brief |
| "learning pieces" that Summer which came in handy to show |
| off what these new instruments could do. It was an |
| enjoyable project, part of a flurry of work completed in a |
| few short, hectic years. |
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| |
| [mooglogo] [Bob] [mooglogo] |
| |
| At the end of the adventure, by the Spring of 1968, the |
| first custom velocity and depth sensitive keyboards |
| (something I was particularly involved with: physical |
| construction, reworking, final adjusting) were kludged |
| together. Actually EVERYthing Bob built always looked |
| slick and professional, even the kludges. Finally an album |
| you've probably heard of was about to become my "maiden |
| voyage" with the synthesizer. Other key people became |
| involved, such as my collaborator and producer, Rachel |
| Elkind-Tourre, who was essential to the project. Rachel's |
| the one who came up with the idea for a Bach album, and |
| sold it to CBS Records. The title: "Switched-On Bach," |
| that was CBS's suggestion, and a good one, snappier and |
| more memorable than ours ("The Electronic Bach"). |
| |
| When the first sparks of early interest began, it was also |
| Rachel who arranged that Bob appear with us on the "Today" |
| show with Hugh Downs (this long demonstration, with a |
| colorful accompanying "wet" light show, was very probably |
| the first presentation of the synthesizer to a national |
| television audience, and Downs was an excellent, curious, |
| intelligent interviewer). That took place on a frigid |
| morning in early February 1969. Several other radio and TV |
| broadcasts followed in quick succession. The "Today" show |
| segment also launched Bob's career as more of a public |
| presence, a role he gradually became quite adept at. And I |
| think he enjoyed the attention. (I'll never know if |
| inadvertently the show may also have fueled a common |
| misconception of the time that somehow "the synthesizer |
| did it all." Hey, even CBS had signed our synth, not |
| me--wasn't that dopey?) |
| |
| Through the years since, Bob and I remained in touch, and |
| visited each other often. He was at Digital Keyboards when |
| the pioneering additive/complex modulation synth I've used |
| a lot, the "Synergy", was developed, based on Hal Allis' |
| designs. He was at Kurzweil when I began using their great |
| sounding instruments, finding ways to combine the benefits |
| of "sampling" with the important expressive sound design |
| features of earlier synthesizers, part of what Kurzweil |
| called "VAST." And eventually, he setup Big Briar, in his |
| new hometown of Asheville, NC. |
| |
| It was a kick for Bob to regain legal use of his own name |
| for his company more recently (wotta concept!), and he |
| actively participated as the electroacoustic field matured |
| and eventually became taken for granted. A true mark of |
| success, that. I loved the perfectly apt image he took on |
| during his last ten years, sort of a benevolent, wise old |
| Swiss Watchmaker. Those knowing hands of his were always a |
| pleasure to see in action. |
| |
| Bob was the consummate toolmaker. He did it better than |
| anyone else, combining art with technology. Bob was in it |
| for all his life, starting as a teenager building |
| Theremins, to new devices for Raymond Scott, to the |
| synthesizer developments of the past four decades. I'd |
| just written him a long "ketchup" letter, as we frequently |
| did, and thanked him for the generous, charming commentary |
| he wrote for SEAMUS, when they presented me with their |
| Life Achievement Award in April. His message the next |
| morning: he was really glad to hear from me, BUT. He was |
| about to go for a second opinion, because he'd just been |
| diagnosed with some kind of brain tumor. Horrible news, |
| just horrible. |
| |
| While I sent him several short notes during the treatment: |
| radiation, chemo, Bob never was to write again (he was the |
| rare engineer who actually wrote beautifully, BTW). I |
| checked around the Web for more information on him from |
| the past couple of years while we'd been out of touch. |
| There I discovered that up at the top of his all time |
| favorite albums was my "Beauty in the Beast." Damn. Never |
| knew that before. It had nothing to do with his |
| instruments, but he must have recognized the impetus which |
| drove me to compose that album (I consider it my most |
| important work, you see). Another connection, but too late |
| to thank him. |
| |
| Two days later the word came from Ileana. It was all over. |
| Fortunately many of us were able to get down to see the |
| family again, be there with them for the funeral and |
| Memorial Gathering the day after. They asked me to speak, |
| too, and play a few excerpts of my music. It was hard to |
| find the proper words, so I just let it flow out honestly, |
| then introduced the selections. I don't recall everything |
| I said, but it was close to what's written here, a story |
| about an intelligent, modest, and lovable man, who helped |
| us define a new medium. I don't know how I'd have been |
| able to start my career if Bob had not been there. And |
| I'll never forget him. |
| |
| We're all now left to carry one, as the baton is passed in |
| turn to each of us. I ended my comments in the dark hall |
| that afternoon with a brief story by SF author, Jerry |
| Pournelle. When he was a young beginning author somehow he |
| managed an introduction to one of the great SF writers of |
| the 20th Century -- Robert Heinlein. Soon he received a |
| rare invitation: to stop by the master's house for a |
| visit. |
| |
| The hour passed too swiftly. He floated through it in a |
| glow, thinking just how fortunate he was, learning bits of |
| history, some pithy writing tips from one of the best. And |
| then it was over, and he hastened to say goodbye and |
| leave. Pournelle recalls making his way to the door with a |
| gushy: "Gosh--thank you so much, Mr. Heinlein, I don't |
| know how I can ever pay you back!" |
| |
| The old man's retort was quick and to the point: "You |
| can't! You pay forward!" |
| |
| And so it is now with us. |
| |
| --Wendy Carlos |
| September 2005 |
| New York City |
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| Note: Whenever I've lost someone dear to me it has |
| generally felt right and proper to create a pencil |
| sketch of them to add to the website, and have |
| "floating around in the Ether" of the Internet. The |
| drawing at the top of this page is one I made just |
| after receiving word from Ileana that her husband's |
| condition was very grave. Four days later we |
| learned that it was over. In some haste I added the |
| sketch with Bob's dates to the Index Page, as a |
| placeholder for this new page, which now supplants |
| that temporary addition. |
| |
| The narrative above is based on my mostly |
| extemporaneous talk that afternoon in in Asheville, |
| NC. Many mutual friends and family members (some |
| had flown in great distances) spoke with both |
| humorous and also very moving stories, while others |
| performed music on his instruments. Bob's son, |
| Matthew, made an effective MC. It was an ideal way |
| to celebrate the life and work of someone we had |
| known so well and now would miss. Later everyone |
| agreed that Bob would have really enjoyed the day: |
| his kind of informal, spirited, friendly gathering. |
| |
| (BTW, as mentioned above, Bob's family requested |
| that I play a few short examples of my Moog |
| Synthesizer music, by way of historical and |
| personal example. For those who were not there but |
| are interested, the four selections heard early |
| that afternoon were): |
| Bach: Brandenburg #3, mvmt III, first portion [S-OB |
| CD-track #12] |
| (Bob often spoke about its first public hearing, |
| at the end of his AES lecture in NYC in the Fall of |
| 1968.) |
| Scarlatti: Sonata in G, K455, first portion [W-TS |
| CD-track #2} |
| (A mature example of the custom touch sensitive |
| keyboard plus some tricky multitrack "hocketing.") |
| Purcell: Funeral Music for Queen Mary [CO CD-track |
| #3] |
| (Steve Martin, the film director, wisely |
| suggested I must play something appropriate to |
| losing our friend.) |
| Carlos: Beauty in the Beast --title track [BitB |
| CD-track #2] |
| (A piece I only learned recently Bob particularly |
| loved, although he'd never mentioned this to me |
| before.) |
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| | [mooglogo] | |
| | #Several Vintage Documents | |
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| |
| In keeping with this page about Bob Moog's earliest modular |
| synths, let's take a look at a few vintage pages from the first |
| two synthesizer catalogs I ever saw from the R. A. Moog Company, |
| in 1965 and 1967. The idea was to present the musician with |
| essential information to assemble a collection of modules |
| appropriate to the needs and budget. The first catalog was |
| especially aimed at custom installations. So the descriptions |
| were intended to guide one through what each "magic box and |
| panel" did, and how much it cost. The second catalog from only |
| two years later already shifts the focus to three sizes of |
| pre-packaged instruments with a standard configuration which had |
| proven valuable to the earliest users/guinea pigs (that would |
| include me)... These are cleaned decent resolution scans from |
| selected pages. |
| #1965 |
| |
| 1965 catalog |
| (click for large image) |
| |
| This is the top page (there was no cover) of the original 1965 |
| Moog Catalog. It was on regular bond paper, all held together by |
| a staple in the upper left-hand corner. Nothing fancy back then, |
| it was the preliminary information that was of interest. In this |
| case, after a brief overview, we delve immediately into the |
| voltage-controlled oscillator modules. |
| |
| HERE is page two of the 1965 Catalog. This page continues with |
| the oscillator modules, including special output stages, then on |
| to voltage controlled amplifiers, a special white-noise source, |
| and the particularly crucial (and famous -- it's also Bob's main |
| patent from the time) voltage-controlled filters. |
| |
| HERE is page five of the 1965 Catalog. It briefly describes |
| several special products and services which in the earliest days |
| had more value, when the synths by themselves were seen as |
| rather odd all by themselves. |
| #1967 |
| |
| 1997 catalog |
| (click for large image) |
| |
| This is the front of the 1967 Moog Catalog. The catalog had a |
| bold, attractive physical cover, printed on a bristol-board |
| heavyweight stock, slightly oversized from the standard-sized |
| pages within. Everything was saddle-stiched together, a very |
| trim and neat package. |
| |
| HERE is page ten of the 1967 Catalog. It features the larger |
| Moog III instrument, which was approximately the size of my |
| instrument at the same time, although with fewer of the |
| idiosyncracies I preferred. |
| |
| HERE is page twenty-one of the 1967 Catalog, which continues the |
| breakdown of modules with their prices, all of which certainly |
| sound very modest to today's eyes. But actually they represented |
| a considerable investment in the 60s, and I had to work on many |
| free-lance projects to save enough to purchase some of the |
| additions to my custom system. |
| #1968 |
| |
| two reels |
| (click for larger view) |
| |
| Finally for historical sake, I thought you'd enjoy seeing the |
| actual stereo master mixdown tapes for the well-known album |
| completed just one year after the 1967 Catalog had come out. You |
| can see that we were still calling the album by our working |
| title: "The Electronic Bach" (there's a bit more on the album |
| above on this page). Here are a few technical details for those |
| interested: |
| |
| These are the two track submaster tapes (note that "sub" was |
| added later), which were then copied and equalized, and had |
| their amplitudes manually readjusted to maintain consistent |
| levels from track to track, and within tracks which contained |
| spliced together "takes." All of the LP masters, the early |
| reel-to-reel, 8-track, and later cassette masters, and |
| eventually all CDs that CBS/Sony released, were taken from those |
| tweaked copy "final master" tapes. Unfortunately the extra |
| dubbing also added an additional generation of tape noise and |
| distortion. But that's how the professionals did it in those |
| days. |
| |
| For the new ESD special editions, however, I returned to the |
| tapes you see here, carefully stored all these years. These had |
| been mixed directly from the 8-track multitracks = only two tape |
| generations. Most of the EQ alterations for LPs were no longer |
| needed, but the levels were now all over the place. So I |
| duplicated those earlier gain changes we'd done in step three, |
| but now within the 20-bit digital domain, and added some |
| important other tweaks. You can hear how much more transparent |
| the sound is, how much truer to Bob's synthesizers the results, |
| to compare the new CDs to any prior version. Please note: EVERY |
| copy of Switched-On Bach originally came from these two reels |
| you see above, which is why I thought they belonged here as |
| another important document from that time. |
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| You may also enjoy reading the letter and seeing the hand-drawn |
| schematic Bob sent as a suggestion on how the Circon might best |
| be wired, a new addition to our Circon page HERE. For several |
| other pertinent additions, check out the new PDF section on the |
| top of our Resources page HERE. This section now includes the |
| original 1970 Announcement for the Mini Moog synthesizer, which |
| increased the growing popular interest in synthesizers in |
| general, and made entry level synthesis more convenient, |
| affordable and portable than ever before. (You all think you |
| have it so hard now, DO you...? Ha! ;^/ ) You can also access |
| the brochure by clicking the image or link in the box below: |
| |
| +----------------------------------------------+ |
| | "Introducing the Mini Moog" | |
| | R. A Moog Company brochure, copyright 1970 | |
| |----------------------------------------------| |
| | [MMoogtn] | |
| | Download the file to read and/or print HERE. | |
| | If your browser has problems download a zip | |
| | version HERE. | |
| +----------------------------------------------+ |
| |
| Included in our new pdf section are two interviews written by |
| Bob Moog for Keyboard Magazine in the fall of 1982, shortly |
| after Disney's TRON appeared, my filmscore for it being the |
| point of departure for the interviews. You can also access these |
| articles by clicking the appropriate image or link in the double |
| box below. |
| (Note: for downloading or direct viewing options, check the |
| instructions for your particular browser. Some browsers default |
| to the former, others to the latter, but most generally permit |
| either on-screen reading, for speed, or downloading, to read and |
| /or print offline later.) |
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| | Vintage Wendy Carlos Interviews | |
| |--------------------------------------------------------------| |
| | "New Directions for a Synthesizer | | |
| | Pioneer" | | |
| | by Robert Moog | | |
| | | | |
| | Keyboard Magazine Cover Story A, | [KbdNov-82Sml] | |
| | November 1982 | | |
| | | | |
| | Download and/or read this article. | | |
| | If your browser has problems download | | |
| | a zip version HERE. | | |
| |----------------------------------------+---------------------| |
| | "Secrets Behind the Soundtrack of | | |
| | TRON" | | |
| | by Robert Moog | | |
| | | | |
| | Keyboard Magazine Cover Story B, | [KbdTronSml] | |
| | November 1982 | | |
| | | | |
| | Download and/or read this article. | | |
| | If your browser has problems download | | |
| | a zip version HERE. | | |
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| Note: All extant copyright restrictions apply for the original |
| articles, in addition to those for our newly created pdf |
| versions. |
| |
| --(WC Sept. 2005, additions Oct-Dec. 2006) |
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