Synth legend Robert Moog updates his instrument
If the synthesizer business has a household name, it's Robert Moog - even if most people don't know how to pronounce it. In the mid-'60s, Moog (rhymes with rogue) built the first keyboardcontrolled synthesizers, huge switchboard panels that generated the R2-D2-style bleeps and faux orchestral sounds of the space age. In the early '70s, his portable Minimoog propelled synths into basketball arenas and Holiday Inns - and from there into genres like electropop and Miami bass. Moog sold his company in 1974, but the Minimoog refused to die - old models are prized collectibles. Now a reborn Moog Music has introduced the Minimoog Voyager, a handcrafted reproduction of the original, updated for computer control. It's a testament to the timeless appeal of a finely wrought musical instrument, as well as a triumph of outmoded tech. Wired talked with Moog, 69, about today's music and his machines.
WIRED: The Moog sound is legendary. What's your secret?
MOOG: Whatever it is, it has a lot of ingredients, and I'd be hard-pressed to identify them all. I rely on my intuition. There are hundreds of details in the way we adjust levels, waveforms, and so on.
What made you decide it was time for the Voyager?
In the early '80s, digital instruments were very big. But digital synthesizers have a certain quality no matter how many algorithms and layers and setups they have, and musicians got sick of that. They started telling us, "I sure wish I could get a Minimoog." Not just one or two or a dozen - we heard it from hundreds.
Were any prominent musicians involved in the Voyager's design?
It's part of my life, exchanging ideas with people like Rick Wakeman, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock.
The latest wave of synthesizers are all software, but the Minimoog Voyager is hardware - and analog hardware at that. Is it a step back?
If we made wooden furniture instead of using plastic or metal, that wouldn't be a step back. You can make vinyl look like walnut, but when you get close to it, you can tell it's not real. Maybe digital will get closer to analog in time, but it'll never be exactly the same.
What do you think about contemporary electronica?
The new music is interesting -éStereolab, Isotope 217, and Charlie Clouser of Nine Inch Nails were here last week. Some of it sounds to me like things that were done in the '60s, but of course to young people it all sounds brand-new.
Do you have hopes for the future of electronic music?
I have concerns. A hundred years ago, music was a social thing - musicians would face one another and bond through sound. Now, everybody is by himself. I think of the Minimoog Voyager as a thing you play with other people. I hope I'm increasing the social aspect of making music.
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