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Anyone who has been involved in the music industry over the last 30 years knows the names Robert Moog and Moog Music. While the company had an extensive product line in the '60s and '70s, the MiniMoog was its most successful instrument. In addition to inspiring countless musicians, the MiniMoog was a forerunner to the explosive synthesizer industry. Even today, Moog synthesizers are considered classic instruments and command premium prices from collectors. Needless to say, Mr. Moog is a true pioneer in the world of analog circuit design. But even more important, he continues his vision into the future.
PAR: What's your background, Bob?
Moog: I was born and raised in New York City. After high school I entered a combined engineering program at Queens College and Columbia Engineering School. I went onto graduate school at Cornell University and I got a Ph.D. in engineering physics in 1965.
As for my background in music, my mother gave me piano lessons for 10 years. I didn't like piano, however, so I threw in the towel and opted instead for the soldering iron.
PAR: When did you open your first shop?
Moog: It was summer 1963, while I was still a graduate student. I thought that after I got my degree I would go into business making electronic kits ‑ like the old Heathkits. That's not a very big thing today, but back then it was very popular. You could save a lot of money building those kits. I then met a musician from Long Island named Herbert Deutsch who wanted to compose electronic music. We ended up working together and began building synthesizers. He was the musician and I was the technician.
PAR: Where did Moog Music go from there?
Moog: In 1971 I sold the controlling interest to a private investor. The company moved to Buffalo, N.Y. In 1973 Moog Music was sold again, this time to Norlin Music. At that time Norlin was the largest manufacturer of musical instruments in the U.S. Moog became a division of Norlin along with Gibson Guitars, Lowery Organs, Story and Clark Pianos, Cordovox Accordions, Maestro Effects and others. I stayed on as president until 1977. The title was strictly window dressing; I had no authority whatsoever. In fact, I wasn't even designing synthesizers at that time.
Norlin Music eventually bought me out and then went bankrupt in the early '80s.
PAR: What happened after the collapse of Norlin?
Moog: Moog Music was sold in a leveraged buyout deal. After several years, however, that company went out of business. Another group bought it and turned it into a contract manufacturer. They are out of business now too. It's very easy to go bankrupt in the music instrument business. Fortunately, it's never happened to me. Things change fast and it is very competitive.
PAR: What is the current status of the Moog Music name?
Moog: l am now in the process of regaining full control over the use of the Moog trademark.
PAR: After you left Norlin Music in 1977, what did you do?
Moog: In June 1978 I moved to North Carolina and started a company called Big Briar. Initially, I was only doing consulting work and custom instrument design. In the early '90s I taught several courses in the music department at the University of North Carolina in Asheville. I was also building theremins. There was an increasing interest and demand for theremins so I quit teaching to focus exclusively on building these instruments.
PAR: It's obvious that you have a real love for the theremin!
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Moog: I do. I built my first theremin when I was 15. It was from a do‑it‑yourself magazine article. And in 1954, at the age of 19, 1 wrote a magazine article on building theremins. I have building them on and off ever since.
PAR: Are there any other companies besides Big Briar making theremins?
Moog: There are a few others, but according to the New York Times, we are the leading manufacturer in the world. We make more than everyone else combined. Big Briar has a dealer network of about 50 stores.
PAR: Your product lure also includes the Moogerfoogers. Tell us about them.
Moog: We have three Moogerfoogers. While they look like effects pedals, they are actually synthesizer modules that use the same analog circuitry we used in the '60s. The first one is a low pass filter. It contains the same filter design as the early Moog synthesizers. In this module, the fitter works directly with an envelope follower, which produces a control voltage that follows the loudness of the sound being played.
For example, if you plugged a guitar into it, the envelope follower would produce a voltage that went up and down every time a string was hit. This opens and closes the filter and gives it a characteristic sound, which is called the envelope‑controlled filter effect.
The next module is a ring modulator. This contains three separate functions: the actual ring modulator. a voltage‑controlled earner oscillator and a voltage‑controlled low‑frequency oscillator. The ring modulator takes an input source and divides it into two separate signals ‑ one above the input frequency and the other below it.
The amount of frequency separation is determined by the carrier oscillator. The low frequency oscillator then modulates the carrier oscillator. This creates effects like vibratos and trills. The third one is a 12‑stage phaser. It is very similar in sound to the old Moophaser. The performance controls include a phaser sweep and a resonance feedback loop to increase the effect.
There is also a superwide‑range low‑frequency oscillator. This LFO can be set for a very subtle effect of one cycle every 100 seconds (once every two minutes) up to a maximum of 250 times a second! At this speed. the module creates a very rich and thick texture that sounds half‑way between phasing and ring modulation. There is nothing else like this for designing new kinds of sounds. One thing that is very special about these boxes is that for each of the performance knobs on the top, there is a corresponding voltage control input for expression pedals.
These inputs can be used in place of the knobs. For example, guitar players can use the foot pedals instead of turning the knobs on the front panel. We used this same concept on our modular synths back in the '60s.
PAR: Are the Moogerfoogers mono or stereo devices?
Moog: The phaser is mono in and stereo out, while the other two modules are mono in and mono out.
PAR; Have you thought about adding MIDI to them?
Moog: We haven't done that yet, but we may in the near future. The way it could be accomplished is to use a MIDI‑to‑control voltage converter.
PAR: Any chance of manufacturing analog synths again?
Moog: Yes. We'll be introducing o monophonic analog synth sometime in 2000. With a monophonic instrument, the user can play leads, bass lines and effects and also have real‑tune control.
PAR: So how do you see analog circuitry interfacing in a digital world?
Moog: The main difference between analog and digital is that digital produces steps as parameters are changed. This is not true with analog. As digital circuitry improves. the steps become less and less audible and the sound comes closer to the quality of analog. Also, there still needs to be a lot more development in the creation of expressive controller devices. Electronic instruments should be as expressive as say, a guitar or an oboe:. We're looking forward to building expressive instruments from where the MiniMoog left off.
PAR: Bob, is there anything else you'd like to add?
Moog: Big Brian likes to design products that will he made for years to come. As a company, we do not want to make things fast and sloppy and then discontinue them for something else. We design products slowly and carefully and expect them to be successful for a long time.
PAR: Thanks for taking the time to talk with Pro Audio Review!
J. Arif J. Verner is a regular contributor to Pro Audio Review. Unfortunately he sold his MiniMoog 10 years ago and hasn't been the same. He can he reached at www.infinitesound.com.
