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"What would modern music sound like, were it not for the synthesizer? Electropop wouldn't exist, Ellie Goulding would be an acoustic act, and the Beatles' Abbey Road wouldn't have as much pizzazz. While modular synthesizers existed and were used in music studios, it's the Minimoog \u2014 the first portable analog synthesizer and the first-ever electronic analog instrument, pioneered by Robert Moog \u2014 that changed the sound of music. It graced the music scene in the 1970s, introducing electronic sound modulations to the music-making process and dramatically expanding the kinds of sounds that could be produced by an instrument.\nHistory of the Moog\n\nRobert Moog's (rhymes with rogue) company was known for creating theremins \u2014 early electronic instruments \u2014 but he moved into new territory when he developed the analog, monophonic synthesizer in the 1960s. This synthesizer makes wave forms by electronic means, and it plays one note at a time. Moog developed standardized modules for the synthesizer sounds and proposed a standardized scale of voltages \u2014 the Moog oscillators and keyboard, for example, have a standard progression of one volt per octave. He debuted his prototype at the Audio Engineering Society conference in October 1964 and began taking orders.\n\nThe sound of the Moog Modular synthesizer became widely known in 1968, on Walter (now Wendy) Carlos' \"Switched-On Bach,\" which was recorded entirely with the instrument.\nThe modular Moog was large (as were computers of the day), and it was initially developed for use in-studio. But just as room-sized computers were downsized into PCs, so too were synthesizers. Bill Hemsath, a Moog Music Inc. engineer, created the Minimoog Model A prototype out of spare parts during his lunch breaks. In the Moog junkyard, Hemsath found a five-octave keyboard that had been whittled down to three octaves, and then he bolted a synthesizer console on top of it. It was the first time these two parts has ever been combined, and it revolutionized music forever. This new device, the portable Minimoog, debuted in 1970, putting the power of the modular Moog in the hands of keyboard players all over the world. \nIt's this smaller invention, the Minimoog and not the original modular Moog, that quickly became a staple for progressive rock bands such as Rush and Yes, who produced the futuristic sounds that were so in vogue in the 1970s. But it was also an instrument of choice for jazz musicians, who could solo on the machine using the innovative \"pitch wheel\" next to the keyboard. And even Bob Marley \"stirred it up\" with Moog, using a Minimoog to produce his reggae sounds. Although it doesn't quite have all of the sonic capabilities of the original modular Moog, the Minimoog's portability and user-friendly interface enables musicians to produce lots of sounds on stage. A more modern version of this synthesizer, the Minimoog Voyager, debuted in 2002; that's the instrument you see at rock shows today. To this day, each Moog synthesizer is handmade at the Moog Factory in Asheville, N.C.\nOf the Minimoog's place in music, Moog said:\n\u201CMusicians always come up with stuff I couldn\u2019t imagine, using my instruments. I can get a sense of whether something would be a good musical resource, but I don\u2019t do music. I\u2019m a toolmaker. It\u2019s always amazing what someone like Herbie Hancock, Wendy Carlos, or Stevie Wonder can come up with. What they\u2019ll do is, when you put something in front of them that\u2019s new, they\u2019ll turn a couple knobs, and listen, and immediately get a sense of where to go. The muse talks to them.\u201D\nThe Magic Behind Moog\n\nWe know the modular Moog and Minimoog are revolutionary, but how do they actually work to make that cool sound? The Minimoog makes noise electronically instead of acoustically, and the machine's knobs and can be manipulated to alter the sound the synthesizer emits. So it might sound like this:\n\nor like this:\n\nBefore the Minimoog, electronic music studios typically had oscillators, filters and other tools to produce and manipulate electronic sounds; but these tools were limited in functionality and could be laborious and time-intensive. Moog consolidated these tools into one portable device, giving musicians more control in one instrument.\nThe Minimoog's most central component is its voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), which generates the primary sound signal by producing a waveform, be it sine, square or sawtooth waves. The output from the VCO could then be modified by manipulating other modules, such as voltage-controlled amplifiers, voltage-controlled filters, envelope generators and ring modulators. The circuit looks like this:\n\nSo hitting a key on the keyboard and turning the knobs to various settings can create myriad sounds, making the Minimoog one of music's most versatile and unique instruments.\nThe Playable Moog Google Doodle\n\nOn what would have been Robert Moog's 78th birthday, Google created an epic Google Doodle to honor the electronic music pioneer. The Google Moog has 19 full-functioning knobs, one wheel, a switch and four tracks that let you record up to 30 seconds of overlaid audio. Check it out above.\nHave you played a Minimoog? What do you love about the sound?\nImage courtesy of Buffalo Museum of Science, Bob Moog Foundation, Moog Music, Inc."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/01/24/moog-synthesizer/>