Twiddling His Way to Heaven

Damn, what a way to start back from vacation, huh?

The music world lost a titan on Sunday with the death of synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog. Moog didn't invent the synthesizer, but he seriously refined it and turned it from a technological curiosity into a viable musical instrument, first in the studio and then on the road. While some folks' greatest exposure to Bob's instruments came in places like the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange or the classical reinvention Switched on Bach, many music lovers know of the central roll the Moog (and its descendants) played (and continue to play) in the world of progressive rock.

One of the earliest users of Moog's synth, when it was a sprawling beast the size of several bookcases, was Keith Emerson, who used Moog's stuff on a host of prog classics, from "Tarkus" to "Trilogy" and "Karn Evil 9." See Keith with the beast here. The scaled down (and much easier to carry!) MiniMoog found its way into the arsenal of many a prog keyboard player. Here's Emerson with one (on top of the piano) and Rick Wakeman with several. In memory of Bob's passing, in fact, I ran through most of the MiniMoog prog staples at work, beginning with the sublime "Impressione di Settembre" by PFM.

As the BBC obit linked above indicates, the boom times for Moog were short, with competitors and changing tastes drying up demand in the mid 70s. By the 80s, the old analog synths like the ARP and Prophet (along with the MiniMoog) gave way to increasingly sophisticated digital synths. Ironically, in the past several years keyboard players have returned to the old synths to get a warmer less mechanical sound. They even build digital synths today that are designed to model the old analog ones! So Bob's achievements are still ringing in the ears of music lovers everywhere.

Gracis & Adios, Bob.