Arguably, no
invention has affected the music industry as much as the music synthesizer
invented by Robert Moog. Moog (rhymes with vogue), fascinated by earlier
electronic music devices such as the theremin, went on to create the analog
synthesizer in the mid 1960s. the analog synthesizer was far cheaper and
smaller than any previous vacuum-tube based electronic instrument, thanks to
the invention of the transistor ( an amazing invention it itself).
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| Moog Synthesizer |
An ingenious
combination of science and art, the Moog synthesizer, contrary to the word
synthetic, unleashed a range of rich and organic sounds, taking the music
industry by storm. Moog went on to make a portable version called the Mini Moog,
which through its brilliant design allowed the user to change the shape of the
sound in any way imaginable by simply adjusting the various knobs.
The synthesizer
jumped into the spotlight after ‘Switched on Bach’, an album by Wendy Carlos
–made completely using synthesized music –won three Gramme Awards. Since then,
an array of musicians such as The Beatles, The Doors, Steve Wonder, Mick
Fagger, Krafwerk etc. have used the Moog synthesizer heavily to define a new
sound heard in several generations of music across multiple genres. To get a
basic idea of how the Moog synthesizer works, we suggest checking out the
Google doodle made in tribute to Robert Moog on his 78th birthday. http://www.google.com/doodles/robert-moogs-78th-birthday
An electronic
device and a musical instrument, many current professional musicians, even
nearly 50 years after its invention, still consider the Moog synthesizer to be
the epitome of electronic instruments. Robert Moog and his invention have left
an everlasting legacy on the music industry, thus making it one of mankind’s
greatest inventions.
