[Deathwatch] Robert Moog, inventor of synthesizer, 71

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Moog, inventor of synthesizer, dies at 71

By Chris Morris

Robert Moog, whose name became synonymous with electronic music in the
1960s and '70s through the invention of his self-named synthesizers,
has died in Asheville, N.C. He was 71.

Moog, who died Sunday, was diagnosed in April with an inoperable brain
tumor.

The Moog synthesizer -- a versatile keyboard instrument that could
electronically mimic a panoply of musical sounds, including horns and
strings -- was introduced in 1964. Originally employed as a sonic
novelty, it became widely used by several rock, pop and classical
musicians and opened the door for the mainstreaming of the synth in the
electronica genre.

Moog said in a 1997 interview, "To me, the synthesizer was always a
source of new sounds that musicians could use to expand the range of
possibilities for making music."

Born in New York in 1934, Moog studied piano as a child and was
encouraged to explore electronics by his father, an amateur radio
operator. As a youth, he was fascinated by the theremin, the early
electronic instrument invented by Russian Leon Theremin. Moog's first
company marketed theremins and other electronic products.

Moog's first voltage-controlled synthesizer unit was developed in 1964
with composer Herb Deutsch; the first commercial modular synthesizer
hit the market the same year.

The Moog synthesizer made its major breakthrough into mass culture in
1968, when keyboardist Wendy Carlos (then known as Walter Carlos)
issued "Switched-On Bach," an album of synthesized performances of
Johann Sebastian Bach's works. The album won three Grammys, including
classical album of the year, and unleashed a flood of albums featuring
synthesized music. (Carlos also famously deployed the synthesizer in
the score for Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film "A Clockwork Orange.")

Pop and rock performers rapidly adopted the technology: The Beatles,
the Who and Stevie Wonder, among others, were early exponents of the
Moog synthesizer. It became a key building block of '70s progressive
rock in the hands of such practitioners as Yes, Manfred Mann and
Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

"The sound defined progressive music as we know it," ELP's keyboardist
Keith Emerson said.

Moog received a Trustees Award for lifetime achievement from the
Recording Academy in 1970.

He sold his Buffalo-based instrument company in 1973 and moved to
Asheville in the late '70s. After teaching music at the University of
North Carolina in Asheville, he returned to instrument-building with a
new firm, Moog Music, whose clients included Nine Inch Nails, Sonic
Youth, Widespread Panic, Beck and Phish.

Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary