Moog Music is back in business!

[poltr1]

Just found out last night that one of the best-known names in electronic music is back in business. Moog Music lives once again. The company was founded in the mid-1960s as R.A. Moog, Inc. in Trumansburg, NY (just outside of Ithaca). In the early 1970s, it merged with another company, MuSonics, moved to Williamsville, NY (just outside of Buffalo), and became Moog Music. The company then moved to Cheektowaga (another suburb), where it stayed until the mid-1980s, when it (finally) folded.

The company is best known for making synthesizers -- from the huge modular ones that Keith Emerson toured with, to the classic Minimoog, to the polyphonic instruments like the Polymoog and Memorymoog. In the early 1980s, digital keyboards started appearing, and the analog synths were getting phased out.

Meanwhile, in the late 1970s, the original founder, Bob Moog, moved to North Carolina and formed another company, Big Briar, which sold theremins (unclechristo has one of these) and analog effects pedals/devices called "Moogerfoogers".

At the 2003 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show, it was unveiled that Big Briar changed its name to Moog Music. I presume the name was stuck in legal limbo for the last several years. They also announced a new version of their classic Minimoog synthesizer, updated for the 21st century with MIDI, storable patches, and the classic Moog filter -- the best in the business.

If I should be so fortunate to win the lottery, I want to trade in my computer keyboard for one of these!

Comments

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Oh, very cool! I've always appreciated the Moog synth. There's a great story about Mickey Dolenz acquiring one back in the 60s when they were new. At a party at his home, someone made a comment that Dolenz was a pretty good Moog player. "Yeah," he said. "But they're even more fun when you let them play themselves." He turned it on, twisted a few knobs at random, and walked off, leaving it to beep and chirp on its on. (This is more or less what he's doing with it on the Monkees' track "Daily Nightly").

-R

[poltr1]

If it was the 60s, it must have been a modular system -- one where everything connects with patch cords. Mickey's Moog must have had a sequencer module or a sample-and-hold module to do what you described.