It's strictly a rumour - nobody's leaking images - and it's an old rumour, but a really good one. People on message boards are saying that Moog are about to announce an 'affordable' analog synth at NAMM. Matrix Synth links to one thread, inspired by 'Amos' who may or may not work for Moog Music. Bob Moog's follow-up to the Minimoog was the Micromoog, a one-oscillator, plastic-cased synth which cost $895 in 1979, compared with the wood-cased, 3 osc Minimoog at $1995. Assuming synth economics haven't changed in 30 years, that would mean a cut down Voyager at $1,320 (later Rogue, Prodigy and MG-1 synths were cheaper). Of course, 30 years ago, you couldn't get surface-mount components stamped onto circuit boards by the trillion in China for next to nothing. A cheap, powerful, decent-sounding all-analog Moog made in China? That would really be something. More uninformed speculation here at the Moog website.
The other popular Moog rumour goes the other way - that they're about to launch a polyphonic Voyager, which would presumably cost most of the money in the world. According to this post, Bob Moog himself said it wasn't going to happen on his last visit to London:
"At a staff training session at Turnkey the conversation went something like this;
Staff: 'Dr Moog we all love the new mini, but what we would all love to see is a polyphonic moog. What's the position on that?'
Bob Moog (after a long pause with his head down he lifts it and says; 'We could build one...But we're not going to'
He then quickly moved onto another subject."
From the Moog Music site:
"ASHEVILLE, N.C. — August 21, 2005 — Bob died this afternoon at his home in Asheville, N.C. He was 71. Bob was diagnosed with brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme or GBM) in late April 2005. He had received both radiation treatment and chemotherapy to help combat the disease. He is survived by his wife, Ileana, his five children, Laura Moog Lanier, Matthew Moog, Michelle Moog-Koussa, Renee Moog, and Miranda Richmond; and the mother of his children, Shirleigh Moog.
Bob was warm and outgoing. He enjoyed meeting people from all over the world. He especially appreciated what Ileana referred to as "the magical connection" between music-makers and their instruments.
No public memorial is planned. Fans and friends can direct their sympathies or remembrances to www.caringbridge.com/visit/bobmoog.
Bob's family has established The Bob Moog Foundation dedicated to the Advancement of Electronic Music in his memory. Many of his longtime collaborators including musicians, engineers and educators have agreed to sit on its executive board including David Borden, Wendy Carlos, Joel Chadabpe, John Eaton, David Mash, and Rick Wakeman. For more information about the foundation, contact Matthew Moog at mattmoog@yahoo.com.
We'll miss you Bob."
Good old Amos - he's the Moog tech support guy (and robot builder and musician) who first mentioned the Little Phatty on a message board. Now, in this interview on an official Moog website, he says:
What’s the most frequently asked question you get from users? “What MoogerFoogers do I need to make my guitar sound like a synthesizer?”
And the answer is… The answer is not any of our current ones, exactly, but we are working on some surprises in that regard...
Is there anything you can tell us about Moog’s next product? I can say it will defy expectations. It will be the most daring and boundary-defying Moog product to date!
What do you think? Moog fuzzbox/filter/envelope follower? Moog hexaphonic fuzz pickup with six-way polyphonic analog filters? A fantastically complicated, expensive and company-bankrupting guitar effect system like the EMS Synthi Hi-Fli (more) or the Arp Avatar? Something completely different? Maybe we'll find out at NAMM in January. (Thanks for the tips, John, get well soon!) (Image from alt-mode)
So, here's what Moog have told me about Little Phatty:
Are you planning a limited edition version with the word 'Phatty' spelt correctly, for people not of the hip hop persuasion?
Ha Ha. Phatty is da’ word, YO!
Are those pitch/mod wheels glowing?
Yes. A nice color blue.
How big is the Moog logo on the back? Bigger than on a Prodigy?
The Bob Moog signature is quite large, 9¼ inches, or so
There doesn't seem to be a shift button. Is it strictly one-button-per-parameter?
:-) Yes
Is there some mysterious connection between Clavia and Moog? Those LED rings and little buttons look familiar...
They really like us and we them.
Is the entire thing manufactured in the US? Are the circuit boards made in Asheville?
Yes. Although some components are from China.
How does the sound differ from the Voyager? If I dial up a simple two-oscillator patch on a Voyager, will it sound identical to a Little Phatty?
Yes. I believe so. If you take off the extra modulation off the Voyager and removed the Overload fnction from LP.
What's it made from?
The Tribute Edition has wood sides and an aluminum back.
Is every parameter MIDI accessible?
To be decided, but probably yes.
How far had the design progressed before Dr Moog passed? Would he recognise it if he saw the finished item?
Bob and Steve started conceptualizing this in 2004. The actual outside design came later. Bob was key in the beginning of this project and we think he would be proud.
How fine is the resolution on the encoders?
The knobs use Real Analog Control. Within this there is no encoding. "Stepping is not audible," says one Moog Tech Amos.
Is this synth built differently from the Voyager? Does it use custom-made filter/osc/env chips?
There are no custom chips, but [unlike the Voyager] it uses surface mount components.
About those big blue buttons: Are they soft and rubbery, or hard? [10 years of journalism, and this is where I've ended up]
They're soft, and they feel great!!
So here it is. Moog's new synth is called Little Phatty (although Moogfans aren't convinced), and it costs $1475. The spec (which you can read here), has been chewed over by every pundit on every forum, but what's new today is what it looks like and how it works. There's a hires image to pour over here. Some back story from the Moog boss here (seems the whole think was Turnkey's idea...)
Reasons to love:
1) Cool blue buttons. Press a button, turn a knob, sounds like it should be OK. It's not like it's a DX7.
2) There's a button marked 'Overload' under the filter knob
3) It doesn't have a "shift" button. Every parameter is one push, and one knob turn. Genius!
4) It looks a little bit like a Synclavier
5) It's a Moog, and it's made in America, possibly by people with beards.
Reasons to not love:
1) $1475! $1475! $1475! You can go to eBay and buy a Moog Source, a Moog Prodigy and a Moog-built Realistic MG-1 for the price. They don't have MIDI and 100 programs, but there's three of them.
2) It's hardly knobtacular.
3) It's called 'Little Phatty'.
4) It doesn't come with guitar strap buttons, so you'll have to screw them on yourself.
5) Not sure about the curvy aluminium back, but I think all synths should look like 1940s laboratory test equipment, unless they're white.
UPDATE: Here it is on sale for $1,375 at Analog Haven...
Nothing turned up at Namm, then Moog announced that at MusikMesse: "Expect a BIG announcement about a little addition to our product line. Until then, we will leave you guessing." Then Amos, who works at Moog, hangs out on various forums, and started the rumours in the first place, said: "The truth is better than anyone has guessed... in fact I wager no one could actually envision what Moog has pulled off without seeing it for themselves. OK, I'm insanely biased, there's no denying it... so take that with a grain of salt. But Messe is soon... ready or not, here we come!"
Current front runners are the modular midi Moog accordion (designed by MT reader Inverse Room), and the
Femto-Moog, which Amos posted himself... I'll be on the plane to Frankfurt when this is officially announced, so Peter will probably get the scoop!
GearJunkies (why are they always first with the news?) report that the new head of product development at Moog Music is Cyril Lance, a musician and engineer. The story contains the intriguing line: "A great deal of Cyril’s technical experience has been involved in developing optical electronics used for upper-atmospheric experiments, work that has taken him around the globe including a one-year stint in Antarctica at the South Pole." A quick bit of Googling reveals that Cyril also worked on HAARP, the US military project which zaps the Ionosphere with radio waves, causing a small section of it to heat up. In the mid '90s, HAARP was very popular among conspiracy theorists. Even then Secretary of Defence William Cohen suggested the technology could be used to "alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves". The real crazies put it like this: "HAARP Boils the Upper Atmosphere... Electromagnetic waves then bounce back onto earth and penetrate everything - living and dead."
Anyway, it's cool that Moog have found someone interesting and clever to invent new things now that Bob is gone, and I'm looking forward to a new range of Moog instruments which are able to penetrate everything - living and dead.
*NB: This headline almost entirely misrepresents this story, the work of Cyril Lance, and his role in Moog Music. I just thought it sounded better than "Moog names Cyril Lance to head product development"
As the nights draw in, it's time for some idle speculation (and poor-quality photoshop work) about new product launches at NAMM in two months' time. I doubt we'll see it this year, but my hunch (and it is just a hunch) is that Moog are developing a polyphonic synth based on the technology in the Little Phatty. Why? Shortly after the Voyager was released, Bob Moog said 'We could build one...But we're not going to'. Back then, he was working with the Voyager - a fantastically expensive hand-built machine. Now, with the Little Phatty, I think everything is in place for a realistically-priced poly synth.
What do the different parts of a synth cost? Look at Dave Smith Instruments: An Evolver Rack (four voices and a very minimal interface) costs $1,349. A PEK (four voices, a 5 octave keyboard, tonnes of rotary encoder knobs, wooden ends, an awful lot of blue LEDs and a big steel box) costs $1,050 more at $2,399. So, keyboard and interface costs just over $1,000.
What about voices? Voices for the small-run, very boutique, all analogue, all discreet, Studio Electronics Omega 8 seem to cost $350 each (Two voices = $2,299, Four voices = $2,999).
If we assume Phatty voice cards cost the same, it would be possible to build 8 of them into a PEK-quality keyboard for $3,850, just $400 more than the top-of-the-line Moog Voyager. Four voices would be $2,450 - cheaper than the Alesis Andromeda (which admittedly has 16 all-analogue voices.)
Is this what Moog are working on? I don't know, but it would be cool if they were. Would you buy a Big Phatty?
... [CONTINUE READING]
Here's the latest clue to the new Moog synth. Yes, those look a hell of a lot like wooden end panels for some kind of slope-fronted synth. All of the wilder speculation (i.e: it's a modular, it's a moogerfooger, it's foot-pedals, it's a strap-on, it's a drum machine) has been laid to rest by this post on Sound On Sound, announcing that "the keyboard" will actually be unveiled on Friday 24th March in London at a special Moog event. Moog are now denying that the keyboard will be at the London show, although I'm sure it will be cool, along with the Moog Tribute Show in St Giles church just around the corner on Saturday 25th.
Speculation about Moog's new product has officially passed fever pitch, and is rapidly approaching ultrasonic levels. They just posted this image, along with the peculiar phrase "showcasing our "hip" new product" and a promise of more clues to come. So...
1) It's an aerial view of the Moog Tower Casino and Resort™, due to open in Las Vegas in 2007: 2,000 'discrete' rooms, with the gravity-defying LadderFilter™ rollercoaster.
2) Inspired by their new boss' spooky past, it's a real, life-sized UFO, destined to change personal transport for ever.
3) That's the scroll wheel on the iPod Moog, a limited editon iPod with wooden side panels.
4) Oh, hang on, it's a Moog knob surrounded by a ring of LEDs. So, they're going to launch a little mono analog synth with 4-5 knobs to control everything. It will be everything that a MicroKorg pretends to be, down to the skinny wood panels, but 4-6 times more expensive. Cool!
What do you think it is?
Guess it's not a drum machine, then. More
UPDATE: Yesterday the Moog website guy got a bit over-excited and put up a product page revealing... It's a monophonic analog synth, two oscillators, digital/analog control, MIDI, 100 presets and the small bombshell that it's going to be called "Little Phatty", with a list price of $1,495. Moog are confirming the specs, but won't confirm the price or the name. Full specs from the Moog website.
Joshua writes: "My buddy Scott found this advertisement in the attic of his suburban Detroit home. How many ads these days feature Elton John in a cowboy/clown suit?" Rumours about Moog launching a new 'affordable' synth are getting stronger, with the Moog staffer responsible for the leak saying he 'got carried away' when the MEK was launched. So, Joshua is right on time to remind us about the cheapest Moog ever - the MG-1, which was licensed to Tandy/Radio Shack in 1979, and sold for $449. Wonder who they'll get to endorse their new thing... (Click on the image for a bigger shot)
Reboot Stereophonic is a non-profit record label specialising in space-age Jewish music from the past, including Gershon Kingsley's album 'God is a Moog' - "Kingsley is most proud of his work with an African American choir in 1968 who helped him convert the traditional Jewish Sabbath service into a Moog rock opera." As well as selling the album, they're selling great t-shirts for $20 ("Will take pounds off you if need be, and make you able to compose an electronic masterpiece of your very own or your money back.") While we're on the subject, here is Bob Moog interviewing Gershon Kingsley. (via Boing Boing)
It's certainly tempting to suggest that, just six week's after Bob Moog's death, the launch of the $99 Moog Tracksuit is evidence of his company jumping the shark in a quite spectacular fashion. But I won't say that. I, for one, love the image of the entire Moog corporation all running round their new factory building cool stuff while wearing matching black trackies. Like B-Boy munchkins.
Cikira (that's her with the Moog), wrote a while back to let me know about the "SynthSights discussion group for e-musicians, where 'it's not about the gear'". It's clear that Cikira herself is in no way gear-crazed. She only has 4 Access synths, four Nords, eleven Korgs, nine Rolands, two Moog Voyagers and EIGHT circuit-bent Aibo robot dogs. There's a good interview here, in which she reveals that she is not a man, she is not Bob Moog's girlfriend, and she is 'not rich'.
Cikira is really Amanda Pehlke, a former professional bellydancer. In 2001, she became the only person to have ever been married at NAMM, where she was given away at the altar by Bob Moog (she's since divorced). Here are the wedding photos.
What is it? It's a hardware controller for Arturia's Analog Factory plugin, which emulates 7 classic vintage synths (Arp 2600, Mini Moog, Moog Modular, Prophet 5, Prophet VS, Jupiter 8, CS 80). £229 / $349. LINK
What's good? I love the idea - a piece of software made real.It's a great looking, great feeling little keyboard made in China by CME. The design ticks all the Music Thing boxes - it's (off) white, it has real wood end cheeks, a nice semi-weighted keyboard, really solid, heavy, all-metal chassis, 11 continuous knobs, 4 ADSR sliders (NICE TOUCH!) and a snapshot system pinched from the Nord G2. I like the idea of a tweakable preset machine, like a modern day Matrix 1000, but with 3,500 patches. On each preset, you can change the volume envelope (slightly frustrating if the filter envelope is fixed), the filter cutoff & resonance, LFO rate & amount, and four other pre-selected parameters. Arturia's emulations sound fantastic, though I'm not qualified enough to judge how accurate they are. The Arp sounds raw and clunky with a boingy spring reverb. The Prophet VS sounds gritty and digital. The Moog Modular sounds huge, etc. If you want to know about the software, Create Digital Music and Sound on Sound can help.
What's bad? Aaaaagh! It's software. Installing it had me typing a 32 digit number four or five times until it took. I installed it on my laptop, and it's now impossible to move to another PC, without (at least) contacting customer support and buying a Syncrosoft key for €14. Yes, if I'd paid £229 for it, rather than borrowing one to review, I'd have thought harder about where I installed it. But why should I have to? It's lame. For £250 you can buy a new XioSynth, MicroKorg, or Alesis Micron or a used Juno 6 or JP8000.
If you're a professional musician, or you're trying to get great sounds in a hurry, or you enjoy tidiness and efficiency, then Analog Factory is perfect. It's quick to use, far better sounding than those cheap hardware synths, and all your settings are saved automatically. If, like me, you're a no-talent tinkerer, who enjoys fiddling with gear and recording bits of music, then the Analog Factory Experience might be a disappointment. But that's just me. If you enjoy software synths, then there are a few relatively minor niggles. The keyboard will output midi, but the controller numbers are all fixed, so you'll have to teach other synths to understand it, rather than vice versa. And there's very audible stepping when you're tweaking some knobs, i.e when tweaking the cutoff frequency on a resonant filter.
So... If you get on with software synths, and you want a fantastically sexy little controller for a huge collection of great synth sounds, buy this now. If you want a sexy little synth, don't.
- My new favourite Wikipedia page is Unusual types of gramophone records. (Thanks, Steve)
- Bleep Labs BitBlob is the only thing to buy this Christmas. A patchable synth encased in a pyrex glass jar complete with glowing monsters. $216, limited edition of 30...
- Another xmas essential is Benge's Twenty Systems album - a lovely booklet/CD package with twenty tracks recorded on twenty different systems, from Moog Modular to NED Synclavier. (More pics here at Hardformat)
- New synth #1: Dave Smith Mopho, tiny yellow all-analog synth for $399 (from Analog Haven). Like the button marked 'push it', don't like the lack of knobs.
- The Trons are a robot band from New Zealand (MySpace) (Thanks, Louis)
- Totally Wired is an interesting-looking obsessive documentary about the Berlin synth store Schneiders Buero. Trailer. (Thanks, Luka)
- Wonderful podcast #1: Welcome to Mars, the series about sci-fi and the cold war is now a book and CD (and Simon James, who did the music, has an album on the way)
- MT Reader (and MPC1000 JJOS guru) Nym got ADSR tattooed on his stomach.
- Where's the party at is a great-looking sampler module kit on a single PCB, complete with dozens of breakout points for circuit bending.
- New synth #2: Moog are re-releasing their Taurus bass pedals, in a limited edition of 1,000. $1,695, all analog, based on the original circuitry but with midi and proper memory. People have been asking for this in forums for years, but I'm amazed they've actually done it.
- David Dewaele from Soulwax (another MT reader) explains their extremely fun-sounding live setup to Future Music mag - a mix of Ableton and analog gear. Unfortunately, it's an audio slideshow, so rather than scanning through the article you have to listen for 8 minutes...
- Most people in Scandinavia now hate Goodiepal, apparently.
- Goldbaby just released a nice set of drum samples sampled through an EMU SP1200
- Yamaha released a bunch of stupid music-themed concept phones (thanks, Matt)
- Wonderful podcast #2: Us and Them is a genuinely mind-blowing collection of Cold War propaganda music - you can download all seven episodes from the sidebar of the Clerkenwell Kid blog
- New synth #3: Korg Microkorg XL - very long awaited follow up to the absurdly successful Microkorg (if they'd only sold the actual synths that appear in music videos, they'd still be rich). Gone are the wooden end cheeks and light up buttons, replaced by an interesting-but-ugly look slightly reminiscent of the Micromoog.
- Steim is now safe. The Dutch Council for Culture has agreed to help fund the Amsterdam home of strange clicky music and gestural interfaces. The blog-inspired letter writing campaign apparently helped. (Previously...)
- The Indamixx Laptop is a $499 netbook loaded with Linux music apps
- Such a shame this live audio to sewing machine interface is nothing more than a concept and a mockup. (Thanks, Fab)
- In the not-awesome-but-understandable camp, the Chimera BC16 is currently off-sale as they catch up with back orders (finally). Shortly before that was announced, they put up the price of the wonderful BC16 to £280.00. Still a good price, but not the astonishing bargain it was at £116, when it was first announced. (Previously)
- Korg Nano controllers are now also available in black. Not sure if that's an improvement or not.
- During brain surgery, "Banjo player Eddie Adcock was kept awake to perform while surgeons poked and prodded different areas of his brain." (With picture) (thanks, Samuel)
- In October, someone claiming to represent the New Yorker got in touch, wanting to buy paid links...
- Great clip of the Monkees and a big Moog Modular
- Eric Archer's 'sound cameras', hacked from old 8mm movie cameras, seem certain to become 2009's essential hipster accessory.
Watching this great demo video with Lou Reed and others playing Moog's new guitar, which can sustain or mute notes at will using some kind of mechanical feedback loop, I'm left thinking 'wow, that's pretty cool' and 'what kind of douche would stand up on stage with a gruesome, cheap, generic looking thing like that?' Oh yes, and it's $6,500. (There are NSFW shots of orange finishes, 80s body shapes and 50¢ gold knobs at Matrix Synth)
Moog's last guitar experiment was the Gibson RD Guitar, which was also kind of ugly, but in a 'holy crap, the guitarist just beamed in from Neptune' way. And if you're thinking of going into the comments and saying 'It's not about how it looks, ladies', please don't. Electric guitars have always been 80% look, 20% sound. If you don't believe that, you haven't been paying attention. (Thanks to Tyler and everyone else who sent this in)
This is (if the rumours are to be believed) the new Moog Voyager OS, with OS presumably standing for Old School. It's an all analog synth with no patch storage, no MIDI and no display - essentially a refreshed version of the 37 year-old Minimoog design. Presumably it will be cheaper than a Voyager, more expensive than a Little Phatty. I like the idea of a synth as a simple instrument like an electric guitar, something you plug in, tweak a bit and play. This could be perfect for (well-off) keyboard players in guitar bands who want to look cool and make cool noises, but are never going to need to connnect it to anything else. Also, if every single person who's ever gone onto a synth forum and said "yeah, I don't want all that modern crap, I just want a totally pure analog synth" buys one, then Moog will be rich beyond their wildest dreams.
UPDATE: Here's the official page , with a price: $2595 - $500 less than the full Voyager, $1,200 more than the Phatty...
Last week Google introduced their Patent Search site, which searches patents going back hundreds of years. What could be more fun? Here is Bob Moog's patent for the Moog 'ladder' Filter, filed in 1966 and granted in 1969. This seems to be John M Chowning's patent for FM synthesis, which earned $20m for Stanford when Yamaha licensed it for the DX7. Here is Leon Theremin's 1925 patent for the Theremin. Here is Leo Fender's pickup patent from 1944 (here is Les Paul's). Here is the Synthaxe, here is the Fender Jaguar Jazzmaster, from 1959. Here is a fantastically cool 'Electric Self-Playing Violin' from 1905, and here is Anacleto Montanelli's Electrical Musical Instrument from 1893. Here is the Rhodes piano from 1964... and so on. Anyone found anything cool?
UPDATE: Rather than randomly putting words into Google, Don Tillman has actually researched this stuff. Here are his surveys of patents from: Moog, ARP and Mellotron/Birotron.
UPDATE 2: Casionova claims to have found the patent for the Demo Button, although I'm sure they had them before 1986. He also found this super-awesome Casio electric harmonica ("a main body having a plurality of ducts").
UPDATE 3: Eddie has found this 'Electronic Percussion Musical Instrument' designed by Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter from Kraftwerk in 1975 (it's only an 'ornamental design' though).
It's strictly a rumour - nobody's leaking images - and it's an old rumour, but a really good one. People on message boards are saying that Moog are about to announce an 'affordable' analog synth at NAMM. Matrix Synth links to one thread, inspired by 'Amos' who may or may not work for Moog Music. Bob Moog's follow-up to the Minimoog was the Micromoog, a one-oscillator, plastic-cased synth which cost $895 in 1979, compared with the wood-cased, 3 osc Minimoog at $1995. Assuming synth economics haven't changed in 30 years, that would mean a cut down Voyager at $1,320 (later Rogue, Prodigy and MG-1 synths were cheaper). Of course, 30 years ago, you couldn't get surface-mount components stamped onto circuit boards by the trillion in China for next to nothing. A cheap, powerful, decent-sounding all-analog Moog made in China? That would really be something. More uninformed speculation here at the Moog website.
Good old Amos - he's the Moog tech support guy (and robot builder and musician) who first mentioned the Little Phatty on a message board. Now, in this interview on an official Moog website, he says: 
So, here's what Moog have told me about Little Phatty: 
So here it is. Moog's new synth is called Little Phatty (although Moogfans aren't convinced), and it costs $1475. The spec (which you can read here), has been chewed over by every pundit on every forum, but what's new today is what it looks like and how it works. There's a hires image to pour over here. Some back story from the Moog boss here (seems the whole think was Turnkey's idea...)
Nothing turned up at Namm, then Moog announced that at MusikMesse: "Expect a BIG announcement about a little addition to our product line. Until then, we will leave you guessing." Then Amos, who works at Moog, hangs out on various forums, and started the rumours in the first place, said: "The truth is better than anyone has guessed... in fact I wager no one could actually envision what Moog has pulled off without seeing it for themselves. OK, I'm insanely biased, there's no denying it... so take that with a grain of salt. But Messe is soon... ready or not, here we come!"
As the nights draw in, it's time for some idle speculation (and poor-quality photoshop work) about new product launches at NAMM in two months' time. I doubt we'll see it this year, but my hunch (and it is just a hunch) is that Moog are developing a polyphonic synth based on the technology in the Little Phatty. Why? Shortly after the Voyager was released, Bob Moog said 'We could build one...But we're not going to'. Back then, he was working with the Voyager - a fantastically expensive hand-built machine. Now, with the Little Phatty, I think everything is in place for a realistically-priced poly synth. 
Here's the latest clue to the new Moog synth. Yes, those look a hell of a lot like wooden end panels for some kind of slope-fronted synth. All of the wilder speculation (i.e: it's a modular, it's a moogerfooger, it's foot-pedals, it's a strap-on, it's a drum machine) has been laid to rest by this post on Sound On Sound, 
Speculation about Moog's new product has officially passed fever pitch, and is rapidly approaching ultrasonic levels. They just posted this image, along with the peculiar phrase "showcasing our "hip" new product" and a promise of more clues to come. So...
Guess it's not a drum machine, then. More
Joshua writes: "My buddy Scott found this advertisement in the attic of his suburban Detroit home. How many ads these days feature Elton John in a cowboy/clown suit?" Rumours about Moog launching a new 'affordable' synth are getting stronger, with the Moog staffer responsible for the leak saying he 'got carried away' when the MEK was launched. So, Joshua is right on time to remind us about the cheapest Moog ever - the MG-1, which was licensed to Tandy/Radio Shack in 1979, and sold for $449. Wonder who they'll get to endorse their new thing... (Click on the image for a bigger shot)
Posted by Tom Whitwell. Story permalink. 6 comments Post a Comment 
What is it? It's a hardware controller for Arturia's Analog Factory plugin, which emulates 7 classic vintage synths (Arp 2600, Mini Moog, Moog Modular, Prophet 5, Prophet VS, Jupiter 8, CS 80). £229 / $349. LINK
Watching this great demo video with Lou Reed and others playing Moog's new guitar, which can sustain or mute notes at will using some kind of mechanical feedback loop, I'm left thinking 'wow, that's pretty cool' and 'what kind of douche would stand up on stage with a gruesome, cheap, generic looking thing like that?' Oh yes, and it's $6,500. (There are NSFW shots of orange finishes, 80s body shapes and 50¢ gold knobs at Matrix Synth)
Last week Google introduced their Patent Search site, which searches patents going back hundreds of years. What could be more fun? Here is Bob Moog's patent for the Moog 'ladder' Filter, filed in 1966 and granted in 1969. This seems to be John M Chowning's patent for FM synthesis, which earned $20m for Stanford when Yamaha licensed it for the DX7. Here is Leon Theremin's 1925 patent for the Theremin. Here is Leo Fender's pickup patent from 1944 (here is Les Paul's). Here is the Synthaxe, here is the Fender 
