TheMinimoogis ananalog synthesizerfirst manufactured byMoog Musicbetween 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modularMoog synthesizer,it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popular withprogressive rockandjazzmusicians and found wide use indisco,pop,rockandelectronic music.
| Minimoog | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Manufacturer | Moog Music |
| Dates | 1970–81, 2016–2017, 2022-present |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | Monophonic |
| Timbrality | Monotimbral |
| Oscillator | 3VCOs,white/pink noise |
| LFO | Oscillator 3 can function as LFO (original and 2016 reissue), dedicated extra LFO (2016 reissue only) |
| Synthesis type | Analogsubtractive |
| Filter | 24dB/oct, 4-polelowpass filter with cutoff, resonance, ADSR envelopegenerator, keyboard tracking |
| Attenuator | ADSR envelope generator |
| Effects | Frequency modulation using oscillator 3/noise |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 44-note, low-note priority |
| Left-hand control | Pitch bendandmodwheels |
| External control | CV/gate,MIDIin/out/thru (2016 reissue only), glide and decay via 0.206 "dia Switchcraft S-260 plugs (not on 2016 reissue) |
Production of the Minimoog stopped in the early 1980s after the sale of Moog Music. In 2002, founderRobert Moogregained the rights to the Moog brand, bought the company, and released an updated version of the Minimoog, theMinimoog Voyager.In 2016 and in 2022, Moog Music released another new version of the original Minimoog.
Development
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In the 1960s,RA Moog ComanufacturedMoog synthesizers,which helped bring electronic sounds to music but remained inaccessible to ordinary people. Thesemodular synthesizerswere difficult to use and required users to connect components manually withpatch cablesto create sounds. They were also sensitive to temperature and humidity, and cost tens of thousands of dollars.[1]Most were owned by universities or record labels, and used to create soundtracks orjingles;by 1970, only 28 were owned by musicians.[1]
Hoping to create a smaller, more reliable synthesizer, Moog engineer Bill Hemsath created a prototype by sawing a keyboard in half and wiring several components into a small cabinet.[1]Moog presidentRobert Moogfelt the prototype was fun, but did not initially see a market for it.[1]Moog and the engineers created several more prototypes, adding features such as the suitcase design to aid portability.[1]
In early 1970, Moog Co began losing money as interest in its modular synthesizers fell. Fearing they would lose their jobs if the company closed, the engineers developed a version of Hemsath's miniature synthesizer, theMinimoog Model D,while Moog was away.[1]Moog chastised them, but came to see the potential in the Model D and authorized its production.[1]
As the engineers could not properlystabilizethepower supply,the Minimoog's threeoscillatorswere never completely synchronized. Although unintentional, this created the synthesizer's "warm, rich" sound.[1]Itsvoltage-controlled filterwas unique, allowing users to shape sounds to create "everything from blistering, funky bass blurps... to spacey whistle lead tones".[2]The Minimoog also was the first synthesizer to feature apitch wheel,which allows players to bend notes as a guitarist or saxophonist does, allowing for more expressive playing. Moog's associateDavid Bordenfelt that Moog would have become extremely wealthy had he patented the pitch wheel.[1]
Release
editMoog Co released the first Minimoog in 1970.[3][4]: 232 Moog said it was conceived as a portable tool for session musicians, and the team expected to sell "maybe 100 of them".[5]Moog became acquainted with former evangelist and musician David Van Koevering, who was so impressed with the Minimoog that he began demonstrating it to musicians and music stores. Van Koevering's friendGlen Bell,founder of the restaurant chainTaco Bell,allowed him to use a building on a private island Bell owned in Florida. There, Van Koevering hosted an event he billed as Island of Electronicus, a "pseudo-psychedelic experience that broughtcounterculture(minus the drugs) to straight families and connected it with the sound of the Minimoog ".[1]
The Minimoog was in continuous production for 13 years and over 12,000 were made.[4]: 215, 317 It was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores.[4]: 214 Despite the success, Moog Co could not afford to meet demand, nor had credit for a loan, and Moog sold the company[1]to Bill Waytena, a venture capitalist, in 1971. Van Koevering was hired as head of sales and marketing, expanding the sales of the Minimoog worldwide.[4]: 238–255 Production of the Minimoog stopped in 1981 and Moog Co ceased all production in 1993.[2]
Later models
editIn the 1980s, the rights to use the Moog Music name in the United Kingdom were purchased by Alex Winter of Caerphilly, Wales, who commenced limited production of an updated Minimoog in 1998 as theMoog Minimoog 204E.[6]The 204E addedpulse width modulationandMIDIto the Model D specification.[7]
In 2002, Robert Moog reacquired the rights to the Moog name and bought the company. In 2002, Moog Co released theMinimoog Voyager,an updated version of the Minimoog that sold more than 14,000 units, more than the original Minimoog.[2]Although the Welsh incarnation of Moog Music went into administration shortly afterwards, Winter retained the rights to the Moog name in the UK, with the result that theMinimoog Voyagerwas launched there as theVoyager by Bob Moog.[7]
In 2016, Moog Music began manufacturing an updated version of the Model D, with an independent LFO and MIDI, and an aftertouch and velocity-sensitive keyboard.[8]Production ended around August 2017, after a little under a year.[9]In 2018, Moog Music released the Minimoog Model D app foriOS.[10]In 2022, after being out of production for over five years, the Model D was reissued a third time. The basic architecture remained the same as the previous version, but also included new features like a spring-loaded pitch-bend wheel and updates to the previous unit's MIDI specs.[11]
Impact
editAccording to TJ Pinch, author ofAnalog Days,the Minimoog was the first synthesizer to become a "classic".[4]: 214 Wireddescribed it as "the most famous synthesizer in music history... a ubiquitous analog keyboard that can be heard in countless pop, rock, hip-hop, and techno tracks from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s".[2]It was also important for its portability.[2]David Borden,an associate of Moog, said that the Minimoog "took the synthesizer out of the studio and put it into the concert hall".[12]According to theGuardian,"Tweaked now so that the synthesizer could reliably perform as either a melodic lead or propulsive bass instrument (rather than just as a complex sound-generating machine), the Minimoog changed everything... the Moogs oozed character. Their sound could be quirky, kitsch and cute, or pulverising, but it was always identifiable as Moog."[13]
The Minimoog changed the dynamics ofrockbands. For the first time, keyboardists could play solos in the style of lead guitarists, or play synthesizedbasslines.[1]YeskeyboardistRick Wakemansaid: "For the first time you could go on [stage] and give the guitarist a run for his money... A guitarist would say, 'Oh shoot, he's got a Minimoog,' so they'relooking for elevenon their volume control - it's the only way they can compete. "Wakeman said the instrument" absolutely changed the face of music ".[14]
The Minimoog took a place in mainstreamblack music,most notably in the work ofStevie Wonder.[4]: 8 Its use for basslines became particularly popular infunk,as in theParliamenttrack "Flash Light".[1]It was also popular injazz,andSun Rabecame perhaps the first musician to perform and record with the instrument (on his 1970 albumMy Brother the Wind).[1]Herbie Hancock,Dick HymanandChick Coreawere other early adopters.[1]
The Minimoog became a staple ofprogressive rock.In the early 1970s,Keith EmersonofEmerson, Lake & Palmeradded the Minimoog to his modular 'Monster Moog' as an occasional part of his performances.[4]: 200–212 Wakeman used five Minimoogs on stage so he could play different sounds without having to reconfigure them.[1]It was also used by electronic artists such asKraftwerk,who used it on their albumsAutobahn(1974) andThe Man-Machine(1978),and later byTangerine Dream,Klaus Schulze,andGary Numan.[1]In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, it was widely used in the emergingdiscogenre by artists includingABBAandGiorgio Moroder.[1]
In 2012, to celebrate Bob Moog's birthday,Googlecreated an interactive Minimoogsoftsynthweb applicationas itsGoogle Doodle.[15]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abcdefghijklmnopqrWeiner, Sophie (October 20, 2017)."Minimoog: The First Truly Portable Synthesizer".Red Bull Music Academy.Retrieved2018-11-28.
- ^abcde"Clear Some Space on Your Synth Rack: The Minimoog Returns".WIRED.Retrieved2018-11-28.
- ^MoogMusic."The Minimoog Model D in Full Production".MoogMusic.com.Moog Music.Retrieved22 March2021.
- ^abcdefgPinch, Trevor; Trocco, Frank (2002).Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer(First ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 232.ISBN0-674-01617-3.
- ^"Robert Moog: 'I wouldn't call this music' – a classic interview to mark a Google doodle".the Guardian.2012-05-23.Retrieved2018-11-28.
- ^"Moog Minimoog 204E".Soundonsound.com.Retrieved22 April2021.
- ^ab"Voyager By Bob Moog".Soundonsound.com.Retrieved22 April2021.
- ^"Moog Minimoog Model D".Soundonsound.com.Retrieved2018-11-28.
- ^"Moog is ending production of the Minimoog Model D".MusicRadar.Retrieved2018-11-28.
- ^"Moog turns its iconic Minimoog Model D synth into a fully-featured iOS app".FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music.2018-03-26.Retrieved2018-11-30.
- ^"The iconic Moog Minimoog Model D synth is back in production and looking better than ever".17 November 2022.
- ^Franklin Crawford (August 23, 2005)."Robert Moog, Ph.D. '64, inventor of the music synthesizer, dies of brain cancer".Cornell University News Service. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
- ^McNamee, David (2010-08-02)."Hey, what's that sound: Moog synthesizers".the Guardian.Retrieved2018-11-30.
- ^Hans Fjellestad(2004).Moog
- ^"Google Outdoes Itself With Moog Synthesizer Doodle (Play It Here)".WIRED.Retrieved2018-11-28.
Further reading
edit- "MiniMoog".Future Music.No. 74. October 1998.ISSN0967-0378.OCLC1032779031.
- Jones, Marvin (April–May 1978). "Expanding the Patchability of the Mini-Moog".Polyphony.Vol. 3, no. 4. p. 19.ISSN0163-4534.OCLC1090378445.