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The New York Times

September 21, 1969

Music Mailbag - Rock, Black Musicians and Moog

"MOST IMPORTANT"
TO THE EDITOR:

Some of Donal Henahan's remarks in his interview with Robert A. Moog must not be allowed to pass unchallenged. If there is any way to judge the value of the Moog electronic music synthesizers and their potential impact upon our contemporary musical culture, it is not by comparing what they can do to what live instruments can do.
Besides the obvious fact that the synthesizers can produce all kinds of sounds that go far beyond what instruments can produce, the most important point is that they force those who use them to think in entirely new and different ways about music in order to get them to respond at all. The failure of the synthesizer to "simulate certain musical sounds persuasively, most notably massed strings" is not the fault of the synthesizer, but of the performer and of his knowledge of the acoustic characteristics of massed strings. If the performer had enough information about this sound, he could produce it on the synthesizer.

As Mr. Moog himself said, "People will have to settle down now and learn what can be done. That takes a long time."

 

Hubert S. Hove
Director, Queens College
Electronic Music Studio Flushing N.Y.