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Ithaca Journal

Summer 1970

Moog Plans Mini- Synthesizer
By John Peck, Journal Staff Writer

TRUMANSBURG - A few years ago. Robert A. Moog of Trumansburg revolutionized the electronic music industry by inventing what is now the internationally famed Moog synthesizer.
This summer the 34 year-old genius, who holds a Ph.D. in engineering physics from Cornell University hopes to make lightning strike twice.
He plans to produce an entirely new mini-synthesizer which can be sold in music stores and used in high schools as well as in the home.
The smallness of the new mini-synthesizer will be the least of its unique qualities. Although it will be a true synthesizer, its engineering and construction will be entirely different than that of the current concert instrument which Moog now sells in the United States, France, Holland, Israel, India and Australia.
The mini is now on the drawing boards and is being mocked-up. Moog said his corporation will hold previously announced new plant plans in abeyance for at least a year and will use its funds for engineering and promoting the new instrument.
Moog said the most significant thing about the new synthesizer will be that, like conventional musical instruments, it will be sensitive to the player's "touch" and that it will be possible to "shade" tones.
This is not entirely possible with the present large synthesizer. With the present machine, the artist can indeed produce a range and variety of tones never before heard. Its differentness has made the Moog synthesizer practically a "household word" among some of the more famous artists and conductors of the world. But the same note played by several different artists sounds exactly the same.
The new mini synthesizer will be capable of interpreting a musician's moods, similarly as the piano and the violin.
The difference will be in the engineering. The present synthesizer is figuratively made up of "building blocks" on tones. These blocks, are connected with patch cords and each variation or part of a composition is taped individually through a process of playing back, splicing, recording and setting dials.
Moog said it can take as long as one hour of taping to produce 30 seconds of the sound which is eventually used. This is excellent in the studio where an artist may have days to play (record) one composition; but on the stage, with a live artist, it leaves something to be desired.
Although the current synthesizer has a keyboard and can be played "live," the usual method of, operation is to record the composition and then merely turn the synthesizer on to present the concert.
The new mini synthesizer will have push-buttons and switches, rather than individual building blocks and patch cords. With the new instrument (which will be played live the musician will not only be able to play a composition with all its intertwining themes at one time, but will be able to shade and interpret music with his own touch. The new machine substitutes a digital computer for a tape recorder.

 

Moog said it is thought the new mini synthesizer will sell for approximately $1,000. The current synthesizers are priced between $3,000 and $12,000.
For several years, famous artists, groups and composers have been coming to the Moog studio here to confer, listen and buy. Moog started a revolution- and now the revolutionist hopes to strike again.