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Contemporary Keyboard

September/October 1975
Bob Moog From Theremin To Synthesizer
By Dominic Milano

The synthesizer, an instrument that creates and shapes sound electronically, is fast becoming one of the most popular instruments among keyboard players in all fields of music. It grew out of a technological era which began with the development of such instruments as Hammond's electro mechanical organ, the first all-electronic organ (designed by Winston Kock for Baldwin), Wurlitzer's reed organ with electrostatic pickups, Conn's massive vacuum tube oscillator system, and the Ondes Martenot (an instrument that utilized a keyboard and a ring-triggered continuous pitch-band). So it's only natural that the instrument, with its infinite timbral capabilities, has achieved such a large degree of acceptance. Despite its sophistication, however, the synthesizer is still in its childhood. It wasn't until 1963 that Bob Moog (rhymes with rogue) began work on what was to become the prototype for the first complete modular instrument capable of extensive sound synthesis; Since that date, Moog, as the founding name in synthesizers, has become a household word among musicians.
Bob Moog was born on May 23, 1934 in New York City. He attended the Bronx High School of Science, and later received a B.S. in physics from Queens College and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Columbia under a "combined plan." He then went on to obtain a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell. His education, however, was not limited to electronics alone. Bob was introduced to music at a very early age. "My first lessons were with a neighborhood teacher," he recalls. "Later, I went to the Manhattan School of Music until I was fourteen. I received ear training and sight singing lessons, music theory, but I have no college level music training.
"I was interested in electronic musical instruments for as long as I can remember," states Bob. When he was just beginning high school he built a Theremin from some specifications he found in a magazine article. [Ed. Note: The Theremin is a device which consists of an oscillator generating single tones whose frequency can be varied by moving one hand closer to or farther away from a metal rod; amplitude is similarly controlled by moving the other hand in the vicinity of a metal loop.] The magazine was called Radio News, and by the time Bob began college they had published his design for a Theremin. Bob notes, "I was actually making Theremin for a living. So from then, which was in 1954, through my entire college career, I made Theremins, and enough money to get through graduate school.
"Electronic organs were just coming out at that time. I remember spending whole days at the Baldwin Organ display room in New York City: Listening, imposing myself on them, being a pain in the ass." In this manner, Moog became aware of the electronic instruments of the time. One such instrument was Hammond's Solovox. Moog recalls, "It had controls that were not too different from today's synthesizers. You changed attack, switched filters in and out, switched in different octaves; all in all, not a bad instrument considering the time."
Through his exposure to these innovations, Bob developed a fascination for electronic gadgets. He explains, "I was finishing my graduate work at Cornell; I was being trained to be a physicist, and I never thought that I would go into musical instruments as a living. They always seemed as a hobby to me. But, as my graduate career came to a close, I got this bug in my ass that just wouldn't go away. Finally, my wife and I agreed, 'All right, let's try something, just to get it out of your system.' Well, I was pretty successful with the Theremin kits that I sold out of our apartment in 1961: I sold about 1,000 kits at $50 apiece. It was a nice instrument!"

After his success with Theremins, Bob decided to delve further into the field of electronic kits. He designed a musical amplifier kit, which served to demonstrate to him what he didn't know about marketing research. He felt that he had something that everyone wanted, but it turned out that nobody did.
The effects of the kit's failure were never to be felt, as it was at this time that Moog met composer Herb Deutsch. "Herb had been using the Theremin to teach ear training," Bob recollects, "and he asked me if I knew anything about electronic music, because he was getting into tape composition. Well, I had heard of this guy Vladimir Ussachevsky, who had some weird set-up at Columbia. Although I never met him while I was there, I vaguely knew of his existence." Deutsch brought Bob to a concert which was being held at the studio of sculptor Jason Seley, who works with automobile bumpers. Deutsch had composed a piece for electronic tape and percussion, where the performer used not only traditional percussion instruments, but the sculptures as well. "It was an electrifying concert." Moog feels, "these things sounded like you wouldn't believe. You hit them with a mallet, they sound one way; you hit them with sticks, they sound another; you brush them, they sound a third way. I was completely turned on by it."
After a couple of talks, Deutsch packed his family into his car and traveled to Trumansburg, New York, where Bob had his shop. Moog recalls that Herb wanted pitches that moved, siren-like sounds that could be produced electronically, so Bob constructed a simple voltage-control led oscillator. Shortly after, Deutsch wanted to shape sounds that already existed, so Moog built him a very simple voltage-controlled amplifier. But these devices didn't seem to be anything important to Bob. He explains, "I didn't think of these things as being part of a large system, or even as being musical. They were just things that Herb wanted to play with. So there they were on a bread board. We tried them out and before long Herb was making music with them. It was incredible to me, to see these simple little gadgets making music." This prompted Bob to continue, and soon they had a keyboard, a voltage-controlled oscillator, a voltage-controlled amplifier, and a voltage-controlled filter. Moog adds, "These things are now essential aspects of all synthesizers. Then, they were just things that grew out of a collaboration between Herb Deutsch and myself."
Moog displayed his hand-made prototypes at the Audio Engineering Society Convention in the fall of 1964. His first order came from Alwin Nikolias, a choreographer who makes extensive use of electronic sound scores in his work. A later order came from Vladimir Ussachevsky himself. Moog recalls, "Ussachevsky wrote up a set of specifications for the envelope follower and generator. These are the same specs that you find copied on every synthesizer today. He didn't want to play these things with a keyboard. He just wanted to trigger a four-part envelope-creating device with a button, in order to impose attack, decay, sustain, and release on a pre-existing sound." Artist/inventor collaborations were the catalysts behind the conception of virtually all of Moog's devices. For example, Walter Carlos, of Switched-On-Bach fame, specified the first fixed-filter bank, and it was Gustav Shemaga, of the University of Toronto, who specified the first voltage-controlled low-pass filter.