KEYBOARDS IN THE INFORMATION AGE
Musical Electronics did not start with Dr. Robert Moog, but we will. If you haven’t heard his name before as the father of synthesis— or just his last name as a kind of generic term for synthesizers, Bob Moog (and in a parallel universe on the West Coast, Don Buchla) originated the voltage-controlled synthesizer.
KEYBOARDS IN THE INFORMATION AGE
Features
by
Roger Clay
A VERY BRIEF BACKGROUND
Musical Electronics did not start with Dr. Robert Moog, but we will. If you haven’t heard his name before as the father of synthesis— or just his last name as a kind of generic term for synthesizers, Bob Moog (and in a parallel universe on the West Coast, Don Buchla) originated the voltage-controlled synthesizer. Voltage control was the liberating concept that took electronic synthesis out of the domain of research laboratories and into the hands of the working musician. Until that time, large facilities and large college degrees were the prerequisite to doing real synthesis. Electronic Music belonged to the land of Academia (no real place for slouching musical malcontents). The Voltage Control Concept opened up new doors in music creation by allowing the basic building blocks of sound— sound source (oscillator), tone control (filter), and loudness control—to be manipulated in realtime, easily and accurately. This concept, and the others that followed the introduction of the first Moog synthesizer (just a little over 18 years ago, folks!), created a whole new niche in the music industry.