Herb Deutsch Featured in LI Herald

This one spotted by synchro1 in the LI Herald: "Unbeknown to many, one of the pioneers of modern music makes his living on the South Shore. Anyone who has studied music at Hofstra University would recognize him, as he has been teaching at the school for 51 years. His name is Herbert Deutsch, and he lives in Massapequa Park with his wife, Nancy. In 1964, at age 32, he co-invented the Moog synthesizer, helping to pave the way for electronic music...

It wasn’t until 1968, four years after Deutsch and Moog finished the prototype of the synthesizer, that it had its first commercial breakthrough, when composer Wendy Carlos used it in a recording called 'Switched-On Bach.' 'All of a sudden, classical musical people all bought it,' Deutsch said. 'That’s when the instrument really became big...'

The two men shared an intense fascination with music. While Deutsch himself was a musician, Moog made instruments, having earned his Ph.D. in physics engineering at Cornell in the late 1950s.

But when it came to electronic music, Deutsch recalled, Moog was something of a neophyte. 'He really didn’t know much about electronic music,' Deutsch said.

During their conversations, however, the two planted the seeds for what would become the Moog synthesizer. 'We kept talking about the fact that it would be great if there was an inexpensive, small instrument that could create electronic music,' said Deutsch.

The two eventually parted ways, but reunited — and continued their conversation — at a concert in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village in January 1964. They agreed to meet again that summer and brainstorm ideas. Moog wrote a formal letter to the Hofstra administration, outlining their plan in the hope that the university might give Deutsch a research grant. It did: $200.

'So for Hofstra’s $200, we got together in the summer of ’64,' Deutsch recounted, 'and within about three weeks, we developed what was going to be the Moog synthesizer.'"

Read the full article here. If you want to read up on some of the history behind the beginnings of Moog and Buchla, check out the book Analog Days in the Synth Books section. Also check out the Moog documentary in the Synth Movies section.