"Today we say a very sad and hard goodbye to beloved Moog family member, Bernie Worrell.
As the founding keyboardist and musical director for Parliament Funkadelic, Bernie's pioneering use of the Minimoog laid the foundation for P-Funk's futuristic sound. Despite his many musical accomplishments, it’s his joyful soul and gentle heart that touched everyone at Moog most. He is the father of Moog bass and the auteur of the funkiest basslines in history - “so wide you can’t get around them, so low you can’t get under them”. Worrell’s bass never reaches the bottom, it wobbles your inner being and oscillates your soul. His grooves were three-dimensional, and they have the timeless power to unite people under the power of their groove.
Bernie Worrell lived a lifetime of music. A child prodigy, Bernie began piano lessons at age 3, gave his first classical concert at 4 and had composed his first concerto by age 8. His gift of perfect pitch guided him through Juilliard and the New England Conservatory of Music, where he developed an affinity for ELP records and Keith Emerson’s use of the Moog synthesizer, inspiring him to acquire one of the new Moog instruments for himself. Like Emerson before him, Bernie Worrell’s command of the synthesizer would shape a new sound for the future. Bernie’s analog basslines for Parliament Funkadelic were the substructure for the band’s inter-dimensional operas and remain foundational to this day; as one of history’s most sampled artists, Bernie’s sonic vocabulary is heard prominently in the works of hip-hop’s most impactful producers- a lasting testament to his unique ability to move the masses. Bernie’s contributions to modern music cannot be understated, without him, there would be no funk.
Our fondest memories are of Bernie joining us for many Moogfest’s to celebrate the spirit of his friend, Bob Moog. Bernie received the Bob Moog Legacy Award in 2008 for his groundbreaking use of the synthesizer and celebrated his 70th birthday at Moogfest 2014. Just last month at Moogfest 2016, Bernie surprised his fans with an intimate impromptu performance with one of the first new Minimoogs produced in over 40 years. Bernie was a beacon of kindness and warmth, we gravitated to the pull of his heart whenever we were blessed with his presence.
Thank you for blessing us with the funk of life and the deep magic of the groove, Bernie. The Moog family is forever grateful to you for opening the door to new dimensions. You are a true wizard.
via this auction where you'll find a few more pics while up. The seller is Tony (Aviator) Wride. This one in via Senso.
"A unique opportunity to own a piece of Rock history! This Minimoog was one of the earliest ones owned by Keith Emerson (26 June 1973 date on keyboard) and he had the keyboard and electronics separated so that it could be used in his stage setup. Basically the keyboard was set up to slide into place when required while the electronics section remained out of the way. Please read the details below about how I ended up getting it in 1992 and look at the pictures. I have included some pictures taken in 1992 when I got the synth as well as some archive pictures of Keith and the Minimoog on stage.
THE STORY
In the early 90s I did a lot of work on analogue synths working for a number of well known bands as well as building my own analogue synth called “The Aviator”. It was basically a hobby for me. Please Google Tony Wride and Exclusively Analogue to find out more. You can ignore all the flying related stuff associated with my job!
In 1992 I was doing some work for Vince Clarke of Erasure prior to their Abbaesque tour and went to a rehearsal studio at Brent Cross in North London. Next door to the Erasure studio was another band rehearsing for their tour and it turned out to be ELP preparing for the “Black Moon” Tour! Keith had been one of my keyboard heroes and I never ever thought I would get the chance to meet him let alone see him rehearsing. I met Will Alexander, who was Keith's technician, and got talking about the famous big Moog which they planned to take on tour. "We would like to get it fitted with MIDI" said Will and I then suggested fitting a Kenton MIDI retrofit for a MiniMoog which is what I ended up doing! (See the pictures). Whilst working on the Modular I talked to Keith and Will about the gear they were going to use on tour and Will said "We need another SE1 (Basically a Minimoog in a rack with MIDI) to go in the rack but the dealer said they can't get one in time". It just so happened that I had just traded a mint condition Minimoog for an SE1 with a studio in London so sitting in the back of my car was an SE1! When I said to Will that I could get them an SE1 for the tour he asked "How soon?" "How does 3 minutes sound?" I said. Talk about coincidence!!
Keith ended up with my SE1 for the tour but I was now Minimoogless. Fortunately sitting in amongst a collection of unused ELP gear was the electronics section of a Minimoog looking in a very sorry state. I asked Will what had happened and what was happening to the remains of the Minimoog. "It's one of Keith's early MiniMoogs that had the keyboard separated from it so that it could be mounted on the Hammond. It doesn't work and the keyboard is in storage." We ended up agreeing to me having the non working "split" Minimoog as part of the deal for the SE1 on an understanding that they would send me the keyboard in the future.
It has come to my attention that Don Buchla passed away on Wednesday, September 14, at the age of 79. Anyone coming to this site should be well aware of who he is; who he was to the world of synthesizers. For those that aren't, he was by all means one of the fathers of the modern day synthesizer. Credit usually goes to Bob Moog, mainly for two reasons. One, Bob Moog chose the standard keyboard as the main interface for his synthesizers as they were more accessible to musicians. Two, Bob Moog's approach focused mainly on reproducing the sounds of acoustic instruments. Wendy Carlos' Switch on Bach and Keith Emerson's use of the Moog Modular brought Moog synthesizers to the mainstream.
Don Buchla's instruments, however, focused mainly on the exploration of sound. Artists attracted to his instrument fell more into the realm of what was known as musique concrete. Musique concrete mainly focused on the manipulation of sound, initially composed with electro-acoustic instruments recorded and manipulated on analog tape.
via wikipedia: "Buchla formed his electronic music equipment company, Buchla and Associates, in 1962 in Berkeley, California. Buchla was commissioned by avant garde music composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender, both of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, to create an electronic instrument for live performance. Under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation Buchla completed his first modular synthesizer in 1963." On the other hand (also via wikipedia): "Moog created the first voltage-controlled subtractive synthesizer to utilize a keyboard as a controller and demonstrated it at the AES convention in 1964." Update: Wikipedia appears to be incorrect on Buchla. Don Buchla started working on instruments in 1963, and the 100 was his first VC system completed in 1965. It was then sold in 66/67. The first name of the company was Buchla Associates in 66/67 followed by Buchla & Associates in 70/71. This New York times obituary has a good write-up on Don Buchla's work beyond just synthesizers. It also has 1965 as the date for the completion of his first synth.
Please note, this post isn't about who came first. In my opinion they both did and they both had different approaches. Most of you will be familiar with the terms East and West Coast synthesis. They pertain to these two different approaches with Buchla on the West and Moog on the East.
Don Buchla's passing is bittersweet. On the one hand his creations have finally gained popularity and respect in the modern day synthesizer community - a decade ago the focus was primarily on Bob Moog. On the other hand, he passed away not being able to do what he himself wanted to do in the end. He sold the rights to the Buchla name to BEMI, only to later take them to court. The case was settled, but I have been told it was far short from the initial agreement. It is also my understanding that Don Buchla was discouraged from working on creating new instruments.
One thing to consider is that although there were/are many Buchla clones out there that paid tribute to Don's work, it is my understanding that Don wasn't paid licensing for them and that Don wasn't necessarily thrilled by them. Think about it for a bit. One, people cloned his work, two, he did not get paid for his original creations, and three, people buying clones were putting their budgets towards clones vs. his new creations, for example, the 258 clone vs the new 261e. I was told from a reliable resource, that Don never had any interest in re-hashing old products. In a sense, they were more works of art, and he was always interested in creating something new, rather than re-hashing the old. However, I was told he was fine with people creating clones for personal use, just not for sale.
Writing this post is extremely difficult. I didn't know Don personally, but I did meet him a few times at NAMM. The first time I met him was a bit awkward because he doesn't talk fluff. His answers were very short, and he just kind of stood there as if implying, "are we done yet". I then realized, he wasn't implying that at all, he was just hanging out. The second time I met him, I said hello and didn't elaborate much. He then engaged in conversation with me. It was a simple thing, but something I will never forget. The video below with Don Buchla being interviewed by Mark Vail, captures the way I felt perfectly. If you were ever fortunate to meet him in person you will know what I mean. I'm going to miss him greatly, and will always wish I got to know him better.
And a message from Moog Music:
"Dear Don,
There are no words that can accurately portray the profound impact you have had on our lives. We are deeply inspired by your artistry, and your ground-breaking achievements will always inform the work we hold most closely to our hearts. You and Bob, through your distinctive styles, collaboration and friendship, have laid the foundation for our future. Your influence endures in our minds, hearts and hands as we craft tools that give rise to joyful experimentations. We will never truly capture the elegance and beauty that you and Bob achieved, but we promise to never stop trying.
From everyone at Moog, thank you for inspiring us and giving meaning to our life's work.
Love,
Your Friends At Moog"
Published on Aug 27, 2015 Redaktion Megasynth
And a rare performance of Don playing live with his instruments and Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails (NIN):
Everything Ends Here
Uploaded on Nov 18, 2011 Alessandro Cortini
"San Francisco Electronic Music Festival 2010
Alessandro Cortini + Don Buchla, performing the piece "everything ends here", from Blindoldfreak's 1st EP, 1."
"As mentioned in past videos, EMEAPP feels a deep responsibility to share our historically significant collection of rare, unusual and artist-used musical equipment with the world. As a part of this, we have opened up our doors to several tribute groups that are dedicated to recreating the music of great acts accurately and with the utmost respect to the source material. We are heavily involved in preserving the legacy of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and we do get behind those who share a similar mindset. The Long Island based group Manticore for example is one of the primary acts that is dedicated to paying tribute to the music of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and they have become a part of the EMEAPP fold. Here is the group (Rob Shepard on Keyboards, John Cristando on Drums and Ron Ponella on Bass) performing their high-energy rendition of “Hoedown” from ELP’s third studio album “Trilogy” (celebrating it’s 50th anniversary on July 6, 2022). The rig for this shoot prominently features Keith Emerson’s legendary Moog Modular Synthesizer and heavily modded Hammond/Goff C3 with dual Leslie 122 cabinets, as well as Greg Lake’s legendary stage used Persian carpet!
You can find us at www.emeapp.org where we invite you to join us as a member."
"KEITH EMERSON with the Moog Universe at his fingertips. Our hats are off to this legendary artist who pioneered the use of the Moog modular in a touring environment, and to all if his keyboard techs over the years who have kept the 'Monster Moog' humming.
For all of you Emerson fans out there, Keith shared his Track of My Years on the BBC recently. You can listen in here"
"Rare Moog Synthesizer Sales Catalogs and price lists from 1972. Also ARP, Ionic, and EML Sales Literature. All in good condition and collected back in 1972. There is also a flexible record of Moog demo sounds from the factory - see picture. These are instruments I dreamed about way back then and the catalogs are very rare today. I actually visited the Moog factory outside of Buffalo, NY in 1972 and met Robert Moog as he was working on Keith Emerson's big synthesizer. They demoed their new percussion controller about a week before I saw Palmer play it at the the Buffalo War Memorial. Lots of memories associated with this collection of sales brochures."
The Moog System 55 in this post has been re-listed with some additional details and a lower starting price. According to the auction this was Keith Emerson's System 55. The list of modules have been added as well.
Update: It looks like this is not Keith Emerson's after all. See Update3 in this post.
"Keith Emerson would have been proud to see keyboardist Rachel Flowers tear up his song TARKUS on his own stage gear! Check out Rachel taking Keith's custom Moog synthesizer for a ride along with his custom Goff Professional Hammond C3 organ. This performance is from a live event at the Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project (EMEAPP"
Via Suit & Tie Guy on AH: "so i visited a local college's EM lab tonight because i knew they had an early moog system.
"early" begins to describe it.
it was so old, the mixer and ribbon controller both had perfboard circuits, and the ribbon controller was made from a chuck of Formica tabletop!
now, i know you're probably thinking i'm quite naïve: "whoa hold it there STG, _everyone_ knows the ballsy tone of Keith Emerson's ribbon controller solos was because of the Formica base." but it seemed pretty damn freaky to me at the time. the Dymo legending on the console panel is a nice touch as well.
apparently i'll be spending more time with this beat up old bitch of a modular. if anyone wants me to A/B it with my Liberation i'd be happy to do so.
the keyboard acts so stupid on this thing i kind of want to play a solo with it just once so i can mystify everyone as to how i got that crazy sound. the best part is none of the knobs on the keyboard change anything at all.
also: no you are not seeing things, that really is an 18 space moog slant cabinet."
Hmm... Wonder if I beat Analog Industries on this one... : )
300 Series Modules
The core of this system is five modules from the Aries 300 Series. There is one VCO module, one VCF module, one EG module, one VCA module, and one Clock/Noise/S&H generator. Yes, this is basic; here are the module names:
AR-317 VCO
AR-312 EG
AR-314 VCF
AR-316 VCA
AR-318 SH/Clock/Noise Generator
But of course, that's only the core. This system is bookended with some interesting devices. To say that it is "modified" would really be an understatement. It has been lovingly built by a lifelong musician.
The great thing about this system is that it was used by a professional musician as part of his home studio and performance rig for decades. It's often the case with these vintage units that they have aged poorly due to being left for decades in a closet or basement or whatever. But this was used consistently over its lifetime, up to the time of its builder's death. It has been played, as pieces like this need to be.
As you can see, the VCO module has been modified to include a further fine-tuned frequency control, right in the middle of the four knobs.
The Sound
There are an enormous number of modular and semi-modular systems available for musicians right now; the possibilities are almost endless. However, this has an edge that many modern synths don't have: the sound. These modules together sound much more like an ARP 2600 or vintage Moog modular than anything currently on the market. In fact, the sound of the filter is somewhere between Moog modular and early ARP filter. This probably isn't a coincidence, since Aries was a DIY synth-kit company founded by a former member of ARP in Massachusetts.
"Here's your once-in-a-lifetime chance to own one of the most famous keyboards in rock-'n'-roll history: the storied Yamaha GX-1 synthesizer owned by John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), then Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer/Powell [ELP]), then Hans Zimmer (film composer). Seller acquired it directly from Hans Zimmer in 2003 (authenticated). Yamaha's original retail/list price for the GX-1 was US$60,000.
Provenance: John Paul Jones acquired it circa 1977/78 and used it on Led Zeppelin's album "In Through The Out Door." It was featured on tracks "In The Evening," "All My Love," "Carouselambra" and "I'm Gonna Crawl." On "All My Love," Jones performs a nice string arrangement, and the horn solo demonstrates the GX-1's expressive vibrato capabilities. On the final Led Zeppelin tours, Jones used the GX-1 as his primary keyboard, performing string, organ, clavinet and bass/synth. parts (see photo #3: Jones performing on GX-1 at the Knebworth, UK shows in '79 [top pic in this post]; the last time the original foursome performed together before John Bonham's death). Jones called the GX-1 "a joy," which replaced his repair-prone Mellotron.
Keith Emerson acquired the GX-1 from Jones in the mid-'80s as a spare for Emerson's original GX-1 (used with ELP in the late '70s). Emerson cannibalized some of his original GX-1 for the benefit of this unit. He used this GX-1 most prominently on the "Emerson, Lake & Powell" album & tour in the late '80s, and in the music video of the title track of ELP's "Black Moon" reunion album in the early '90s (see photos #4 & #5 [2nd pic in this post]; keyboard on top of GX-1 not included). "Emerson, Lake & Powell" tracks featuring this GX-1 include "Touch & Go" and his synth. rendition of Holst's "Mars: Bringer Of War." Emerson sold the GX-1 to renowned film composer Hans Zimmer in the mid-'90s, who sampled various sounds on it (see photo #6 [3rd pic in this post]: GX-1 in Zimmer's studio; Moog modular not included). The GX-1 was also used for recording sessions by musicians including Erik Norlander on his "Threshold" album. (Note: Keith Emerson's Wikipedia entry is incorrect: his original GX-1 [painted black] was sold to a European collector, and this unit was sold to Zimmer, then to the Seller)
This auction is for the: keyboard/console (including programmable cartridges; see photo #9), separate ultra-rare Programmer Module (see photo #11), and original Anvil-style case (used by Jones, Emerson, Zimmer and the Seller). Sale does NOT include: the GX-1's bench/pedal section, two TX-II speakers, and the programmable cartridges for the Pedal section only (which were not included when Seller acquired it).
It works, but after playing it for a while, it sometimes makes a noise and must be turned off and then turned back on. Being sold "as is." Seller can refer Buyer to several qualified GX-1 technicians. [Minor] tuning/calibrating will probably be required after shipment. Copies of any manuals (User/Technical/Service/etc.), brochures and other GX-1 information Seller has will be included. Has balanced outputs (see labeled photo #12), which may be custom. John Paul Jones had the switches/LED panel added (over the Electone logo area), which may be disconnected (appear to have no effect anymore)...
Here's some miscellaneous information:
- only about 27-30 GX-1's were ever manufactured and/or sold (unit's Serial Number is 0076)
- the most powerful polyphonic synthesizer in history at the time
- 3 keyboards (2 standard manuals; 1 solo manual); volume pedal; retractable knee vibrato controller
- unheard of levels of touch control (touch/velocity-sensitive, polyphonic aftertouch, etc.)
- approx. outer dimensions of keyboard console 63"(L) x 31"(W) x 46"(H)
- top area (where other keyboards can be placed) is about 60"(L) x 10"(W)
- weight in Anvil-style road case is about/over 1,000 pounds
- was the basis for Yamaha's popular CS-80/etc. synthesizers"
SN 5076
Synthesizer Museum: Musician creates home for iconic instrument video upload by FOX 29 Philadelphia
"A former musician has created a home for the synthesizer -an instrument with a sound that defined 80's pop music.
Philadelphia news, weather, traffic and sports from FOX 29, serving Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Watch breaking news live or see the latest videos from programs like Good Day Philadelphia."
This one was spotted and sent my way via John L Rice who had the following to say about it:
"It’s a video from a guy who does reviews of beer. The one he reviewed happens to be called “Mellotron” but the image art on the can seems to be a caricature of Keith Emerson’s Moog modular from the mid 70‘s?! 😄 It really cool art and I wouldn’t mind having a t-shirt or poster of that! I looked around and the beer only seems available in South Carolina?"
Sign me up for a T as well.
See the Synth Beer label below for additional posts featuring synths and beer.
