Museum Of Synthesizer Technology , Analog Heaven Featuring Bob Moog

video uploads by wutierson

Also see Museum Of Synthesizer Technology DVD B-Roll footage

Mr. Martin Newcomb's Museum of Synthesizer Technology mid-1990's.

Note the plaque in the opening reads: "This Museum Was Opened By DR R.A. Moog On 29th July 1994" [4th video in the playlist above]

There was also a book dedicated to the museum you can find in previous posts here.

An Interview with Barry Schrader

Hi everyone! As you know Barry Schrader will be giving his farewell concert at CalArts on September 26. The following is the beginning of my interview with him. I opted to post the questions and answers as they come in.  New QAs will get a new post so you do not miss them and they will be added to this post so we have one central post for the full interview. This should make it easier for all of us to consume in our busy lives, and it will allow you to send in any questions that may come to mind during the interview process.  If you have anything you'd like to ask Barry, feel free to send it in to matrixsynth@gmail.com.  This is a rare opportunity for us to get insight on a significant bit of synthesizer history, specifically with early Buchla systems, and I'd like to thank Barry for this opportunity. Thank you Barry!

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The Museum Of Synthesizer Technology - Rare Book

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via this auction

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Arturia Memorialises Moog’s Birthday with Dr. Bob’s Collector Pack Promotion

"GRENOBLE, FRANCE: music software and hardware company Arturia is introducing a timely time- limited pricing promotion for its limited-edition Dr. Bob’s Collector Pack produced in collaboration with — and in aid of — The Bob Moog Foundation as a tribute to synthesizer pioneer Dr. Bob Moog who would have been 79 on May 23...

Arturia’s Dr. Bob’s Collector Pack pricing promotion starts on May 23 and runs for one week only. During this time, Moog fans, musicians, and producers worldwide wishing to pay tribute to the inventive individual responsible for singlehandedly revolutionising the sound of modern music production with his namesake 1965-patented Moog Ladder Filter design — which featured in the breakthrough voltage-controlled Moog modular synthesizer and its game-changing 1971-vintage compact MinimoogTM monosynth followup (for which Dr. Bob Moog was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office National Inventors Hall of Fame) — can purchase Dr. Bob’s Collector Pack from the Arturia website at a reduced rate of €129.00 EUR/$129.00 USD (instead of €249.00 EUR/$299.00 USD). As always, a percentage of the sales proceeds will be donated by Arturia to The Bob Moog Foundation. In turn, this supports the dream of building the MoogseumTM (Bob Moog Museum), the convergence of The Bob Moog Foundation’s goals of inspiring and educating people through electronic music.

Moog fans, musicians, and producers will take delight in the beautifully produced and carefully curated package that is Dr. Bob’s Collector Pack on many levels — be it factual, historical, and, of course, musical. First up, the latest versions of two award-winning soft synths from Arturia successfully showcase the company’s ear-opening TAE® (True Analog Emulation) synthesis technology: Mini V 2.5.4 meticulously models the distinctive tones and analogue nuances of the legendary MinimoogTM Model D monosynth; after all, Dr. Bob Moog changed the musical world with the MinimoogTM and Arturia helped change the music software world with the Mini V! Similarly, Modular V 2.6.3 gives Dr. Bob Moog’s monstrous Moog modular synthesizer concept a software makeover fit for 21st Century composition and recording workflow — virtual analogue nirvana, indeed! (The use of trademarks is only meant as a reference to clarify the instruments whose sound was modelled and does not imply any endorsement.)

But that’s not all: the included Moog DVD documentary film by Hans Fjellestad — Best Documentary award winner at the Barcelona Inedit Film Festival — takes viewers on a compelling journey inside the imaginative mind of its illustrious namesake, alongside admiring interviews with and performances from the likes of DJ Spooky, Keith Emerson, Money Mark, Stereolab, and Rick Wakeman. Curated and prefaced by Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director at The Bob Moog Foundation, the limited-edition From Bob Moog’s Private Archives book fascinatingly features never-before-seen photographs and rare documents from the archives of Dr. Bob Moog himself.

And last, but by no means least, the official Bob Moog Foundation button badge is a great way of showing support for The Bob Moog Foundation by buying Dr. Bob’s Collector Pack — wear it with pride! So let’s collectively celebrate a legacy in honour of Dr. Bob Moog’s 79th birthday and help inspire the future.

The Dr. Bob’s Collector Pack pricing promotion runs for one week from May 23 during which it can be bought from the Arturia online store (http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/buy/online-shop.html) for the reduced rate of €129.00 EUR/$129.00 USD (returning to €249.00 EUR/$299.00 USD thereafter)."

The Museum Of Synthesizer Technology

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction

"The Museum Of Synthesizer Technology book. NEW. Large size format 11.75 inches X 8.25 inches with full color photos of some of the most legendary analog synthesizers ever made (or heard). Moog modular, Arp 2500 modular, Buchla, Polyfusion, Roland System 700, Synthi 100 modular, Oberheim 8 Voice, you name it, it's here and all in full color. You want to see a stack of 5 Arp 2500 cabinets, who doesn't? This is a top 10 book and one of my favorites. No, it is not as technical as some of the other legendary synth books, but the thing I like about it is that it was put together and published by a fellow synthesizer afficianado, Martin Newcomb in 1994. It shows the great interest and passion in electronic music instruments/synthesizers that the rest of us have as well. It is a book that is full of synthesizer eye candy that is sure to make the most hard to please drool with with envy. I am sure that after flipping through this book, you will likely go out and start looking for your next synth. Definitely a book for the synthesizer library for the serious electronic musician..."

Martin J. Newcomb: The Museum of Synthesizer Technology

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via this auction

"The Museum of Synthesizer Technology by Martin J. Newcombe (Privately Printed July 1994, First Printing; softcovers)

Scarce 118-page publication illustrating the collection of the short-lived (1994-1997) Museum of Synthesizer Technology in Berkshire.

Contents:

Foreword by Bob Moog
Aims and Services of the Museum
The Exhibits
A Voyage of Discovery
History of the Synthesizer
Moog - History of the Company
Moog - The Range of Instruments
Oberheim
E-mu
Buchla
Sequential
Arp
Polyfusion
EML
EMS
EDP
Roland
Miscellaneous

Including the synthesizers:

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Final Set of A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers

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via this auction

The listing is from the author Peter Forrest who states this is likely the last set.  These are great books and imo the most comprehensive.  Click on the pics to get an idea of what they are like.  Peter also has other items listed including The Museum of Synthesizer Technology and Synthesizer von Gestern II.

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Trevor Pinch's Vintage DIY Modular Synth

via Inverse Room, via Muff's:
"You guys will dig this.
Some of you probably know Trevor Pinch from his book Analog Days [Amazon hardcover & paperback, preview on Google books], about the history of the Moog synthesizer. Trevor's a friend of mine--we both teach at Cornell U.--and he recently restored his moribund DIY modular that he built in the seventies. Last night he and our friend James Spitznagel (together they are Electric Golem) played a show here in Ithaca, with Trevor on his synth and Jim using a Mopho, Evolver, Orb, Nintendo DS and various iPhone apps.

Oh BTW sorry these are not better photos. I should have brought a DSLR for this but I had a digital rangefinder camera with me that is not so hot at high ISO. Full set is here (for now): http://inverseroom.creotia.com/golem/"

I contacted Trevor Pinch and he had the following to share:

"Hey Matrix:
I built that synth in London in 1973. I used it til 1975/6 in a collective band/scene in London and then in Manchester - we also had a VCS3 and various gizmos from EMS as one of our band knew Tristram Cary, one of the founders of EMS. By the way anyone interested in EMS should check out the half hour documentary Matt Bates made for Australian TV - 'What the Future Sounded Like'. I was a talking head for that movie. It's got tons of info in it and great clips of Hawkwind, music of early Floyd etc [below].

My synth was kinda in storage before being shipped to the States in 1990. It was smashed up badly in the move and I only started work on it again a few months ago when Park Doing here in Ithaca persuaded me to get it going to jam with Johnny Dowd, Richie Stearns, Brian Wilson, and others for a 'Requiem for Analog TV' show we did at Cornell. Since then I've played out with it a couple of times with Park's band, the Atomic Forces, and once with The Electric Golem with Jim Spitznagel.

The schematics come from the hobby magazine Wireless World August 1973. Tim Orr did the design (he was the same guy who designed the EMS Vocoder). I built it 1973. The Voltage Control filter is online [link]

VCO 1 has square, triangle, sine , and variable mark space (I think in the US they call it duty cycle - adjusting the width of the top of a square wave). It turns out the variable mark space is one of the most musically useful controls I know.

It has three frequency ranges from very low to way up there! There are two VCO inputs with 1 K pots to control the voltage in.

VCO 2 has square, triangle, sine, ramp, and pulse outputs. There are two VCO inputs with 1 K pots ditto.

VCO 3 is a six-step sequencer with an incredible frequency range, with each step selectable and tunable. This is the awesome guts of the beast. There are two VCO inputs with one K pots. You feed the sequencer output as an input into the VCO1 and VCO2 and away you go.

There are also the following modules:
2 voltage control amplifiers
2 exponential converters
A keyboard module for operating a resistor chain monophonic keyboard - I abandoned the keyboard as I could never get it in tune and it sounded better out of tune!
I voltage control filter - band pass or low pass output - band pass only is working
I mixer with three channels and two virtual earth mixers for summing and reversal with three channels each,
White noise source and blue and red noise (variable) outputs
Spring reverb.
Envelope shaper. Not yet working
Two preamps. Buggered.
2 very low frequency outputs. Not yet working.
Sample and hold - Never worked!
Joy stick control and circuits with two pots providing variable X and Y voltages.
The joystick is home built by using three pots (design based on the first one that David Cockerell made for VCS3) my killer control for live performance (think Brian Eno and the way he used the joystick on the VCS3 (Putney)). The joystick was beat up terribly in the move and was the hardest single thing to get working and nicely balanced. Read the story of how the pitch and mod wheel were designed for the minimoog in Analog Days! Having a controller that feels right when you play is for me half the battle.

There is an onboard power supply for 240 volts in and 15v plus and minus and 5 volts plus out. Useless in US! So got new power supply built.

The modules are mainly built on plug in breadboards made by a UK company called Electrokit. So when I blow out transistors - happens all the time - I can unplug for easy access. Also I like to leave it open so shaking the instrument shakes the modules and affects the sound and of course the reverb. Opening the black box is my aesthetic.

Housed in hand machined painted aluminium case (wise choice in hindsight as it is sturdy, light and didn't rust!)

Patch bay is banana plugs, wires and sockets (what we used to call banana plugs or Wonder plugs in the UK). US banana plugs are too big - anyone know where I can get the UK banana plugs from as I need more?

If anyone is interested in my early experiences in playing the synth, they are written up in a chapter in a book by Sherry Turkle, Evocative Objects - the reflection is online at a awesome exhibition, "Remix, Rewind and Replay" at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art which I was on a panel for. http://www.rewindremixreplay.org/pdfs/pinch.pdf

By the way, that essay was written before I got the synth working again. In that essay I said the synth had no name. When I unearthed the old schematics to start soldering work I found I did give it a name, "Stray Capacitance". That's what the synth was like - full of capacitance.

The synth truly has a unique sound : the sonic energy is simply amazing. It can cut through like a chain saw on magic mushrooms - everything sort of feeds back on everything else in various unpredictable ways. Its like a live bucking beast to control. Park Doing says I shouldn't call it a synth and I agree. It's more a sometimes controllable sound and noise maker. John Robert Lennon (aka Inverse Room) on seeing and hearing it in action the other day - said how come it just doesn't explode. It's a miracle that it works at all! Its industrial sound is awesome in a punk band and when playing alongside someone with more varied and sweeter sounds (like Jim Spitznagel can produce) it can cut through and complement and attract attention. With the spring reverb it sends you into space. In the early days we also used to use huge tape loops as well.
That's it!

Trevor"

I'd like to give a huge thanks to Trevor Pinch for taking the time out to share this with us and of course Inverse Room for sending this our way.


YouTube via inverseroom — April 25, 2010 —

"Inverse Room interviews Trevor Pinch, author of "Analog Days" and other books about the history of technology, who demonstrates the DIY modular synth he built in the 1970's.

The thing I find really cool about this design is the step sequencer that can be run at high enough speeds to create, in effect, a new oscillator with primitive custom waveforms. And of course there's the total lack of sides to the case--gotta love that, too!"

Rare Polyfusion Modular - Moog Format

via this auction

via http://alt-mode.com/



Formant Filter

"The serial number on this module is 7505.

The Variable Formant Filter has 3 bands of variable width, frequency, and level for sculpting sounds. The module works great and has seen light use over the past 6 years in a smoke-free home studio.

This module was originally housed in a wooden box with a simple power supply. I had Synthesis Technology MOTM power connectors added for use in my system but it can easily be switched for any +/-15V supply.

These modules were part of Martin Newcomb's Museum of Synthesizer Technology in the 1990s. They are shown on page 78 of his wonderful book on the museum and can be seen in the following You-Tube video at around 2:00. This is an opportunity to own a truly unique part of synthesizer history!" [see this post for the video. see Part 1]



Dual Ring Modulator

"This is an extremely rare Polyfusion Modular Dual Ring Modulator module from 1975. When Polyfusion started, they made these modules to fit into a Moog modular system before they had developed their own format. This module, along with the other ones I'm auctioning off, are likely the only modules of this type known to exist! The serial number on this module is 7503.

The Ring Modulator consists of two circuits that multiply the X and Y inputs together, producing a tone that is the sum and difference of the two inputs. The module works great and has seen light use over the past 6 years in a smoke-free home studio.

This module was originally housed in a wooden box with a simple power supply. I had Synthesis Technology MOTM power connectors added for use in my system but it can easily be switched for any +/-15V supply."



Dual Sample-Hold

"The serial number on this module is 7506.

The Dual Sample-Hold consists of two sample & hold circuits that will retain the incoming voltage whenever the manual trigger button is pushed or the clock input goes high. Along with the sampled output voltage, the module outputs a Moog S-Trigger signal making it a quick V-trig to S-trig converter. The scale knob sets the range of the output with respect to the signal input. The module works great and has seen light use over the past 6 years in a smoke-free home studio."

Rare Polyfusion Modular in Moog Format

via this auction

"This is truly a one-of-a-kind item! These are Polyfusion modular synthesizer modules in a Moog format. When Polyfusion started, they made these modules to fit into a Moog modular system before they had developed their own format. These are likely the only modules of this type known to exist!

The modules include:
- Two Variable Formant Filters - each with 3 bands of variable width, frequency, and level for sculpting sounds.
- Dual Ring Modulator for wonderful clangorous sounds.
- Dual Sample & Hold module for wonderful modulations.

These modules were originally housed in a wooden box with a simple power supply. I put them into a Synthesizers.com rack and filled the open space with a Synthesizers.com Q134 multiples module. All of these are included in the auction. I also had MOTM power connectors added but these can easily be switched for any +/-15V supply.

These modules were part of Martin Newcomb's Museum of Synthesizer Technology in the 1990s. They are shown on page 78 of his wonderful book on the museum and can be seen in the following You-Tube video at around 2:00. This is an opportunity to own a truly unique part of synthesizer history!"

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MOOG CEMS unique original custom modular - VEMIA

"ONE OF THE TWO OR THREE MOST IMPORTANT MOOG CUSTOM MODULAR SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD. This is the system Joel Chadabe dreamt up, in collaboration with Robert Moog, and had him build in the late 60s. It is at VEMIA, undergoing restoration - more details later - but is a unique and hugely powerful system, full of Moog custom modules, some very rare, some very early, and some almost certainly unique. Joel Chadabe's book 'Electric Sound' pp286-287: 'In 1966, I got an idea. I drew up a plan for a completely automated synthesizer system, discussed its feasibility with Robert Moog, described it in an article in 'New Perspectives in Music', and got the funding to have it built. That system, which I called the CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music Studio) System, was ordered from Moog in 1967.... and installed in December 1969. In addition to an extended array of sound-generating and processing modules, an automated matrix mixer, and a digital clock, the system contained a bank of eight analog sequencers with customised logic hardware for running them synchronously, asynchronously, in succession, or in any combination.' '... the world's largest concentration of Moog sequencers.......' 'In 'Drift'.. (1970), icy electronic sounds swooped automatically through a virtual space without my intervention or control. It was the realtime equivalent of algorithmic composition..' '... a few months later, I was using joysticks to control oscillators, filters, modulators and amplifiers. The sequencers, configured to generate pseudo-random patterns, were also controlling the oscillators, filters, modulators and amplifiers. And I was also controlling the sequencers...... .. I was in effect conversing with a musical instrument that seemed to have its own interesting personality.' The CEMS is housed in four tall vertical cabinets, on casters. 1. 4x 960 (s/n 1094-S, 1096-S, 1103-S etc) 4 x 962 (s/n 1062, 1063 etc) 4 x custom delay mixers, 20 trunk lines. All R.A.Moog, mostly 9/69. 2. 4x 901 VCOs, trunks, Portamento, 2x multiples, CP-3 mixer, 984 mixer, 901, Portamento, 911, 2x 902, multiples, Portamento, 901, 904B, 904C, 904A, 904B, pitch/trigger interface, 912, S-trig>V-trig with portamento, 902, 911, multiples, 911, Attenuators, 911, 903, multiples, 3-pin sockets for joysticks etc, Delays, trunk lines. 3. 'Moogus Operandi' 10 digital numeric switches, 104ms- 4 sec delays, with x1 and x100 switches, digital clock with nixie tubes, trunk section with type B sockets (one line empty), 3x 4U Voltage Controlled Mixers, Portamento (R A Moog, no logo), 905, Triggered Controller, R A Moog banana & 3-pin interfaces, 904B, 902, 902, 911, R A Moog Signal Router, Amplifier, 3x Triggered Controller, PSU, delays and trunk lines. 4. similar to cabinet 1. **It also includes five R A Moog joysticks, serial numbers 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, and... 1008. - and a pre-production model Ribbon Controller, which Mike Bucki at Modusonics can provide a new ribbon for.** Like many other things in this auction, this is from the collection amassed by Felix Visser, former head of Synton. All items were destined for a national technology museum project, many years in the making, but finally cancelled by politicians and planners. They have mostly been stored unused for a number of years. This system has not (as of March 20) been powered up, and is SOLD AS IS unless we have more information in the meantime. (The power supplies are currently at Lucid Sound for testing and servicing where necessary.) Cosmetic state at present: all sequencer lamps present and guaranteed working 100%; all screws, nuts and washers checked, cleaned and replaced where necessary; veneer repaired on the facing edges of cabinets where necessary; casters replaced; module panels cleaned and looking good; many of the silver knob inserts are missing - many are saved ready to stick back on, but some are lost. (We are searching for replacements, or failing that, new knobs are still generally available.) The quality of early Moog modules is remarkable, and we would expect it to be not at all difficult or expensive to restore this to excellent working order - and beautiful cosmetic condition as well. If required, we can source and supervise this work, and would expect it to be very reasonably priced. All photos were taken before cosmetic restoration, and the system now looks a great deal better - superb apart from the missing silver knob inserts. For more of the old pics see: link"
You can find this one on VEMIA - Click on Auctions, Search, and search for 5560.

Update via peterwendt in the comments: "I knew I'd seen this before: link... great post with lots of details from Richard Lainhart."

Museum of Synthesizer Technology

via this auction

This is a great book btw, especially if you are into synth pics.

BTW, don't miss the updated Synth Books, Synth CDs and Synth Movies section on the right of this site. If you know of any to add feel free to send them my way or comment. Note I don't want the cd list to get out of hand, so I'm limiting that section to CDs that showcase a given synth or two max.

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Synth Books

See the Synth Books label for more.
Also see the scans label for more synth documentation.


The A-X of Analogue Synthesizers by Peter Forest


Vintage Synthesizers by Mark Vail


Essential Retro by James Grahame

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EMS Synthi 100 Shots

No title link. Two shots via an anonymous reader.

"This one is in xtremely good condition (BTW:there are way more than 3 funktional)and more as 24 build to. The matrixes are as new on this one. Amazing Its very confusing to patch this monster,I don’t like it at all,if you like to patch analog computers,you will be happy to work with this synth. The sound is identically to an AKS. Perhaps I could buy this one for 16000$ or so,but im not interested to do the effort,and BTW iv not the place at home! Note that it seems (and also on this model) the sequencer never have working correctly (on any models) The guy told me that when the have buy the instrument new I din’t worked,and a few times (on request) a tec from EMS have come on location to try fix it,but never was able to. The second pic matrix is from the synth museum book." Check out the books on the right pane of this site for the Museum of Synthesizer Technology.

More Essential Synth Books - Peter Forrest

The "A-Z of Analogue Synthesizers" books by Peter Forrest are hands down two of the most highly regarded synth publications out there. I have a copy of each myself and they are absolutely essential in my opinion. Highly, highly recommended if you are into synths. They read like an encyclopia/catalog of synthesisers. There's a load of detail on each synth including specs and images. I sent an email to Peter Forrest asking if he had a recommended link to put up for the image on the right pane below. He ended up sending me a few nice scans of the books and another book, which I do not yet have, (but heard good things about), "Analogue Heaven, the Museum of Synthesizer Technology." Title link takes you to those shots. These are great books to curl up in your favorite spot and just flip through. Sometimes a book is just better than a computer screen.

For more info on ordering send email to pforrest@vemia.co.uk.