A word on The Moog Archives

via The Bob Moog Foundation newsletter

"Since January 2007, we have been hard at work preserving and restoring Bob's archives. To date, we have moved hundreds of instruments and components to a climate-controlled storage center. These important efforts are supported by The GRAMMY (TM) Foundation and private donors like you.

Learn more: Roger Powell Remembers Bob

YouTube via moogfoundation

Thanks for your ongoing support, as we work to support and honor Bob’s legacy through
documenting, teaching and celebrating innovative thinking in electronic music."

Also, if you are in the giving mood this season:

"To our friends, family & fellow Moogies:

Happy Holidays! We've got an exciting holiday season promotion to tell you about. We want to help you give the gift of Moog to the people in your life who love electronic music, Moog instruments and Bob Moog himself.

The way we see it, we need your support, and you need cool gifts to give friends and family this holiday season. So, we're offering this special holiday promotion. If you make a donation to the Bob Moog Foundation from today through December 15th, you will get our official "Bob's Pocket T-Shirt", which you can give as a gift to a friend or loved one. All of the proceeds from your donation will go to the efforts to restore Bob's Archives*. The choice is yours:

* For your $100 gift, we will send 2 T-Shirts, 2 copies of Mooged Out: Asheville, and 2 Bumper Stickers designed by Asheville artist Jenny Greer (a package value of over $250!!).
* Make a $50 donation to get 1 T-Shirt and 1 copy of Mooged Out: Asheville.

Order now and have your gift to give by Dec 10.**"

1970's ARP Demo featuring Tom Piggott & Conversations with Tom Piggott & Greg Phillinganes

video upload by Alan R. Pearlman Foundation

"PLEASE NOTE: The beginning of the video is glitchy... both the sound and video will resolve at between 1:30 and 2:07.

Originally aired on WOVB-TV, in association with The Ohio University Telecommunications Center, this is one of several UMATIC demo tapes found in a box when d'ARP (Dina Pearlman-Ifil, Alan Pearlman's daughter) was going through her father's effects.

Tom Piggott was one of several educators that worked at ARP Instruments in the 1970s. He worked closely with Al, helping write the classic: 'Learning Music with Synthesizers' David Friend, Alan R. Pearlman, Thomas D. Piggott)."

A Conversation with Tom Piggott


"d'ARP had several conversations with Tom over the past few years. This interview highlights some recent footage.

Tom Piggott has been a product specialist and clinician for numerous companies, including ARP, CRUMAR, SYNERGY and more, and worked with Peter Nero, Stevie Wonder, Nyle Steiner, Linda McCartney, Vangellis, John Entwhistle, Klaus Schulze,T Lavitz, Wendy Carlos, Dr. Richard Boulanger, Mike Bergeman, Donald Fagan, Edgar Winter, Tom Coster, Jimmy Page, Roger Powell, Jerry Kovarski, and many others.

Tom Piggott was one of several educators that worked at ARP Instruments in the 1970s. He worked closely with Al, helping write the classic: 'Learning Music with Synthesizers' David Friend, Alan R. Pearlman, Thomas D. Piggott)."

A Conversation with Greg Phillinganes


"D'ARP has a conversation about ARP Synthesizers with Greg Phillinganes, who has recorded or toured with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, George Harrison, the Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Anita Baker, George Benson, Karen Carpenter, Eric Clapton, Donald Fagen, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Michael Jackson, Richard Marx, Paul McCartney, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, and Stevie Nicks (whew!)!"

ARP 2500

images via this auction

"super-rare ARP 2500 from the personal collection of Phil Cirocco of CMS / Discrete Synthesizers. It features a rare, vintage ARP 2002 cabinet, a 3000 series four voice keyboard and a full compliment of 1000 series modules. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to own a fully functional, killer sounding synthesizer, as well as a rare piece of electronic music history. The 2002 cabinet is in good condition. It is all original and has not been restored. It was made in 1970. It is a very early and rare version featuring 10 patching tracks on the top section instead of the 20 that later versions use. The top section of a 2500 is only used for CV, gate and trigger etc. so 10 tracks is usually adequate for most situations. It has 20 tracks on the bottom as all 2500s do. Also, this early unit is more compact and uses its space more efficiently than later versions. (Many people complain about the large amount of real estate that later version 2500 cabinets use up.) The power supply was upgraded here at CMS about 2 years ago to a 1.5 Amp, low noise high performance unit. The separate 12v lamp power supply was also recently rebuilt. The Keyboard is a standard ARP 2500 4 voice split keyboard. The rubber mounts of the key contact PCB have been replaced. The key contacts have been cleaned. The rubber pads of the keyboard are intact. The keyboard is fully functional. The keys are in very good condition. The hardwood keyboard cabinet is in very good condition. There is a very small ding on the left keyboard control panel. It includes the keyboard connection cables as well as the AC cable. The 1000 series modules are fully functional and have been meticulously maintained here at CMS for the past decade. The module compliment includes the legendary ARP 1047 Multimode Filter and the ARP 1027 sequencer. The 1004T VCO and the 1036 Dual Sample Hold were originally owned by the ARP factory as production samples. The dual VCO is a super-rare prototype developed at ARP by Roger Powell and Clark Ferguson.

1004T VCO
1027 3 x 10 Sequencer
1023 Dual VCO
1005 Ring Mod / VCA
1047 Multimode Filter
1033 Dual EG with delay
1016 Noise / Random Voltage
1006 Lowpass filter / VCA
1036 Dual S/H, Clock
1003 Dual EG
1002 Power Control

This system has been fully calibrated recently here at CMS. If you want to hear an example of a 2500 system in action go to: discretesynthesizers.com

Several modules have a former owners name and serial # engraved the corners of the front panels. The veneer cabinet has 2 corners that have been rounded slightly, but they are in the back. The left side has some broken veneer on the front edge. I was planning to refinish the cabinet myself, but I never got around to it. It’s quite easy to separate the electronics from the cabinet. When all the modules are out of the case, the matrix switch/shelf assembly slides right out the back. The upper left matrix switch assembly looks like it took a small impact at one time, but it functions normally. This is a vintage instrument from 1970"

Two Synth Classics up for Auction

Electronic Music by Allen Strange
Details:
"Analog Synthesis Textbook: ELECTRONIC MUSIC - SYSTEMS, TECHNIQUES & CONTROLS by Allen Strange 160 pages, copyright 1972, 10th printing, 1980."


Synthesizer Technique

Details:
"Bob Moog, Tom Coster, George Duke, Roger Powell and other experts offer practical,creative instruction on how to master the technical and artistic potential of your synthesizer. Volume II in the Keyboard Synthesizer Library. 113 pages, 1984."

Auctions via 123Synthland aka Minime123. Title link takes you to more items up for auction via 123Synthland.

Previous 122Synthland posts

Synthmas Presents

And I'm back. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I thought I'd put up a post on the synth goodies I got for xmas this year. Belated xmas presents on my list are James Grahame's Essential Retro, Peter Forests revised A-Z Books and the Analogue Heaven Synthesizer Museum book, and finally the Moog DVD.

Different Skies Arcs & Angles DVD
Synth centered music performance that happened this year. I put up a few posts including this one when I heard about it. I can't wait to check out this performance.


Learning Music With Synthesizers
Cool book about sound synthesis authored by David Friend and Alan R. Pearlman of ARP as well as Thomas D. Piggott. Not sure if Piggott was part of ARP; if you know feel free to comment. The book came out in 1974 and uses the ARP Odyssey as an example to demonstrate creating different types of sounds.


Synthesizer Basics
Haven't had a chance to flip through this one yet, but it looks good. Features Bob Moog, Roger Powell, Tom Rhea and Steve Porcaro. Volume 1 put out by Keyboard Magazine back in 1984.



Analog Days
This one is coming in the mail. I posted on this earlier as well. I can't wait to read this one as it will be more about the history of synthesis and should be a great read.


Real World Digital Audio
I also received a copy of Peter Kirn's Real World Digital Audio. I'm hearing it's a great book and just looking through the chapters I'm looking forward to it.


Oh, and of course there was this amazing surprise. : )

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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Happy New Year! The Year in Synths 2013

Happy New Year Everyone!

What a busy year it has been in the world of synths.

This is going to be one doozy of a post, so bear with me. This post is a review of the year in synths for 2013. We begin with Tributes to Those We Lost This Year, followed by New Manufacturers & Makers, Older Manufacturers Added to the Site, New Gear Announcements, Top 10 Posts by Traffic,  My Standout Posts for the Year, and finally This Years' Synth Events. I did my best to keep things as short and concise as possible.

Let's begin with the hardest part of the post.

Tributes to Those We Lost This Year

RIP Bernard Parmegiani - Electronic & Acoustic Composer
Lou Reed RIP
RIP Dick Raaymakers aka Kid Baltan
RIP George Duke - DreamWeaver
RIP Ralph Dyck, Sept 28, 1941 – May 20, 2013
RIP Ray Manzarek

All missed and never to be forgotten. Take a moment to remember them.

------

New Manufacturers & Makers

Starting last January, I decided to keep a running list of every new manufacturer and maker introduced to the site during the year.  This is something I haven't done before and I thought it would be interesting to see how many there were in the year.   It's easy to focus on the big synth announcements throughout the year, but what about all the new makers and brands? I shouln't have to go considerably into the significance of new designers on the scene, so I'll just say two things regarding them.  One, the number of new makers is a direct reflection on the interest in our scene, and two, these are the creators of new gear which directly translate into new designs not previously available to us.  Think about that for a moment.  These are makers and designs that did not exist before.  They are part of our synth history.  So what is the total count of new synth designers for the year? A whopping 113. Think about that a bit. One hundred and thirteen new synth designers and brands this year alone.

Here they are (note a handful date back to 2012, but 2013 marked their momentum and availability):

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