The Bob Moog Foundation is raffling a Vintage Memorymoog in their 2017 Summer Raffle. Proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Foundation’s educational and historic preservation initiatives.
In a post on the Bob Moog Foundation website they write;
“Our summer heats up with a raffle for the highly coveted vintage Memorymoog Plus synthesizer, a very unusual and powerful polyphonic synthesizer with six voices for each of the three oscillators, MIDI, and a sequencer! It boasts a variety of other standard and unusual functions, which are detailed below.
Proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Foundation’s educational and historic preservation initiatives, making purchasing a ticket a win either way!
Tickets to enter the raffle are $25 each, 5 for $100 or 10 for $200.’
The Memorymoog Plus being offered, serial number 2641, was built at Moog Music’s Buffalo, NY factory in 1984 and has an estimated value of $10,000. It is in excellent technical condition. The synthesizer was generously donated to the Bob Moog Foundation by supporter Lee Keeley and has been meticulously serviced by vintage synth specialist Wes Taggart, a lauded technician for Memorymoog restoration,
Memorymoog specifications include:
Three voltage controlled oscillators with mixable waveforms
Polyphonic, with six articulated voices per oscillator
Auto tune function tunes oscillators in less than five seconds
VCO syncing
Unison mode for a robust 18 oscillator monophonic bass and lead
Ultra fast envelope generators (ADSR, not ADS as on the Minimoog)
Sample and hold
Extensive modulation section with numerous routings
Alpha numeric readout that gives controls old and new values side by side when editing existing patches so they can be returned
100 patch memory driven by a 0-9 a-d keypad with a massive LED patch number readout
Interfacing including the ability to drive a monosynth from the highest note played from either CV/Gate or CV/S-Trig
Arpeggiator features nine different modes, including a mode where all voices are triggered simultaneously
The Memorymoog Plus model includes:
MIDI interface
Basic polyphonic and monophonic sequencer, the latter of which controls an externally interfaced monophonic synthesizer (via rear panel CV/gate/trigger jacks)
More stable oscillator control
For full details and to see the rules and regulations for entering visit the Moog Foundation website.
In the UK we have a TV show called Antiques Roadshow. The premise of the show is members of the public rock up to a stately home with something that has been in the family for years. A team of experts then take a look at them and value them.
The valuation can be anything from bugger all to a small fortune, on one occasion a sculpture came in at £1 million.
On some shows people have arrived with old toys in boxes, never opened and worth a lot of money. You know, toys like Star Wars figures from the original movie released back in 1977. One can’t help but wonder who buys a toy and then never opens it, in the vain hope that decades later the toy that cost £20 can be worth enough to get you a car.
Whoever those people are, I wish I had some of their foresight, let me tell you why.
In 1985 I snagged myself a Roland TR909 from a store that had a sale, I can’t recall what I paid for it, I think several hundred pounds – it was a bargain, and I was delighted. The TR909 served me well for several years until I decided I wanted more realistic sounds.
I’ve always been one of those slightly OCD types who when something new arrives I keep the box, the user manual, the plastic cable ties, in fact, everything that should I come to sell it means it is in mint condition.
The Roland TR909 was no exception, and so when I decided to sell it, I cleaned it up and packed it as if it was just out of the store.
Then I sold my Roland TR-909 drum machine in mint condition for £50. I know I can hear you screaming as you read this “you f**cking moron!” You don’t need to tell me.
Check eBay, and you will see them listed going for anything between £2500 – £3500, depending on which way the wind is blowing when the auction ends.
Now some of you will be thinking, no real loss you can download a zillion sample libraries based on the TR-909 sample set. I could even buy a Roland TR8 redux of the 909 for a fraction of the price of a second-hand unit.
All that is true, but I can’t purchase a car or a hundred other things I could spend a couple of grand buying.
I could also talk about other vintage gear I’ve sold for next to nothing over the years, that was I still to own today would probably buy me a house, but you’ll already think I’m stupid so we’ll leave it to just one painful example.
The point of this article is a bit of fun really, and it’s to ask if you’ve done something similar? If so then share your tales of woe, so we can all laugh and cry together.
I wonder what you first computer based MIDI sequencer was? The one that turned me on to the possibility of using a computer to make music was C-Lab Creator/Notator on the Atari ST. I had previously been smitten by a Roland MC500 MKII midi sequencer that looked a little like a cash register, but it was rock solid and fantastic for live work.
Then in the mid 80s computers started to drop in price and MIDI sequencing with computers began to go mainstream. When in 1985 Atari created the ST with built in MIDI ports, this made things a lot easier and soon it seemed everyone was using either an Atari ST or a Mac based MIDI sequencer.
Around the same time, many manufacturers were selling low priced multi-timbral sound generators like the Roland MT32, the Yamaha FB01 and the at the end of the 80s the EMU Proteus. With a relatively low cost of entry (for the time) one could have a computer, MIDI controller and multi-timbral sound generator – it was heaven!
As I say, my weapon of choice was C-Lab, others chose the Steinberg software, but for me Creator was simply amazing.
Some of the highlights were the ability to create patterns quickly using different loop lengths, for example; one could create a one bar loop of hi-hats, a two bar loop of kick, an eight bar loop of bass and so on. Each track in the part could have different quantize values, groove, compression and more. Routing the tracks to various instruments was a cinch.
Once the patterns were created they could then be arranged into a song in a simple list view; one could also see the arrange window in a timeline view and also in this timeline one could then include additional parts that didn’t fit into the pattern loop based format.
20 years later and not a lot seems to have changed to the core sequencer part of DAWs.
Perhaps there is not a lot to change, but when DAW creators announce new features to their DAW such as arrange, or loop based pattern creation as if they’ve just discovered fire then one has to wonder if we’ve come that far in the last few decades?
I’m not talking about the amazing plug-ins we can use to recreate our favourite synths or samplers but the core sequencing part.
If I have a gripe about modern MIDI sequencing is how much bloatware there is, and yet some of the fundamental issues don’t get resolved. For example timing – perhaps I’m looking back with rose-tinted spectacles, but I recall that the Atari ST had rock solid timing.
As I researched this article I did find myself considering a purchase of an Atari ST and Creator from eBay – but perhaps it’s nothing more than reckless nostalgia, a bit like wondering what your high school love is doing these days.
What was your first computer based MIDI sequencer and do you think the MIDI sequencing element of modern DAWs has improved? What would you like to see, how do you think things could be improved?
Expert site founder Russ Hughes cut his teeth programming synths in the early 80s. Here is an article that was first published on Pro Tools Expert where Russ gives 25 songs every synth lover should hear and why.
I make no secret of the fact of my love for synths; perhaps it was because this was the music that influenced me in my teens. When it comes to music, I’m glad I was born in the mid-60s and was around for the birth of UK synth-pop.
Here are 25 tracks with synths in them that I love and why, if you have not heard them all then check them out. I guess there are some missing that would be on your list, but as with every list some drop off the bottom.
25 songs that every synth lover should hear and why.
Just Can’t Get Enough -Depeche Mode The opening riff, the bass line, the rhythm parts, the arp – need I say more?
Released – 7 September 1981
The Model (Das Model) – Kraftwerk German synth pioneers were way ahead of many others. Their use of synths in such an understated way is a pleasure to behold – this is one of many tracks that could have made a list, released in 1978 and still sounds great now.
Released – 1978
Only You – Yazoo Vince Clarke is one of the founding fathers of synth pop. This track is a lesson is sequenced synth music and is a truly beautiful arrangement and was made way before presets and MIDI-based DAWs.
Released – 15 March 1982
Don’t Go – Yazoo The second entry for Yazoo and shows the energy that possible with a synth-based track – highlights are the claps and of course the opening riff.
Released – 1982
Enola Gay – OMD Right from the off the pretty hectic pace of this track, the use of subtle synth layers, the beautiful woodblock sound that runs throughout this pop hit about dropping the H-Bomb makes it a classic.
Released – 1980
Love Action – The Human League From the outset the synths in this track are the star – the oww synth sound kicks off the track like a brooding alien pulse, and then we get a nice tight synth bass. Listen in headphones for the ultra-stereo arrangement.
Released – 27 July 198
Tainted Love – Soft Cell The combination of some synths soaked in reverb and others dry as a bone along with the voice of Marc Almond made this a monster synth love song in the 80s.
Released – 1981
Rock Me Amadeus – Falco Now, this sounds dated, but the use of fat synth stabs in the riff along with the drum sequence all weaving around the vocal makes this a pop synth classic.
Released – 16 June 1985
Jump – Van Halen The massive synth brass pad sound announcing this rock song is the star of this track, everyone trying out brass sounds in music stores played this riff. Of course don’t forget the synth solo in the middle 8, pure 80s synth magic.
Released – December 21, 1983
Ghosts – Japan While many were reaching for zippy pop sounds this track shows just how versatile the synth can be, no drums just brooding synths. The tight synth stabs that appear in the track are beautiful.
Released – March 1982
Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy One of the many tracks in the 1980s to feature the plodding bass synth part, but Bronksi Beat brought something uniquely real to their tracks with the voice of Jimmy Somerville.
Released – 1984
Stephen Duffy – Kiss Me Every club in the mid-80s was playing this track, you can hear the use of samples in the voice at the start, but the syncopated synth and rhythm are a master class in synth programming.
Released – 1982
1999 – Prince In much the same vein as ‘Jump’ the star of this track is the massive synth sound that permeates throughout the entire song, just imagine this song without the synth riff.
Released – September 24, 1982
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – Eurythmics There are a lot of theories about the synths making the riff on this track; many think it was an Oberheim OB-X, setting that aside the synth riffs are the hero of this song, that takes a lot when Annie Lennox is singing.
Released – 21 January 1983
Alison Moyet – Love Resurrection The combination of synths with real instruments makes the entire ‘Alf’ album a masterpiece, crafted by Swain and Jolly. Highlights in this track are the clav type synth and the organ in the first verse.
Released – June 1984
New Order – Blue Monday A lesson in synth minimalism – the synth bass on this track drives along with the simple drum part, keeping the listener hanging for 2 minutes before the vocals start. Classic!
Released – 7 March 1983
Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper I was torn over this and ‘True Colors’, both tracks show how to use synth pads, they sit there as the bed that the entire track sits on without being mushy. Listen to the way the synth works with the guitar on ‘True Colours’, it’s simply beautiful.
Released – January 27, 1984
Pop Muzik – M If you ever have any doubt about synths being funky, then this 1979 track from ‘M’ shows how to do it. From the synth bass, the arps, use of synth rhythm and incidental synth part made this a huge hit.
Released – 25 March 1979
Cars – Gary Numan Apparently, Gary Numan found a Moog synth sitting in a rehearsal room, played it and the rest (as they say) is history. If that story is true, then I’m glad people leave things lying around – Numan brought an almost alien sense to the synth world. This track is one of many of his that could have made this list. The use of the synth lead part riffing with the drums is pure synth genius.
Released – 21 August 1979
Enjoy The Silence – Depeche Mode From the pop riff of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ to this more grown up Depeche Mode in ‘Enjoy The Silence’ shows just what masters these guys are of synth based music.
Released – 16 January 1990
The Robots – Kraftwerk Not only cool synth programming but some vocoder to boot. This tightness of this track is a lesson in synth programming; it doesn’t seem to have a hair out of place.
Released – 1978
Are Friends Electric – Tubeway Army If you ever thought that synth music was rock solid timing quantized to within one inch of its life, then this track will prove you wrong, but even with the drifting rhythm, this is a classic synth track.
Released – 19 May 1979
West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys Just listen to the bass line. Tightly programmed synth bass and drums, often using the hottest synths and samplers of the time, love or hate the Pet Shop Boys their contribution to synth pop is undeniable.
Released – 9 April 1984
Wood Beez – Scritti Politti Super tight, samples everywhere but the entire album is a work of synth art, it was recorded in some of the biggest studios of the time and is full of Synclavier. You might hate it as over-produced 80s synth pop, but it is worth a listen, if for no other reason to see how much you could throw at an album.
Released – December 1983
Vienna – Ultravox The thunder sound is apparently a Synare electronic drum; other sounds include an Oberheim, an Elka string synthesiser and a Roland CR-78 drum machine. Vienna is 80s synth pop at its best.
With Peter Capaldi about to take his final bow as everyone’s favorite time traveler, much is ado about the next actor to play the Doctor being female: Jodie Whittaker of Broadchurch fame. Some fans (this writer included) are saying “It’s about time!” (get it?) while others aren’t so keen on the break with tradition.
This begs pointing out that while the iconic theme music was scored with pen and paper by Ron Grainier (also composer of the theme to The Prisoner), it was a woman who arranged it and orchestrated it into the signature synthetic bass sound pulsing in groups of four and the swooping portamento sine-wave lead. That woman was Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
This video, courtesy of Movie Pilot and BBC America, traces the evolution of the theme from its first version — mainly done using the pre-synthesizer tape-splicing techniques of musique concrete — through the analog synth-drenched 1970s to the heavily orchestrated version of today’s series.
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