An innovator in the world of electronic music, few people changed the sonic landscape as much as Robert Moog. In 1954, Moog began building theremins with his father. Ten years later, experimental composer Herbert Deutsch approached Moog seeking new electronic sounds, and Moog, in turn, created the first Moog Modular Synthesizer. When Moog debuted the synthesizer at the 1964 AES Convention, orders began coming in almost instantly. Propelled by the success of Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On-Bach album, demand for Moog synthesizers skyrocketed. By the end of 1970, Moog introduced the Minimoog, a compact synthesizer that allowed musician’s to take the Moog sound on the road with them. Throughout the late ’60s and early ’70s, Moog synthesizers showed up on countless records from the Beatles to Funkadelic, and the impact made by Bob Moog and his synthesizer is still being felt in music today. Aside from synthesizers and theremins, Moog also pushed boundaries in the area of effects processing, with Moog’s effects boxes taking on many of the same modulation features found on his famous synthesizers. Though Moog’s company took on many names in it 50 plus years, Bob maintained an active role in the company’s design of new products until his death in 2005.
