The Moog synthesizer was cheaper
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 7:05 am
The device was incredibly difficult to use. Only RCA engineers could play it properly. Some success in creating music on the Mark II was achieved by the composer with a mathematical education Milton Babbitt. He recorded the album Vision and Prayer on the Mark II. Charles Vuorinen recorded the album Time's Encomium on it. The composer received the Pulitzer Prize in Music for the record.
Sounds strange? No wonder. At that time, the synthesizer was perceived as an advanced tool for creating avant-garde music. And the most advanced direction was serialism - a way of creating complex atonal music. Instead of a melody here - series-sequences of sounds that do not repeat. The method has a strict logic, so creating serial music is more like programming. The parts turn out to be difficult to perform live. The synthesizer comes to the aid of avant-garde artists, which allows you to program series of any complexity with incredible accuracy.
The age of the transistor
Transistors allowed the construction of much more stable amplifiers and oscillators, as well as greatly reducing their size. A new round of development of synthesizers is associated with the engineer Robert Moog. He was engaged in the sale of theremins from the age of nineteen, and then decided to make them himself. In 1964, he introduced transistor synthesizer modules in New York. The instruments were noticeably more compact and reliable than tube ones, and also gave the musician more opportunities to control the wave.
Using transistors, Moog created a new oscillator. Its pitch latvia number data was controlled by changing the voltage – 1 per octave. Thus was born the first modular synthesizer, the Moog Modular.
and easier to use than bulky tube machines. Anyone could compose music on it, not just a dodecaphone player with a mathematical background. In 1968, American composer Walter Carlos released the album Switched-On Bach, where he played Bach's works on the Moog Modular. The release went platinum, won three Grammys, and is still considered one of the most important in the history of electronic music. The album showed two important things:
synthesizers can successfully imitate the sounds of real orchestra instruments;
You can play music that everyone is familiar with on synthesizers, but it will sound very unusual.
The time for synthesizers turned out to be the best. The cultural revolution of the 60s desperately needed new sounds and forms of expression. Its mouthpiece was the rockers of the time. The Moog Modular was used by The Beatles, The Doors, Yes, Tangerine Dream, Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Even today, it can often be heard in many soundtracks. For example, film composer Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, The Dark Knight, Dune), Clint Mansell (Ghost in the Shell, Moon 2112) and Junkie XL (Mad Max: Fury Road, Zack Snyder's Justice League) often use this synthesizer.
Sounds strange? No wonder. At that time, the synthesizer was perceived as an advanced tool for creating avant-garde music. And the most advanced direction was serialism - a way of creating complex atonal music. Instead of a melody here - series-sequences of sounds that do not repeat. The method has a strict logic, so creating serial music is more like programming. The parts turn out to be difficult to perform live. The synthesizer comes to the aid of avant-garde artists, which allows you to program series of any complexity with incredible accuracy.
The age of the transistor
Transistors allowed the construction of much more stable amplifiers and oscillators, as well as greatly reducing their size. A new round of development of synthesizers is associated with the engineer Robert Moog. He was engaged in the sale of theremins from the age of nineteen, and then decided to make them himself. In 1964, he introduced transistor synthesizer modules in New York. The instruments were noticeably more compact and reliable than tube ones, and also gave the musician more opportunities to control the wave.
Using transistors, Moog created a new oscillator. Its pitch latvia number data was controlled by changing the voltage – 1 per octave. Thus was born the first modular synthesizer, the Moog Modular.
and easier to use than bulky tube machines. Anyone could compose music on it, not just a dodecaphone player with a mathematical background. In 1968, American composer Walter Carlos released the album Switched-On Bach, where he played Bach's works on the Moog Modular. The release went platinum, won three Grammys, and is still considered one of the most important in the history of electronic music. The album showed two important things:
synthesizers can successfully imitate the sounds of real orchestra instruments;
You can play music that everyone is familiar with on synthesizers, but it will sound very unusual.
The time for synthesizers turned out to be the best. The cultural revolution of the 60s desperately needed new sounds and forms of expression. Its mouthpiece was the rockers of the time. The Moog Modular was used by The Beatles, The Doors, Yes, Tangerine Dream, Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Even today, it can often be heard in many soundtracks. For example, film composer Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, The Dark Knight, Dune), Clint Mansell (Ghost in the Shell, Moon 2112) and Junkie XL (Mad Max: Fury Road, Zack Snyder's Justice League) often use this synthesizer.