Flying to Detroit? See a Real Moog

[Jim Patchell]

    It would be nice if there was a list member in Detroit who could go
there, take a picture, and post it on the internet.  I am sure we would
all get a kick out of it.

    -Jim

theinmans at mindspring.com wrote:

> There I am with 20 minutes to kill in the Detroit Metro
> Airport, so I'm walking and walking and walking and walking.
> My mind begins to wander and I am walking and walking and...
> all of the sudden, I stop.  What was THAT?  I turn around and
> there, in a glass case, as part of some technology installation,
> is a real Moog -- a detached keyboard and a couple of big wood
> boxes with some silver and classic black metal Moog faceplates.
> Only these were not pefectly finished.  The wood boxes look like
> they were stained by a beginner.  They were not even well sanded.
> And the faceplates looked like they were something right out of
> the rack of, well, a beginner.  Knobs were in not quite the right
> places and some of the wording seems odd.  For example, three
> knobs on the keyboard read (left to right):  Sustain Height,
> Attack Height, Attack Duration.  Aren't those in the wrong
> order?  Hey, that looks just like the stuff I make!
>
> As it turns out, the signs say, this is one of two prototype
> (1964) modulars used by Walter Carlos (no mention of Wendy) for
> the Switched on Bach records. It includes the keyboard and
> two large boxes.  Some of it looks very "Moog."  For example,
> there is a Bandpass 904 module.  Some of the others are unfamiliar
> to me.  There were two VCOs and two VCAs.  However, the VCOs were
> titled, "Generator Module."  There was also a white noise
> generator.
>
> What was so cool about this Moog was the whole DIY look of it.
> Different modules in different colors (black, silver).  Some
> went across and some were up and down.  The wooden boxes that
> may have once looked better, but could never have been as slick
> as the minimoog.  The knobs in odd places, perhaps out of
> left-to-right order with odd names.  There is a lot of extra
> space on the faceplates and even the modules with more knobs
> and jacks are not as tightly laid out as later mass-production
> Moogs -- an obvious lesson learned by anyone who has tried to
> jam too much into a physically small design.  This thing was
> the ultimate DIY synth.  In a real way, it made me feel much
> better about some of the things I have thrown together.
>
> What it is doing in the Detroit Metro Airport, I have no idea.
> I can't find anything on the Internet about the installation, so
> I can't say why it is there or how long it will be.  But, if you
> have a few minutes to kill in the Detroir Metro Airport, the
> installation is right where gates A-D and E-G break.  Have fun.
>
> Elliot