OT Re: [sdiy] Bob Moog

[Graham Atkins]

The stories of him quietly watching Keith Emerson practice show his  
ability to
communicate with keyboard players, who he held in much greater esteem
than his own efforts.

Graham

On 25 Aug 2009, at 00:11, Magnus Danielson wrote:

> Graham Atkins wrote:
>> I'm not sure that anyone does regard Bob Moog as the "best"  
>> designer or
>> builder of synthesiser circuitry, but more that he opened the  
>> "ears" of
>> musicians to what was possible with electronics and sound  
>> generation in
>> a practical way that they could use, much like people associating  
>> motor
>> vehicles with Henry Ford.
>> There are plenty of other good synth designers from Buchla and  
>> Oberheim
>> to Dave Smith and Wolfgang Palm (And plenty more....)
>
> I think few people mention Bobs ability to communicate with his  
> users, draw from their experience, learn and adapt. Anyone who spent  
> a little more time than a handshake and a little chat with him would  
> probably recognice what I am talking about.
>
> The MiniMoog development is just one of those stories. Experience  
> drawned from his modular customers, their favorite patches and  
> combining it stepwise into a practical new monophonic instrument.
>
> It's not just the ability to design and design well. Many of his  
> designs also had drawbacks and compromises which in hinsight seems  
> bad, but that's how we learned several of these things. It's also  
> about shaping the technology and find solutions which people like.  
> Some of those things have been developed further, such as the ribbon  
> controller.
>
> He did some nice work on Theremins as well. I keep getting reminded  
> of that for some reason.
>
> Cheers,
> Magnus
>