I'm very very flattered, but there's no comparison.
Bob was an engineer of the ilk which no longer exists. When he had
problems finding knobs for the Moogerfoogers, he started making his
own. THAT my friends is an engineeers. He was bored to death looking
at other equipment, didn't care much for one of the new (and purposely
left annon. here) frequency shifters, a master of transistor logic
who's knowledge of theory was beyond the scope of what most of us
would determine possible. He and (as I've come to realize myself
from many other people's comments) the guys at Aries...those were
'real' engineers.
Bob and I were friends, the story on how this happened is pretty
funny. I had a wonderful conversation with his daughter Michelle at
Namm where we ended up all glassy eyes and hugging one another. It
was sweet.
Bob Williams isn't a designer, he's a collector turned manufacturer
who contracts all of his design out (smart idea, actually). Dieter is
probably one of the brightest electron-wise of the new breed. Bruce
Duncan is also on top of this but has an added benefit of being a
certified smart ass, we get along famously.
Warning on Analog Days: The Moog folk are pretty much miffed about
some of what was in there. Bob was as well. A bit of artistic
license was taken, some of the stories stretched if not fabricated.
But no matter how bad it may be, nothing, NOTHING compares with the
fables which run wild in Kettlewell's Electronic Music Pioneers.
Despite Kettlewell's wisdom, Karl Stockhausen is NOT considered the
father of Dobly surround, Darius Milhaud is NOT considered the father
of rap music and Morton Subotnick NEVER wrote music on a Serge
Synthesizer!!!
On top of that he used a photo of Susan Ciani for the cover and she
told me recently he did this without contacting her, which is f'ed up.
- P
--- In PLAN_B_analog_blog@yahoogroups.com, Sean Williams <sean@...> wrote:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> I recommend "Analog Days" by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco for all
> sorts of insights gathered from extensive interviews with many of the
> people who designed, built, sold and used the big old modulars.
> Although you won't find info about Bob, Peter and Dieter and other
> "new wave" manufacturers, it's great for the earlier history.
>
> sean
>
> >Some questions for Peter--
> >
> >I'm wondering what kind of backgrounds the proprietors of electronic
> >musical instrument businesses have. I see that you got your education
> >in music and worked for years in high-tech industries, right? How
> >does this compare to other well-known wizards such as Robert Moog, Don
> >Buchla, Dieter Doepfer, Bob Williams? Do you think an electrical
> >engineering degree would be helpful, invaluable, creatively hindering,
> >largely useless, or what for this line of work? Would you say that
> >designing modules is more about solving math problems or
> >experimentation?
> >
> >Just curious,
> >Monroe
> >
> >
>