Minimoog

Minimoog

Manufactured by	Moog Music
Dates	1970 - 1975, 1977 - 1981 [1]
Price	US$1495
Technical specifications
Polyphony	Monophonic
Timbrality	Monotimbral
Oscillator	3 VCOs, white/pink noise
LFO	Oscillator 3 can function as LFO
Synthesis type	Analog Subtractive
Filter	24dB/oct, 4-pole lowpass filter with cutoff, resonance, ADS envelope generator, keyboard tracking
Attenuator	ADS envelope generator
Effects	Frequency modulation using oscillator 3/noise
Input/output
Keyboard	44-note, low-note priority
Left-hand control	Pitch bend and mod wheels
External control	CV/gate

The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. (Moog Music after 1972), and production was stopped in 1981.^[1] It was re-designed by Robert Moog in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager.

The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of synthesizers in rock and pop music. Large modular synthesizers were expensive, cumbersome, and delicate, and not ideal for live performance; the Minimoog was designed to include the most important parts of a modular synthesizer in a compact package, without the need for patch cords. It later surpassed this original purpose, however, and became a distinctive and popular instrument in its own right. It remains in demand today, nearly four decades after its introduction, for its intuitive design and powerful bass and lead sounds.

Voyager Old School
by Moog Music (2008)

Reproduced Minimoog
by Norlin/Moog Music (1978)

Early Minimoog
by R.A. Moog Inc. (ca.1970)

Design

At its most basic, the Minimoog control panel can be broken up into 3 sections:

• The signal generators (the 3 VCO's or Voltage-controlled oscillator and pink or white noise)
• The filter (the VCF or voltage-controlled filter)
• The amplifier (the VCA or voltage-controlled amplifier)

Minimoog control panel

The Minimoog is monophonic (only one note can be played at a time) and its three-oscillator design gave it its famous fat sound. Four prototypes were made over the years before a final design was decided upon to release as a commercial product. The Minimoog Model D adapted some of the circuitry (such as the filter section) from earlier modular instruments, but designed other circuitry (such as the oscillators and contour generators) from scratch. To produce a sound, the musician would first choose a sound shape to be generated from the VCO(s) and/or the type of Noise (White or Pink). The VCO provides a choice of several switchable waveforms:

• triangle wave
• Reverse sawtooth/ramp wave
• Sawtooth/Triangle(only in oscillators 1 and 2/ sawtooth wave in oscillator three)
• square wave
• two different width pulse waves

The signals are routed through the Mixer to the VCF (Voltage Controlled Filter) where harmonic content can be modified and resonance added.

The filtered signal is then routed to the Voltage Controlled Amplifer (VCA), where its contour is shaped by a dedicated ADS (Attack, Decay/Release, Sustain) envelope generator. Part of the appeal of this instrument over the early modular Moogs was the fact that the Minimoog required no patch cables; its signal and control voltage path is hard-wired, or "normalled". While this imposed the signal flow limitation outlined above (VCO -> VCF -> VCA), there are ways to tweak the sound. For example, in reality, the Minimoog has six sound sources. Five of these sound sources pass to a mixer with independent level controls:

• Three voltage-controlled oscillators (see above)
• A noise generator
• An external line input

And the VCF can itself be made to oscillate, thus providing the Minimoog's sixth sound source.

The voltage-controlled filter (VCF) and voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) each have their own ADSD envelope generator (or Attack-Decay-Sustain-Decay). Musicians who are familiar with more modern synthesizers might expect the last letter to be R for "Release" (as in ADSR). However, on the Minimoog, the envelopes are ADSD as the Decay setting also sets the time for what's regularly known as Release. In other words, there are 3 knobs to control 4 sections of the sound (most modern synths have 4 knobs, one for each section) - a "shortcoming" that doesn't seem to diminish the Minimoog's popularity in any way. There is also a switch above the pitch and modulation wheels to engage the final decay stage as well as a switch for engaging the glide circuit.

The VCF is of transistor ladder type, a famous, even envied design patented by Moog (US 3,475,623).^[2][3] Rumors that Moog had to go to court over the patent seem to be nothing more; 'differences' with ARP at one point were settled amicably.^[4]

The output of the third oscillator and/or the noise generator can also be routed to the control voltage inputs of the filter and/or oscillators. The amount of pitch or filter modulation thus realized is controlled by the modulation wheel, which is the right one of the two plastic disks located to the left of the keyboard. In this way the third oscillator is frequently used as a low-frequency oscillator to control pitch (oscillator modulation) and/or harmonic content (filter cutoff frequency modulation).

The Minimoog can be controlled using its built-in, 44-note keyboard, which is equipped with modulation and pitch-bend wheels or by feeding in an external one-volt-per-octave pitch-control voltage and triggering the envelope generators with an inverted Switch trigger (S-Trigger in Moog terminology).

External pitch control does not pass through the glide circuit; nor is it presented to the VCF tracking switches - the external inputs were not designed for external keyboard control. The lowest note played on the keyboard determines the pitch, a condition that is referred to as low-note priority. The envelope generators do not retrigger unless all notes are lifted before the next note is played, an important characteristic which allows phrasing. The modulation and pitch-bending wheels were an innovation that many instrumentalists found to be extremely playable. The pitch-bend wheel is on the left of the modulation wheel. It is normally kept in the centered position. It is not spring-loaded; the player must return it to the centered position to play in tune. There is a delicate detent mechanism to help the player find the center position tactually. In sharp contrast to later synthesizers that also have pitch-bend wheels, there is no deadband near the center of the wheel's travel; the wheel produces minute changes in pitch no matter how slightly it is moved in either direction. The wheel can therefore be used to introduce slight vibrato or nuance, as well as accurate pitch changes. However, Moog later recommended adding a deadband mod and published this mod in their factory service notes. The detent mechanism can be adjusted somewhat in its strength.

Clones & Emulators

Bristol Mini on Linux

• GForce Minimonsta - software emulator
• Arturia Minimoog V - software emulator (This instrument is the only Minimoog VST to be approved by Moog himself.)
• Sonic Core Minimax (formerly Creamware Minimax) - hardware emulator
• Analog Synth Lab
• Studio Electronics MIDIMoog - A rackmount version of the Minimoog, built around a Model D circuit board. Unlike its virtual analog competitor, the Sonic Core Minimax, the MIDIMoog is a real Minimoog.
• Steinberg Model E - software emulator (Until the release of Arturia's VST, the Model E was considered the definitive Minimoog VST.)

Usage

David Borden, an early associate of Moog, has said that the Minimoog "took the synthesizer out of the studio and put it into the concert hall".^[5] Jazz composer and bandleader Sun Ra used one of the first Minimoogs, a prototype lent him by Moog in 1969: "We loaned it to him and Sun Ra’s way of working is that when you loan him something you don’t expect to see it back."^{[citation needed]}

Keith Emerson was the first musician to tour with a Minimoog, in 1970, during Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Pictures at an Exhibition shows. Many essential pitch-bending techniques were first demonstrated by him, and many keyboardists learned how to pitch-bend by following his example. He immediately adopted it as one of his main instruments.

Keyboardist Rick Wakeman says of the Minimoog's invention: "For the first time you could go on [stage] and give the guitarist a run for his money...a guitarist would say, 'Oh shoot, he's got a Minimoog', so they're looking for eleven on their volume control - it's the only way they can compete." Wakeman said the instrument "absolutely changed the face of music."^[6]

Due to the design of its 24dB/octave filter, its three oscillators, and tuning instabilities which tend to keep the oscillators moving against one another, the Minimoog can produce an extremely rich and powerful bass sound. Despite the advent of low-cost digital synthesizers and samplers, the Minimoog remains in high demand with producers and performers of electronic pop and electronic music.

The Minimoog was highly popular in the 1970s and 1980s, and has been used by many artists. For an incomplete list, see List of Moog synthesizer players.

Notable recordings

• Rick Wakeman's albums "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", "Journey to the Centre of the Earth (album)", "The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table", "White Rock" and "No Earthly Connection" feature great examples of many of the Minimoog's characteristic sounds.
• Yes - many recordings by Yes are notable for their use of the Minimoog, such as the albums "Close To The Edge" , "Tales from Topographic Oceans", "Going For The One", "Tormato" (featuring Rick Wakeman), "Relayer" (featuring Patrick Moraz), and "Drama" (featuring Geoff Downes).
• Radiohead's 2011 The King Of Limbs From the Basement sessions show Jonny Greenwood playing Minimoog on "Lotus Flower" and Thom Yorke, on "Feral".
• Edward Van Halen played a Minimoog on Van Halen's cover of Martha Martha and the Vandellas' Motown classic "Dancing in the Street". The song appears on their 1982 album, Diver Down.
• Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company has re-issued its eponymous 1973 LP on Cuneiform Records containing music by David Borden and Steve Drews. They premiered the Minimoog prototype in New York City at Trinity Church in June 1970. They performed EASTER which is a track on this CD.
• PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi) - Impressioni di settembre, the 1971 debut single of this Italian progressive rock band uses a Minimoog and was the first Italian hit record to feature a synthesizer.
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Keith Emerson used a Minimoog on many Emerson, Lake & Palmer songs such as the basslines for Karn Evil 9 1st Impression.
• Chicago uses a Minimoog. It can be heard clearly on "I've Been Searching (So Long)".
• Uriah Heep prominently used the Minimoog since their album, Magician's Birthday. David Byron introduced the instrument as "Moog simplifier" in a foreword to the song Gypsy on Uriah Heep Live.
• The album The Zodiac : Cosmic Sounds is claimed to be the first album to feature the moog synthesizer.
• Jeff Beck's album Wired, on which Jan Hammer demonstrates pitch-bending technique using the wheel.
• Happy The Man's self-titled debut album, on which Kit Watkins Minimoog performances are featured throughout.
• Kraftwerk's 1974 album Autobahn, which was a revolutionary record in the development of electronic music.
• Passport's 1975 album Cross-Collateral. The Minimoog is featured throughout this brilliant Jazz-Fusion recording.
• In 1976 Mother Mallard issued LP Like a Duck to Water which was reissued on Cuneiform Records. Mother Mallard was the first all-synth band. Minimoogs and modular Moogs. Classical roots but use pop elements in their compositions. Borden and Drews have been credited with originating the "electronic minimalism" genre.
• Synergy's Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra, recorded with a Minimoog, an Oberheim expander module controlled by an early Oberheim DS-2 digital sequencer and a Mellotron. Also, the second album, Sequencer has several Minimoog and Moog 15 modular synthesizer-based compositions.
• Devo used a Minimoog heavily on their first three albums and early singles, notably on the songs Mongoloid and Jocko Homo.
• Gary Numan's 1979 album Replicas (under the name Tubeway Army) is essentially built around the Minimoog. His follow-up releases The Pleasure Principle (1979) and Telekon (1980) also heavily feature the instrument.
• Manfred Mann's Earth Band made the Minimoog an integral part of their sound, especially in their mid-1970s recordings. Keyboard player Manfred Mann used the pitch control to create a distinctive, plaintive sound.
• Geddy Lee of Rush used a Minimoog on several Rush albums, from 1977's A Farewell to Kings to 1982's Signals. On the live release Exit...Stage Left, Lee can be heard manually "tweaking" the dials to produce unusual sounds in the space between songs "The Trees" and "Xanadu".
• Tony Hymas used the MiniMoog quite a lot on the Ph.D. album "Is It Safe".
• Funkadelic and Parliament used a MiniMoog played by Bernie Worrell on various hits including Flash Light (which created the song's distinctive bassline).
• Minimoog baselines and leads were widely heard in the 1970s and first half of the 1980s - Gap Band and Fatback being two examples.
• The Japanese Avant-garde Black Metal band Sigh make use of the MiniMoog on their 2001 album Imaginary Sonicscape, along with many other instruments obscure to Heavy Metal.
• Portishead often boasted of using a theremin on the track "Mysterons" off their album Dummy but it was actually a Minimoog.
• Paul Davis Singer/Songwriter Used A Mini-Moog In Many Of His Recordings Most Notable On His 1976 Album Southern Tracks & Fantasies
• Hot Butter electronica band played their song Popcorn on a vintage minimoog at a surprise appearance at the L.L. Bean in Free Port, Maine.
• Shooter Jennings uses a Mini-Moog during live performances after releasing his Synth-filled album Black Ribbons.
• Phil Collins' Sussudio features a Minimoog played by keyboard player David Frank.
• Eduardo Parra of Los Jaivas used a Minimoog in the 1977's Album Cancion del Sur, 1981's Alturas de Macchu Picchu, 1982's Aconcagua and 1984's Obras de Violeta Parra.
• Michael Jackson's 1982 album Thriller: The synth basses on "Thriller", "P.Y.T.", and "Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’" were done with Minimoogs.
• Lemar's 2006 album Time To Grow: The synth basses & lead lines on "Better Than This" and "My Boo Part II" were played by Writer & Producer Andy Whitmore onhis Minimoog.

See also

• Minimoog Voyager

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "Chronology 1953-1993". Moog history. MoogArchives.com. http://moogarchives.com/chrono.htm. 
2. ^ Moog patents
3. ^ US Patent 3475623 R. A. Moog, Electronic High-pass and Low-pass Filters Employing the Base-to-Emitter Resistance of Bipolar Transistors, issued October 1969 (PDF)
4. ^ Trevor Pinch, Frank Trocco, Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer. Harvard University Press, 2004, p.263. ISBN 0674016173
5. ^ Franklin Crawford (August 23, 2005). "Robert Moog, Ph.D. '64, inventor of the music synthesizer, dies of brain cancer". Cornell University News Service. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
6. ^ Hans Fjellestad (2004). Moog

External links

• Minimoog at Synthmuseum.com
• Minimoog at Vintage Synth Explorer
• Minimoog Resource
• Minimoog prototypes at Audities.org
• Minimoog D info, pictures and audio clips