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The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Robert Moog. Released in 1970 by the original Moog Music, it was among the first widely available, portable and relatively affordable synthesizers.
Design
The Minimoog has six sound sources. Five of these (three voltage-controlled oscillators with switchable waveforms, a noise generator, an external line input) pass to a mixer with independent level controls. The mixed output of the sources is then passed through the voltage-controlled filter and a voltage-controlled amplifier, each of which has its own ADSR envelope generator. The voltage-controlled filter can itself be made to oscillate, thus comprising the Minimoog's sixth sound source.
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.
The Minimoog can be controlled using its in-built, 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 trigger. External pitch control does not pass through the glide circuit, nor is presented to the vcf tracking switches and thus, 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 "dead band" 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.
Usage
Many essential pitch-bending techniques were first demonstrated by Jan Hammer, in his work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and especially on Jeff Beck's album Wired. Many keyboardists learned how to pitch-bend by following his example.
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.
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." *
The Minimoog was highly popular in 1970s and 1980s electronic music and has been used by artists such as:
- Kraftwerk on their album Autobahn and others,
- Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer,
- Rick Wakeman of the band Yes,
- Pink Floyd's Rick Wright on Wish You Were Here (especially "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Welcome to the Machine") and others,
- Jan Hammer with Mahavishnu Orchestra and others,
- Gary Numan on his albums Replicas (with his band Tubeway Army), The Pleasure Principle, Telekon and others,
- Phil Collins in this song "Sussudio",
- Geddy Lee of the band Rush,
- Kerry Minnear of the band Gentle Giant,
- Larry Fast under his own project name Synergy,
- Mark Mothersbaugh and Bob Casale of Devo,
- Chick Corea with his band Return to Forever,
- George Clinton of Parliament,
- Tommy Mars, George Duke and Peter Wolf, keyboardists for Frank Zappa,
- Daryl Dragon of Captain & Tennille,
- Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, keyboardists for Morris Day & the Time, Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson,
- Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel's band Air,
- Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream,
- "Meco Eno" and "Uli Nomi" of the Moog Cookbook,
- Zakk Wylde of the band Black Label Society,
- Manfred Mann on the Uriah Heep song "July Morning" on their album Look at Yourself
- The Alchemist, rap producer,
- Gnarls Barkley, collaboration between Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo.
Essential recordings
- Jeff Beck's album Wired, on which Jan Hammer demonstrates pitch-bending technique using the wheel.
- Rick Wakeman's album Six Wives of Henry VIII which demonstrates many of the Minimoog's characteristic sounds.
- Kraftwerk's 1974 album Autobahn, which was a revolutionary record in the development of electronic music.
- 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.
See also
External links
Minimoog | Minimoog | Minimoog | Minimoog | Minimoog | Minimoog
"Minimoog"