Legendary composer Wendy Carlos remembers Bob Moog in a moving set of recollections, music, and documents, including the music and thoughts she shared in a gathering in North Carolina shortly after his death last year. She goes far beyond Switched on Bach to talk about a long relationship with the instruments and their creator in her music making. (The drawing at the top of the page is her own.)

Wendy Carlos on Bob Moog

Somehow in the various memories I’ve seen over the past year I’d missed these. One excerpt:

Bob and I were friends for about 41 years. That sounds incomprehensible now, but there you are. We met when I accidentally woke him up. He was taking a much needed nap on a banquette on the Mezzanine of the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel, in NYC …

Ever modest, Bob always deferred on musical matters to those of us who came from that side of the art/tech equation. We, on the other hand, deferred to Bob on all engineering decisions and designs. From the beginning it was a balanced yin/yang relationship between a maker of musical tools and the artists who used those tools. It doesn’t seem to work that way much anymore, and more’s the pity.

Thanks to Kevin Phair for the heads-up.

Producer/composer Simon James, aka Corky Burger, has produced over an hour celebrating Bob Moog. Dr. Moog’s voice booms over a rich and wildly eclectic mix of music built on his instruments, interspersed by the voiceover from an old Moog Music demo piece. The timbral variety that results speaks volumes. While the mainstream press in their obituaries for Dr. Moog last year sometimes described his analog synths as outmoded or dated, these sounds are actually becoming more familiar to our ears over time, not less. With Moog still producing new instruments (Little Phatty, Moog Voyager), software emulations of the classic models, and virtually every software and hardware instrument deeply impacted by his designs, Bob is alive everywhere you look.

Simon writes:

Hope you enjoy the show and pardon the seriousness of the intro, on reflection I could have been a bit more celebratory in tone. It was sad when Bob Moog passed away but the show celebrates his life.

And before we get too serious, let’s admit it: we’re glad we get to live in an age where Nancy Sinatra’s Daytripper was covered on Moog synths.

Totally Radio: A Bob Moog Celebration

For shorter musical moments, Simon (”Corky”) has an extensive collection of Moog ringtones, so you can keep those Moog sounds ringing everywhere you go. Simon has also produced the fantastic Welcome to Mars podcast, filled with wall-to-wall Moog Voyager sounds.

You can download CDM’s own Moog Voyager ring tone, created by Corky, here:

Create Digital Tone

Preview CDM Tone

And, of course, Moog Music yesterday remembered their namesake with their 20-second Moment of Moog:

Moment of Moog

Composer Ken Soper reflects, “These sounds remind me that Bob, like the Minimoog Voyager, is alive.â€Â?

A year after the passing of Bob Moog, Moog Music and the Bob Moog Memorial Foundation are remembering his legacy.

In musical memorium, Moog Music is encouraging radio stations to play a twenty second Moog Voyager composition. I’ll be interested to hear how many radio stations take them up on the offer; if they’re pressed for time, they might consider one of Corky Berger’s Moog Voyager ring tone. The idea is nice, but I fully expect most of us will hear far more than twenty seconds from Moog instruments or inspired by Moog instruments during the course of the day.

The bigger news is the new website for the promised Bob Moog Foundation. (The image above from their site is pictured here; it really says a lot to me.) Itsorganizational goals will include:

1. Scholarships at institutions “close to Bob’s heart”: University of North Carolina-Asheville, Berklee School of Music and Cornell University
2. Electronic music outreach programs
3. Special event sponsorships
4. The Bob Moog Memorial Museum

That last item ought to get your attention. Just imagine this:

The Museum will house Bob’s personal and professional archives, which include: writings, photos, instruments, schematic drawings, articles written by and about him, an extensive collection of electronic music, and other Moog artifacts. The goal is to make this an educational, interactive museum open to students, researchers and music historians, and for all people interested in engaging with the Moog legacy. We are also considering an exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Heck, with a museum like that, most of us would have no reason to even go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It’d be fantastic if these collections grew to encompass other technologists, too, from people like Leon Theremin, Raymond Scott, Don Buchla, and others. But I can’t think of a better place to start than Bob Moog, particularly with Moog Music already having many of the resources needed.

Can you say pilgrimage?

Lastly, the foundation is working on Moogcasts. In a way, I’m almost disappointed that they’re limited to Moog instruments; I use lots of non-Moog technology that I’ll always see differently having learned synthesis on a Moog modular. But this is nonetheless great stuff, and raises the important issues of passing electronic musical legacies into the future. (See also the Electronic Music Foundation.)