Studies for two TENORI-ON(s) by Smith from Franck Smith on Vimeo.

A chap named Nick Ciontea has created a channel on Vimeo collecting odd videos folks have made with or regarding Moog products. I know about this, because two of my videos made it in. It’s a grab bag, but a lovely tribute to how much people love this gear.

My favorite selection is the video here, because it’s not what you’d expect sound-wise from either Yamaha’s Tenori-On or Moog filters. Artist “Smith” says:

This first test is a prepartory work to a series of solo pieces inspired by John Cage’s experiments for prepared piano and Conlon Nancarrow’s player piano studies.

Yes, things you don’t normally expect to go together: Cage/Nancarrow, Moog, Tenori-On. And he successfully erases the Tenori-On’s beautiful if predictable signature sound. This is what I imagine music boxes would sound like on Alpha Centauri. In other news: I can’t afford this rig.

- 2 TENORI-ON(s)
- MI Audio Pollyanna Octave Synth
- Moog Low Pass Filter (MF-101)
- Moog Ring Modulator (MF-102)
- Moog Bass Murf (MF-105b)
- Jomox M-Resonator
- Rotary Ensemble (Boss RT-20)
- Boss FV-500L (as expression pedal for LPF Resonance)
- Boss FV-500L (as expression pedal for RM Frequency)
- Boss EV-5 for Rotary Ensemble speed

But, involved as that is, it’s further evidence you can push sound in new ways. And if online videos do nothing else, they can lay the gauntlet down in terms of what you think possible – both by demonstrating the generic and the unusual.

Yeah, this isn’t just marketing: the newest Moog Voyager is really old school — and it just makes us want it more. Moog Music has taken out twenty years of recent technology and kept the classic tech — all in a new case that’s fully wooden and entirely devoid of glowing mod wheels. In fact, the actual marketing side steps just how old school the Old School is:

“Priced between the Voyager and Little Phatty, this modern classic makes the coveted Voyager sound and design easier to own than ever!”

All of that is technically true (and we are coveting), but — reality check. The Moog Voyager Old School as a left-brained compromise? A value buy? I don’t think so. You’re shelling out US$2600 on the most beautifully anachronistic synth keyboard from Moog yet. You’re going to use nothing but control voltage because you think digital makes people’s souls weak.

We’d like to suggest an alternative slogan / t-shirt design: “Presets are for posers; MIDI is for pussies.”

I’m only half joking. Coming to an annual trade show could easily lull you into the idea that music technology is a simple, linear progression from one idea to another. (Now with 10% more this year of exactly what we had last year!) How boring would that be? Mercifully, Moog Music — and quite a bit of other stuff we’ve seen, great and awful — reminds us that design is about choice and personality. It’s not rocket science — it’s cooking.

We’ll have more of the latest Moog (among other things) as we finish off our NAMM videos.

Oh, and one last tip to Moog: we’re awaiting the Really Old School model. What’s with the keyboard being attached? And why is everything patched for you in advance?