Minimoog
Encyclopedia
The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer
Analog synthesizer
An analog or analogue synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s such as the Trautonium were built with a variety of vacuum-tube and electro-mechanical technologies...

, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog
Robert Moog
Robert Arthur Moog , commonly called Bob Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer.-Life:...

. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. (Moog Music
Moog Music
Moog Music is an American company based in Asheville, North Carolina which manufactures electronic musical instruments. The current Moog Music is the second company to trade under that name.-R.A. Moog Co. and the original Moog Music:...

 after 1972), and production was stopped in 1981. It was re-designed by Robert Moog
Robert Moog
Robert Arthur Moog , commonly called Bob Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer.-Life:...

 in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager
Minimoog Voyager
The Minimoog Voyager or Voyager is a monophonic analog synthesizer, designed by Robert Moog and released in 2002 by Moog Music. The Voyager was modeled after the classic Minimoog synthesizer that was popular in the 1970s, and is meant to be a successor to that instrument.-Design:Like the original...

.

The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of synthesizers in rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

. Large modular synthesizer
Modular synthesizer
The modular synthesizer is a type of synthesizer consisting of separate specialized modules connected by wires to create a so-called patch. Every output generates a signal – an electric voltage of variable strength...

s 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.
by Moog Music (2008)]]

by Norlin/Moog Music (1978)]]

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
    Voltage-controlled oscillator
    A voltage-controlled oscillator or VCO is an electronic oscillator designed to be controlled in oscillation frequency by a voltage input. The frequency of oscillation is varied by the applied DC voltage, while modulating signals may also be fed into the VCO to cause frequency modulation or phase...

     and pink
    Pink noise
    Pink noise or 1/ƒ noise is a signal or process with a frequency spectrum such that the power spectral density is inversely proportional to the frequency. In pink noise, each octave carries an equal amount of noise power...

     or white noise
    White noise
    White noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...

    )
  • The filter (the VCF or voltage-controlled filter
    Voltage-controlled filter
    A voltage-controlled filter is a filter whose operating characteristics can be controlled by means of a control voltage applied to one or more inputs...

    )
  • The amplifier (the VCA or voltage-controlled amplifier)



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
    Triangle wave
    A triangle wave is a non-sinusoidal waveform named for its triangular shape.Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd harmonics...

  • Reverse sawtooth
    Sawtooth wave
    The sawtooth wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is named a sawtooth based on its resemblance to the teeth on the blade of a saw....

    /ramp wave
  • Sawtooth/Triangle(only in oscillators 1 and 2/ sawtooth wave in oscillator three)
  • square wave
    Square wave
    A square wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform, most typically encountered in electronics and signal processing. An ideal square wave alternates regularly and instantaneously between two levels...

  • two different width pulse wave
    Pulse wave
    A pulse wave or pulse train is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform that is similar to a square wave, but does not have the symmetrical shape associated with a perfect square wave. It is a term common to synthesizer programming, and is a typical waveform available on many synths. The exact shape of...

    s


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 oscillator
    Voltage-controlled oscillator
    A voltage-controlled oscillator or VCO is an electronic oscillator designed to be controlled in oscillation frequency by a voltage input. The frequency of oscillation is varied by the applied DC voltage, while modulating signals may also be fed into the VCO to cause frequency modulation or phase...

    s (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
Voltage-controlled filter
A voltage-controlled filter is a filter whose operating characteristics can be controlled by means of a control voltage applied to one or more inputs...

 (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). 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.

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
Deadband
A deadband is an area of a signal range or band where no action occurs . Deadband is used in voltage regulators and other controllers...

 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

  • 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
    Arturia
    Arturia is a software company located in Grenoble, France and founded in 1999 by Frédéric Brun and Gilles Pommereuil, both INPG-qualified engineers. The company's focus is on the development of electronic music software and tools - primarily emulation of vintage analog synthesizers...

    's VST, the Model E was considered the definitive Minimoog VST.)

Usage

David Borden
David Borden
David Borden is an American composer of minimalist music.In 1969, with the support of Robert Moog, he founded the synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company in Ithaca New York. Mother Mallard performed pieces by Robert Ashley, John Cage, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and...

, an early associate of Moog, has said that the Minimoog "took the synthesizer out of the studio and put it into the concert hall". Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....

 Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...

 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."

Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...

 was the first musician to tour with a Minimoog, in 1970, during Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...

's Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists...

 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
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...

 Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

 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."

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
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...

, the Minimoog remains in high demand with producers and performers of electronic pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

.

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
    Rick Wakeman
    Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

    's albums "The Six Wives of Henry VIII
    The Six Wives of Henry VIII (album)
    The Six Wives of Henry VIII is the debut studio album from the English keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman, released in January 1973 on A&M Records. It is an instrumental progressive rock album with its concept based on his interpretations of the musical characteristics of the six wives of Henry...

    ", "Journey to the Centre of the Earth (album)
    Journey to the Centre of the Earth (album)
    Journey to the Centre of the Earth is the second album from the English keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman, released through A&M Records in May 1974. The album is a live recording from his second of two sold-out concerts on 18 January 1974 at the Royal Festival Hall in London...

    ", "The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
    The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
    The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is the second studio album from the English keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman...

    ", "White Rock" and "No Earthly Connection
    No Earthly Connection
    No Earthly Connection is a 1976 progressive rock concept album by Rick Wakeman. It was recorded in France for tax purposes.The LP record's sleeve attributes the album to Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble...

    " feature great examples of many of the Minimoog's characteristic sounds.
  • Yes
    Yes (band)
    Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...

     - many recordings by Yes are notable for their use of the Minimoog, such as the albums "Close To The Edge
    Close to the Edge (song)
    "Close to the Edge" is the title track to progressive rock band Yes's album of the same name. The song is over 18 minutes in length and takes up the entire first side of the album. It consists of four movements.- Movements :-I...

    " , "Tales from Topographic Oceans
    Tales from Topographic Oceans
    -2003 CD re-issue:A remastered edition was released in 2003, which restored a two-minute ambient section at the beginning of the album's first song. This section was deleted at the last minute before the album was originally pressed...

    ", "Going For The One
    Going for the One
    Going for the One is the eighth studio album from the English progressive rock band Yes, released in 1977 on Atlantic Records. It was produced after an extended break for solo activity from the group, and marks the return of keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who had departed in 1974 after the Tales from...

    ", "Tormato
    Tormato
    Tormato is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock group Yes. Issued as the follow-up to 1977's acclaimed Going for the One, Tormato received less than charitable reviews upon release and its virtues are still a matter of debate for Yes fans and critics...

    " (featuring Rick Wakeman
    Rick Wakeman
    Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

    ), "Relayer
    Relayer
    -Personnel:*Jon Anderson – lead vocals*Steve Howe – acoustic and electric guitars, vocals*Patrick Moraz – keyboards*Chris Squire – bass guitar and vocals*Alan White – drums, percussion-Production:*Produced By Yes & Eddie Offord...

    " (featuring Patrick Moraz
    Patrick Moraz
    Patrick Philippe Moraz is a progressive rock keyboard player. He is best known as the keyboardist for the progressive rock band Yes, from 1974 to 1976, and the Moody Blues from 1978 to 1991...

    ), and "Drama
    Drama (Yes album)
    Drama is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock group Yes. It is the first of two Yes albums without vocalist Jon Anderson. In early 1980, after rehearsing music for the follow-up to the tepidly-received Tormato, both Anderson and Rick Wakeman departed the band over creative and...

    " (featuring Geoff Downes
    Geoff Downes
    Geoffrey "Geoff" Downes is an English rock keyboard player, songwriter, best known as the keyboardist for the bands The Buggles, Yes and Asia, of which he is the only consistent member. When he was a keyboardist for The Buggles, he played multiple keyboards to achieve a New Wave technopop sound...

    ).
  • Radiohead
    Radiohead
    Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

    's 2011 The King Of Limbs
    The King of Limbs
    The King of Limbs is the eighth studio album by English rock band Radiohead, produced by Nigel Godrich. It was self-released on 18 February 2011 as a download in MP3 and WAV formats, followed by physical CD and 12" vinyl releases on 28 March, a wider digital release via AWAL, and a special...

     From the Basement
    From the Basement
    From the Basement is a podcast turned television programme created by music producer and engineer Nigel Godrich that features live performances from various musicians, without a host or audience.-Background:...

     sessions show Jonny Greenwood
    Jonny Greenwood
    Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...

     playing Minimoog on "Lotus Flower" and Thom Yorke
    Thom Yorke
    Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...

    , on "Feral".
  • Edward Van Halen played a Minimoog on Van Halen's
    Van Halen
    Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...

     cover of Martha
    Martha Reeves
    Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and Pop singer and former politician, and was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. During her tenure with The Vandellas, they scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Jimmy Mack", "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run"...

     Martha and the Vandellas'
    Martha and the Vandellas
    Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...

     Motown classic "Dancing in the Street
    Dancing in the Street
    "Dancing in the Street" is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.-Martha and the Vandellas original:...

    ". The song appears on their 1982 album, Diver Down
    Diver Down
    Diver Down is the fifth studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1982. It spent 65 weeks on the US album charts and had, by 1998, sold four million copies in the US.-Background:...

    .
  • Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
    Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company
    Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company, formed in 1969 by David Borden, was the world's first synthesizer ensemble, predating groups like Tonto's Expanding Head Band and Tangerine Dream. David Borden was in close contact with Dr. Robert Moog and was one of the first musicians to use his...

      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)
    Premiata Forneria Marconi
    Premiata Forneria Marconi is an Italian progressive rock band. They were the first Italian group to have success abroad, entering both the British and American charts. Between 1973 and 1977 they released five albums with English lyrics...

     - Impressioni di settembre, the 1971 debut single of this Italian progressive rock
    Progressive rock
    Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

     band uses a Minimoog and was the first Italian hit record to feature a synthesizer.
  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer
    Emerson, Lake & Palmer
    Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...

     - Keith Emerson
    Keith Emerson
    Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...

     used a Minimoog on many Emerson, Lake & Palmer songs such as the basslines for Karn Evil 9 1st Impression.
  • Chicago
    Chicago (band)
    Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...

     uses a Minimoog. It can be heard clearly on "I've Been Searching (So Long)".
  • Uriah Heep
    Uriah Heep
    Uriah Heep is a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his novel David Copperfield.The character is notable for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own "'umbleness". His name has become synonymous with being a yes man...

     prominently used the Minimoog since their album, Magician's Birthday. David Byron
    David Byron
    David Byron -Early Life 1967-1969:From mid-60's to early 70's David Byron did a lot of session work for a company called Avenue Recordings singing lead and backing vocals...

     introduced the instrument as "Moog simplifier" in a foreword to the song Gypsy
    Very 'eavy... Very 'umble
    Very 'eavy... Very 'umble is the debut album of British hard rock band Uriah Heep.It was released in the United States as Uriah Heep with alternate sleeve artwork, and with "Bird of Prey" in place of "Lucy Blues." The album is notable for being rooted more in raunchy blues rock than the band's...

     on Uriah Heep Live
    Uriah Heep Live
    Uriah Heep Live is a 1973 double live album by British rock group Uriah Heep. In addition to a live version of the band's hit "Easy Livin'", the record includes classic live cuts such as "Sweet Lorraine", "Sunrise" and an extended live version of "July Morning"...

    .
  • The album The Zodiac : Cosmic Sounds
    The Zodiac : Cosmic Sounds
    The Zodiac : Cosmic Sounds was a collaborative concept album on the theme of the signs of the Zodiac...

     is claimed to be the first album to feature the moog synthesizer.
  • Jeff Beck
    Jeff Beck
    Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

    's album Wired, on which Jan Hammer
    Jan Hammer
    Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the popular 1980s...

     demonstrates pitch-bending technique using the wheel.
  • Happy The Man
    Happy The Man
    Happy the Man is an American progressive rock band from the 1970s specializing in virtuoso instrumental tracks within complex time signatures.-Early days:...

    's self-titled debut album, on which Kit Watkins
    Kit Watkins
    Kit Watkins is an American progressive-ambient-jazz recording artist based in Brattleboro, Vermont. He was previously a member of the band Happy the Man.-Beginnings:...

     Minimoog performances are featured throughout.
  • Kraftwerk
    Kraftwerk
    Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

    's 1974 album Autobahn
    Autobahn (album)
    Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...

    , which was a revolutionary record in the development of electronic music.
  • Passport
    Klaus Doldinger
    Klaus Doldinger is a German saxophonist, especially well-known for jazz and as a composer of film music. He was the recipient of 1997's Bavarian Film Awards .-Life and work:...

    '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
    Larry Fast
    Lawrence Roger 'Larry' Fast is a synthesizer expert and composer. He is best known for Synergy, his 1975–1987 series of synthesizer music albums, and for his contribution to a number of popular music acts, including Peter Gabriel, Foreigner, and Hall and Oates.- Biography :Fast grew up in...

    's Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra, recorded with a Minimoog, an Oberheim
    Oberheim
    Oberheim Electronics is an American company, founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim , which manufactured audio synthesizers and a variety of other electronic musical instruments.-Oberheim Electronics:...

     expander module controlled by an early Oberheim DS-2 digital sequencer and a Mellotron
    Mellotron
    The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

    . Also, the second album, Sequencer has several Minimoog and Moog 15 modular synthesizer-based compositions.
  • Devo
    Devo
    Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...

     used a Minimoog heavily on their first three albums and early singles, notably on the songs Mongoloid
    Mongoloid (song)
    "Mongoloid" is the first single released by Devo in 1977, on the Booji Boy Records label. It was backed with the song "Jocko Homo." "Mongoloid" also had one of the first music videos made using collage. "Mongoloid" would later be re-recorded by Devo and appeared on the album Q: Are We Not Men? A:...

     and Jocko Homo
    Jocko Homo
    "Jocko Homo" is the B-side to Devo's first single, "Mongoloid," released as a single in 1977 on Devo's own label, Booji Boy Records and later released in the UK on Stiff Records. The song was re-recorded as the feature song for Devo's first album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! on Warner Bros....

    .
  • Gary Numan
    Gary Numan
    Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...

    's 1979 album Replicas
    Replicas (album)
    Replicas is an album by Tubeway Army, released in 1979. It was the second and final Tubeway Army LP, following a self-titled debut the previous year...

    (under the name Tubeway Army
    Tubeway Army
    Tubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...

    ) is essentially built around the Minimoog. His follow-up releases The Pleasure Principle
    The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album)
    The Pleasure Principle is the third studio album, and debut album under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1979...

    (1979) and Telekon
    Telekon
    Released in 1980, Telekon is the fourth studio album, and second album under his own name, by the British musician Gary Numan. It debuted at the top of the UK charts in September 1980, making it his third and consecutive no.1 album....

    (1980) also heavily feature the instrument.
  • Manfred Mann's Earth Band
    Manfred Mann's Earth Band
    Manfred Mann's Earth Band is a British progressive rock group formed in 1971 by Manfred Mann.-Formation:Having started in the 1960s with a British band that had such hits as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "The Mighty Quinn", then moving on to Jazz Fusion with Manfred Mann's Chapter Three, Manfred's third...

     made the Minimoog an integral part of their sound, especially in their mid-1970s recordings. Keyboard player Manfred Mann
    Manfred Mann (musician)
    Manfred Mann is a keyboard player best known as a founding member and namesake of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.-Career:...

     used the pitch control to create a distinctive, plaintive sound.
  • Geddy Lee
    Geddy Lee
    Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...

     of Rush
    Rush (band)
    Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...

     used a Minimoog on several Rush albums, from 1977's A Farewell to Kings
    A Farewell to Kings
    A Farewell to Kings is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1977. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and mixed at Advision Studios in London....

    to 1982's Signals. On the live release Exit...Stage Left
    Exit...Stage Left
    Exit...Stage Left is a live album by Canadian band Rush, released in 1981. A video release with the same name, with slightly different content, was released in 1982 on VHS and later on Laserdisc, and in 2007 on DVD....

    , Lee can be heard manually "tweaking" the dials to produce unusual sounds in the space between songs "The Trees
    The Trees (Rush song)
    "The Trees" is a song by progressive rock band Rush from their 1978 album Hemispheres. The song is also featured on many of Rush's compilation albums and has been a perennial fan favorite of the band's live shows...

    " and "Xanadu".
  • Tony Hymas
    Tony Hymas
    Anthony 'Tony' Hymas is an English keyboard player, pianist, composer and is well known for being a founding member of Ph.D. He is a very versatile musician and contributes in different styles of music....

     used the MiniMoog quite a lot on the Ph.D. album "Is It Safe".
  • Funkadelic
    Funkadelic
    Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...

     and Parliament
    Parliament (band)
    Parliament was a funk band most prominent during the 1970s. It and its sister act Funkadelic, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...

     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
    Japanese people
    The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

     Avant-garde Black Metal
    Black metal
    Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

     band Sigh
    Sigh (band)
    is a Japanese extreme metal band from Tokyo, formed in 1990. They are credited as being one of the first Japanese black metal bands, when the majority of black metal in early 1990s came from Scandinavia. They gradually shifted from a more traditional black/thrash metal sound, to a more...

     make use of the MiniMoog on their 2001 album Imaginary Sonicscape
    Imaginary Sonicscape
    The album was remastered and reissued in 2009 with two bonus tracks: "Voices" and "Born Condemned Criminal," and a longer version of "Bring Back the Dead":-Personnel:...

    , along with many other instruments obscure to Heavy Metal
    Heavy metal music
    Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

    .
  • Portishead often boasted of using a theremin
    Theremin
    The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...

     on the track "Mysterons" off their album Dummy
    Dummy (album)
    Dummy is the debut album of the Bristol-based group Portishead. Released in October 22, 1994 on Go! Discs, the album earned critical acclaim, winning the 1995 Mercury Music Prize. It is often credited with popularizing the trip-hop genre and is frequently cited in lists of the best albums of the...

     but it was actually a Minimoog.
  • Paul Davis
    Paul Davis (singer)
    Paul Lavon Davis was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his radio hits and solo career which started worldwide in 1970. His career encompassed soul, country and pop music...

     Singer/Songwriter Used A Mini-Moog In Many Of His Recordings Most Notable On His 1976 Album Southern Tracks & Fantasies
  • Hot Butter
    Hot Butter
    Hot Butter was an instrumental cover band fronted by the keyboard player Stan Free. The other band members were Dave Mullaney, John Abbott, Bill Jerome, Steve Jerome, and Danny Jordan. They are best known for their 1972 cover of the Moog synthpop instrumental, "Popcorn", originally recorded by its...

     electronica band played their song Popcorn
    Popcorn (instrumental)
    "Popcorn" is an early electronic pop instrumental, originally composed by Gershon Kingsley in 1969 on his album Music to Moog By. The same year this tune was released and recorded at Audio Fidelity Records label in New York City....

     on a vintage minimoog at a surprise appearance at the L.L. Bean in Free Port, Maine.
  • Shooter Jennings
    Shooter Jennings
    Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings is an American singer-songwriter active in the country music and Southern rock genres as well as making his first foray into psychedelic rock in 2009...

     uses a Mini-Moog during live performances after releasing his Synth-filled album Black Ribbons.
  • Phil Collins
    Phil Collins
    Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

    ' Sussudio
    Sussudio
    "Sussudio" is a song by Phil Collins, released as a single in February 1985. The song is also the first track on Collins' third album, No Jacket Required, released in January of the same year. The song entered frequent rotation on MTV in May, and by 6 July, both the single and the album reached...

    features a Minimoog played by keyboard player David Frank
    David Frank
    David Frank is an American music producer, composer, classically trained pianist, and founding member of the 1980s R&B group The System. Yamaha Music calls him "the founding father of electronic R&B." -Early Development:...

    .
  • Eduardo Parra
    Eduardo Parra
    Eduardo Parra is a member of the Chilean rock fusion band Los Jaivas. He is the oldest of the Parra brothers . Eduardo plays the keyboards and some percussion instruments.-Poetry:He wrote several poetry books, including:*La Puerta Giratoria.Ediciones Rivera Scott...

     of Los Jaivas used a Minimoog in the 1977's Album Cancion del Sur, 1981's Alturas de Macchu Picchu, 1982's Aconcagua
    Aconcagua
    Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at . It is located in the Andes mountain range, in the Argentine province of Mendoza and it lies west by north of its capital, the city of Mendoza. The summit is also located about 5 kilometres from San Juan Province and 15 kilometres from the...

     and 1984's Obras de Violeta Parra.
  • Michael Jackson
    Michael Jackson
    Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

    's 1982 album Thriller: The synth basses on "Thriller", "P.Y.T.", and "Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’" were done with Minimoogs.
  • Lemar
    Lemar
    Lemar Obika , professionally known simply as Lemar, is an English recording artist. Obika has had a run of chart success in the UK, Europe and Australia...

    '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.

External links

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