The Theremin brought them together.
""As it happened, “I had built a theremin in 1962 based on Bob Moog’s design,” Mr. Deutsch explained. They struck up a conversation, and Mr. Deutsch invited his new acquaintance to an avant-garde concert in Lower Manhattan...""
A little bit of the history that followed is covered in this NY Times article about the meeting and early days of Deutsch and Moog, it's promoting the latest installment in IMAC's "Long Island's Own Local Artist Series" featuring their music and instruments at the Inter-Media Art Center, June 29 2007, Huntington NY.
Making Musical History: Herb Deutsch and Robert Moog.
By Karen Lipson
NY Times June 17, 2007
There's also a good history of the early Moog Synthesizer at Sound on Sound "Dr Robert & His Modular Moogs, 1964-1981"
"Herb Deutsch: Celebrating the Music of the Moog Synthesizer” will be presented June 29 at 8 p.m. at the Inter-Media Art Center, 370 New York Avenue, Huntington.
Information: www.imactheater.org or (631) 549-2787.
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The later synthesizers, such as the Aries, are extremely stable -- they used more chips and less discrete transistors. A modular synth becomes a very personal thing in that, in most cases, one specifies the modules that one wants.
What I remember the most about the late 60s was the notion that a Moog Synthesizer could make ANY SOUND -- this was a popular mis-conception. In fact, the Moog pallete has its own capabilities and limitations.
The article mentions that Moog was a VP at Kurzweil Systems. As I've explored the V.A.S.T programming system of the Kurzweil, I've found the influence of modular synthesis. Besides the great sounds, the Kurzweil V.A.S.T. system is more intuitive, say, than the VZ1 keyboard's programming (it uses Interactive Phase Distortion Technology).
Back to modular synthesis -- one of the advantages of modular synthesis, besides the flexibility, is that programming/exploring sounds can be quite spontaneous compared to digital menus.
The article is very entertaining -- brings back memories -- and certainly provides inspiration to spend time with my own synths!
[i]-- Kevin[/i]
An Electronics World article,
a Theremin,
and a thou...
Not at tasty as a loaf of bread and a jug of wine perhaps, but that seminal combo changed history.
""
One of the most radical shifts in music began in 1961 with a hobbyist magazine article on how to build a theremin and a jazz musician from Baldwin named Herbert Deutsch.
The theremin, an electronic device that generates sound using radio frequencies, had been around for a while, but Deutsch found the Electronics World article interesting enough to pick up the issue and follow the instructions. When he couldn't get his gizmo to work, he phoned the article's author, an engineer, who gladly mailed out an easy-to-assemble kit for $49.95.
""
More of the story from NewsDay
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-ffmus5263790jun24,0,5582243.story?track=rss