Time machine – Exploring the Moog Taurus 1
A voyage into the heart of the Moog Taurus 1 bass pedal from the year 1976.
Exploration by Marko Ettlich (RetroSound)
analog bass pedal
2 VCOs, VCF, VCA
three basic preset sounds: Taurus, Bass, Tuba + Variable Sound
used by Genesis, The Police, Pink Floyd, Marillion, Saga, Jarre, Yes and many more
Inspired by organ pedal boards, Moog released the Taurus Pedal Synthesizer – a monophonic analog bass synthesizer you play with your feet (so you can play other instruments with your hands). Originally, the Taurus was going to be part of a larger ensemble system called the Constellation. It was to include two keyboard synthesizers, the Apollo (polyphonic) and the Lyra (monophonic), and the Taurus foot pedalboard synthesizer. The Constellation project never made it to production, but the Taurus was released on its own, while the Apollo keyboard went on to evolve in to the Polymoog.
The Taurus has three Preset sounds and one User programmable. The three preset sounds are Bass, Tuba and Taurus. Most users prefer the Variable preset which lets them synthesize their own sounds using the simple VCO, VCF and VCA controls. The shaping controls are hidden behind a plastic window to prevent accidental foot tweaking.
The Taurus is monophonic, with sound generation coming from a simple two-oscillator design that can be tuned across a 5-octave range. An Octave button lets you shift the pedal keyboard up or down an octave, the direction must be set using the Octave switch in the Variables section. There’s also a Glide (portamento) effect and a Decay effect. The amount of Glide and Decay are also set in the Variables section. Like any Moog, there is a 24 dB/oct lowpass filter with controls for Emphasis, Contour Amount/Attack/Decay and Cut-Off. Two gigantic foot-sliders flank the sides of the Taurus and they are used to adjust the Filter cut-off and VCA Loudness on the fly using your feet.
Moog Factory Tour: Moog Slim Phatty, Little Phatty, and Moog Guitar
Going behind the scenes of the Moog factory to look at the Moog Slim Phatty, the Moog Little Phatty, and the Moog Guitar.
Kurt Weill’s LOST IN THE STARS played on theremin by Rob Schwimmer
This video captures a performance, by Rob Schwimmer, of Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars.
Schwimmer uses a Moog Etherwave Theremin, played through an Electro Harmonix Talking Machine, inspired by Peter Pringle’s virtuosic performance of Puccini’s Nessun Dorma.
Schwimmer has worked with a wide range of artists, ranging from Antonio Carlos Jobim to Laurie Anderson to Stevie Wonder.
“Kurt Weill’s beautiful song played on the Moog Etherwave theremin. I used the Electro Harmonix Talking Machine (a great combination discovered by thereminist Peter Pringle) for the voice… Inspired by Judy Garland’s crazed rendition from her TV show and dedicated to Mary Cleere Haran.”
Moogerfooger ClusterFlux fbk playing
Moog Moogerfooger Cluster Flux MF-108M, with feedback at maximum, can be “played” from MIDI Notes On/Off. In this video, the sound source is, as usual, the Acidlab.de MIAMI Analog Drum Machine; the frequency/time of MF-108M is played with Novation SL25 MkII MIDI master keyboard.
Shooted with an iPhone, audio in glorious mono.
The clock frequency of Moog Moogerfooger MF-104M analog BBD delay can be severely down scaled from external MIDI control. So, you can use the MF-104M as a grunge/glitch/hack/drone machine on every audio source. On this (dirty and short and easy) video bits, MF-104M is munching the Acidlab MIAMI analog drum machine.
BENT: The Google Moog Mini-Doc
Get free tracks from Carl Craig, El-P, Divine Fits and Exitmusic: http://goo.gl/DkYIB
Watch performances from the Moog Sound Lab: http://moogfest.com/
In May of 2012, Google turned its homepage over to Moog, creating a playable version of one of their synthesizers. The synth “Doodle” was used by over 300 million users, and brought a new level of attention to the Asheville, N.C.-based company. Acknowledging this, Moog, as part of their 3rd Annual Circuit Bending Contest held during the Moogfest music event, called for enthusiasts and benders to create a sampler and use the Google Moog Doodle as the basis for it’s sounds. The winning sampler was unlike anything we’d ever seen, and we contacted some of our favorite musicians, including Detroit techno pioneer Carl Craig and hip-hop icon El-P, to create or rework songs using this new tool. The resulting tracks and documentary chronicle the dynamic relationship between technology and music, and how each field pushes the other in unpredictable and amazing directions.
Subscribe to the Google Play YouTube channel: http://goo.gl/UX1U4
Mickey Hart plays Animoog
The Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, who visited the Moog Factory on April 19, 2012 to test the development of the Grateful Dead Expansion Pack exclaimed, “Holy transmogrifica-tion, Batman… Amazing!” after hearing the Grateful Dead’s 44-year-old recordings trans-formed into sound design tools for artists.
The Grateful Dead Expansion Pack comes on the heels of Moog’s release of Animoog V2 on December 21, 2012. Animoog V2 is free for existing Animoog users. It includes many user requested features and product enhancements, such as: accelerometer integration which gives Animoog owners the ability to tilt their iPad in any direction as an interactive 3D modulation source; note hold and scale lock, and tools for advanced users like, Load/Save MIDI CC maps, Audiocopy/Audiopaste integration and support for the new Audiobus platform. Also, as a holiday gift, Animoog V2 features a powerful 4 Track Recorder, which gives Animoog users the ability to record audio from within Animoog or import audio tracks directly from their iTunes library. Users can then split, loop, copy, paste, and share individual clips, or mix down entire songs and upload them directly to SoundCloud, all from within the Animoog’s universe. This 4 Track Re-corder will be free to existing users until Dec. 31, 2012 at which time it will revert to it’s regular price of $4.99 in the Animoog Store.
Learn more about Animoog here:
http://www.moogmusic.com/animoog
Time machine: Moog Polymoog 203a Vintage Analog Synth From 1976
Moog Polymoog 203a Vintage Analog Synthesizer 1976-77-78
using it’s 3 outputs into mixer. 1. Direct. 2.VCF. 3 Resonators. with a
Roland CR 68 drum machine played both live into tascam dp-01fx/cd 2 tracked.
The Polymoog is a preset-based and fully polyphonic synthesizer released in 1975. The eight preset sounds consist of strings, piano, organ, harpsichord, funk, clavi, vibes, and brass. Though it may not sound as good as other analog poly-synths of the time (from ARP and Siel) the Polymoog was still a popular instrument because of a great new keyboard and the ability to edit the presets into unique and wild analog sounds. There’s a genuine Moog filter in there with modulation, keyboard tracking and lots of LFO modulation sources. The full sized 71-note touch-sensitive keyboard can be split into three sections, each with independent volume sliders. There is a 3-band EQ, sample-and-hold, and a full set of envelope controls. What you won’t find, however, is patch memory–well, there’s one programmable preset, but there’s certainly no MIDI control!
Herbie Hancock – Bob Moog’s Influence
Herbie Hancock talks about how Bob influenced his life and how his work has influenced the greater worlds of music, science and creativity. Bob Moog’s legacy is carried forward by the Bob Moog Foundation.
To support our work, please donate: http://bit.ly/donatebmf
Checking out the new version of Animoog (V2)
Moog Music has updated their Animoog app to version 2.0. This major update to the iOS synthesizer is free for existing Animoog users and includes many user requested features and product enhancements, including: accelerometer integration which gives Animoog owners the ability to tilt their iPad in any direction as an interactive 3D modulation source; note hold and scale lock, and tools for advanced users like, Load/Save MIDI CC maps, Audiocopy/Audiopaste integration and support for the new Audiobus platform.
“Also, as a holiday gift, Animoog V2 features apowerful 4 Track Recorder, which gives Animoog users the ability to record audio from within Animoog or import audio tracks directly from their iTunes library. Users can then split, loop, copy, paste, and share individual clips, or mix down entire songs and upload them directly to SoundCloud, all from within the Animoog’s universe.” – moogmusic.com
For more info: moogmusic.com/news/animoog-v2-4-track
Michael Wagener: Moog Ladder
Legendary Producer/Engineer Michael Wagener sat down with us at Wireworld Studios outside of Nasheville, TN to talk about his experience with The Ladder 500 Series module and demonstrate a variety of ways he’s using it on guitars, kick drum, room mics and floor tom.
Learn more about the Ladder and Moog’s entire family of 500 series products at:
and hear more sound samples from The Ladder at;
http://www.moogmusic.com/products/500-series/500-series-ladder-filter#sound-tab
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