Minimoog

In the 1960s, R.A. Moog Co. manufactured Moog synthesizers, which expanded the popularity of electronic music but remained inaccessible to most. These were difficult to use and required users to connect components manually with patch cables to create sounds. They were also sensitive to temperature and humidity, and cost tens of thousands of dollars. Most were owned by universities or record labels, and used to create soundtracks or jingles; by 1970, only 28 were owned by musicians. The Minimoog also was the first synthesizer to feature a pitch wheel, which allows players to bend notes as a guitarist or saxophonist does, allowing for more expressive playing. Moog's associate David Borden felt that Moog would have become extremely wealthy had he patented the pitch wheel. == Release ==

Moog Co released the first Minimoog in 1970. Moog said it was conceived as a portable tool for session musicians, and the team expected to sell "maybe 100 of them". Moog became acquainted with the former evangelist and musician David Van Koevering, who was so impressed with the Minimoog that he began demonstrating it to musicians and music stores. Van Koevering's friend Glen Bell, founder of the restaurant chain Taco Bell, allowed him to use a building on a private island Bell owned in Florida. There, Van Koevering hosted an event he billed as Island of Electronicus, a "pseudo-psychedelic experience that brought counterculture (minus the drugs) to straight families and connected it with the sound of the Minimoog". The 204E added pulse width modulation and MIDI to the Model D specification. In 2002, Robert Moog reacquired the rights to the Moog name and bought the company. In 2002, Moog Co released the Minimoog Voyager, an updated version of the Minimoog that sold more than 14,000 units, more than the original Minimoog. Production ended around August 2017, after a little under a year. In 2018, Moog Music released the Minimoog Model D app for iOS. In 2022, after being out of production for over five years, the Model D was reissued a third time, with new features such as a spring-loaded pitch-bend wheel and updated MIDI specification. == Impact ==

According to TJ Pinch, author of Analog Days, the Minimoog was the first synthesizer to become a "classic". According to David McNamee of The Guardian, "Tweaked now so that the synthesizer could reliably perform as either a melodic lead or propulsive bass instrument (rather than just as a complex sound-generating machine), the Minimoog changed everything ... the Moogs oozed character. Their sound could be quirky, kitsch and cute, or pulverising, but it was always identifiable as Moog." The Minimoog changed the dynamics of rock bands. For the first time, keyboardists could play solos in the style of lead guitarists, or play synthesized basslines. The Minimoog took a place in mainstream black music, most notably in the work of Stevie Wonder. In 2012, to celebrate Bob Moog's birthday, Google created an interactive Minimoog-inspired web application as its Google Doodle. In 2017, Roland released the SE-02, a compact synthesizer modeled on the Minimoog, as part of their Boutique series. ==See also==