Synthesizer innovator Robert A. Moog dies at 71
August 23, 2005
Robert A. Moog, the "father of the syntheziser" died Sunday at his home in Asheville. According to family sources, he had suffered from an inoperable brain tumor, detected in April, 2005.
Moog, a Ph.D. student in engineering physics at Cornell University, developed his first voltage-controlled synthesizer modules with composer Herbert Deutsch in 1964. By the end of 1964, he established his new company called R.A. Moog Co. which marketed the very first commercially available music modular synthesizer systems. The arrival of the synthesizer allowed musicians to generate a wide range of sounds that could mimic natural musical instruments or create otherworldly unnatural instruments that could express the creativity of the synthesis art form.
In 1971-72, The Telemann Society of New York published the first available recording of a Moog Synthesizer in a chamber music setting with traditional instruments in a recording called "Baroque in Bits". The recording is scheduled for re-release this Fall on audio compact disc. Contact The Telemann Society for more details.
Bob Moog, our friend and collaborator, will be sorely missed. We send our condolences to his family.