Synthesizer (Moog)
Sintetizador (Moog)
- Date
- 1964 · confidence high
- Place
- R. A. Moog Co., Trumansburg, New York, United States
- Credited to
- Robert Moog
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Moog packaged voltage-controlled oscillators, filters and envelopes into compact modules, replacing lab-scale synthesizers like the RCA Mark II (1957), which were huge and programmed with punch cards. His modular synthesizer, sold from 1964, was the first built for working musicians.
Moog did not invent the electronic synthesizer outright (the RCA Mark II came earlier), but the voltage-controlled module that made it practical and affordable.
What it led to
- Standardization of voltage control in electronic music
- The Minimoog (1970), the first self-contained synthesizer sold in stores
- New musical genres built around electronic sound