An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into a power amplifier which drives a loudspeaker, creating the sound heard by the performer and listener.
Robert Arthur Moog was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesizer, which debuted in 1964. In 1970, Moog released a more portable model, the Minimoog, described as the most famous and influential synthesizer in history. Among Moog's honors are a Technical Grammy Award, received in 2002, and an induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Clara Reisenberg Rockmore was a Lithuanian classical violin prodigy and a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument. She was the sister of pianist Nadia Reisenberg.
Perrey and Kingsley was an electronic music duo made up of French composer Jean-Jacques Perrey and German-American composer Gershon Kingsley. The duo lasted from 1965 to 1967 and both are considered pioneers of electronic music. They released under Vanguard Records two studio albums The In Sound From Way Out! and Kaleidoscopic Vibrations. They also were among the first artists to incorporate the Moog synthesizer, prior to the successful 1968 release, Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos.
The Trautonium is an electronic synthesizer invented in 1930 by Friedrich Trautwein in Berlin at the Musikhochschule's music and radio lab, the Rundfunkversuchstelle. Soon afterwards Oskar Sala joined him, continuing development until Sala's death in 2002.
Electronic Sound is the second studio album by English rock musician George Harrison. Released in May 1969, it was the last of two LPs issued on the Beatles' short-lived Zapple record label, a subsidiary of Apple Records that specialised in the avant-garde. The album is an experimental work comprising two lengthy pieces performed on a Moog 3-series synthesizer. It was one of the first electronic music albums by a rock musician, made at a time when the Moog was usually played by dedicated exponents of the technology. Harrison subsequently introduced the Moog to the Beatles' sound, and the band featured synthesizer for the first time on their 1969 album Abbey Road.
Moog Music Inc. is an American synthesizer company based in Asheville, North Carolina. It was founded in 1953 as R. A. Moog Co. by Robert Moog and his father and was renamed Moog Music in 1972. Its early instruments included the Moog synthesizer, followed by the Minimoog in 1970, both of which were highly influential electronic instruments.
Ikutaro Kakehashi, also known by the nickname Taro, was a Japanese engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur. He founded the musical instrument manufacturers Ace Tone, Roland Corporation, and Boss Corporation, and the audiovisual electronics company ATV Corporation.
The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer and established the analog synthesizer concept.
Moog is a 2004 American documentary film by Hans Fjellestad about electronic instrument pioneer Robert Moog. The film features scenes of Moog interacting with various musicians who view him as an influential figure in the history of electronic music.
Donald Buchla was an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesis. Buchla popularized the "West Coast" style of synthesis. He was co-inventor of the voltage controlled modular synthesizer along with Robert Moog, the two working independently in the early 1960s.
Jean Marcel Leroy, better known as Jean-Jacques Perrey, was a French electronic music performer, composer, producer, and promoter. He is considered a pioneer of pop electronica. Perrey partnered with composer-performer Gershon Kingsley to form the electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley, who issued some of the first commercial recordings featuring the Moog synthesizer. Perrey was also one of the first to promote, perform, and record with the Ondioline, developed by Georges Jenny.
Walter Edmond Sear was an American recording engineer, musician, instrument importer and designer, inventor, composer and film producer. He was considered a pioneer in the use of the synthesizer and an expert on vintage recording equipment. Sear ran the Sear Sound recording studio in Hell's Kitchen, known for its vast collection of vintage analog recording equipment and patronized by artists including Steely Dan, Sonic Youth, David Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, Paul McCartney and Patti Smith.
A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI.
The TEC Awards is an annual program recognizing the achievements of audio professionals. The awards are given to honor technically innovative products as well as companies and individuals who have excelled in sound for television, film, recordings, and concerts. TEC is an acronym for Technical Excellence and Creativity.
Shueh-li Ong is an Australian born composer, producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist residing in the United States since 2005.
Moogfest is a music and technology festival held annually or bi-annually in Durham, North Carolina, that honors engineer Robert Moog and his musical inventions.
The NAMM Oral History Program is an oral history project and archive of recordings of interviews with people from all aspects of the music products industry, including music instrument retailers, musical instrument and product creators, suppliers and sales representatives, music educators and advocates, publishers, live sound and recording pioneers, innovators, founders, and musicians.
Albert Glinsky is an American composer and author. His music has been performed internationally by soloists, ensembles, and dance companies. His book, Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage won the 2001 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, and is regarded as the standard work on the life of Leon Theremin. In 2009 Glinsky was invited by the family of synthesizer pioneer, Bob Moog, to create Moog's biography. Switched On: Bob Moog and the Synthesizer Revolution, with a Foreword by Francis Ford Coppola, was released by Oxford University Press on September 23, 2022.
Switched-On Rock is an album by the Moog Machine, released in 1969 on Columbia Records. It comprises instrumental covers of popular songs from the 1960s, performed on the Moog synthesizer. It was one of a spate of albums capitalizing on the success of Switched-On Bach (1968), an album of Bach pieces performed on the Moog by Wendy Carlos.
