Robert Moog, inventor of the modern synthesiser, died on Sunday of an inoperable brain tumour that was diagnosed in April. He was 71.

Moog’s self-named instrument was invented in 1964. Following a multi-Grammy winning album of Mooged-up Bach pieces four years later, the world went crazy for the Moog, and it was featured on albums by The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Donna Summer and The Who, as well as being integral to the soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange.

Robert Moog was a theremin-loving student studying for a PhD in
engineering physics when he invented the synthesiser, which was originally
marketed as a novelty instrument as it could mimic the sound of ‘real’
instruments.

But, as well as changing music for the better, the Moog also had a
dark side – prog. "The sound defined progressive music as we know it,"
according to Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake And Palmer – a group whose
endless self-indulgent noodlings are the closest music has ever got to
a hate crime.

As popular as the Moog sound became, by the mid 1980’s Robert Moog
was down on his luck. The trademark sound of his instruments had been
cheaply reproduced on digital synthesisers and he had lost control of
his brand name. By 2002, however, he had been able to buy back the
firm’s name and ride the revivalist wave of popularity for his
instrument.

Robert Moog is survived by some fantastically-named people – his wife Ileana, his five children, Laura Moog Lanier,
Matthew Moog, Michelle Moog-Koussa, Renee Moog, and Miranda Richmond;
and the mother of his children, Shirleigh Moog.

Read more:

Robert Moog - The Times

[story by Stuart Heritage]