VIRTUAL MOOG SESSION
Relive the legends with our guide to software recreations
The most famous name in synthesisers is still making waves. Let’s examine the brand’s most important instruments, and
how to get Bob’s iconic sounds in software
To many, the name Moog is synonymous with the synthesiser. To musicians and makers of musical instruments, it’s something of a sonic holy grail – an impossibly high standard that, to some pundits, will never be matched.
Why are Moog’s instruments so highly regarded? It could simply be that they were there first – at least in the public’s eye. Bob Moog’s modular synthesiser was indeed the first to reach international attention, thanks in no small part to the phenomenal success of Wendy Carlos’ seminal 1968 LP Switched On Bach, an album that imprinted the Moog name into our collective cultural consciousness. A legion of exploitative knockoff novelty albums followed, increasing the public’s awareness of the brand. Moog’s instruments were, for a
time, positively trendy. Moog was the name to drop by big acts such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
And yet, beneath the novelty, there was the undeniable quality of Moog’s circuitry. Bob Moog himself was a musician, and his circuits were designed to interact in a way that was musically pleasing and inspiring to play. His oscillators sounded rich and full – even the simplest waveforms had a definable character. And that filter! Moog’s patented 24dB filter was based on then-new transistor technology and set the bar very high indeed for every instrument manufacturer who followed. Once the fad for modular synths had passed, Moog hit yet another home run with the Minimoog, arguably the first truly portable synthesiser. A massive success, the Minimoog’s elegant layout would become the template for every hardwired synth thereafter. Over the next few pages, we’re going to take a deeper look at these groundbreaking instruments, and explore their legacy in the form of virtual emulations, recreating some of the most famous Moog sounds along the way. So fire up those oscillators and open up those filters – it’s time to get legendary!