Zoë Blade's notebook

Minimoog

I got into a set routine [demonstrating the 900 Series]. I would always use the same patching and I would always use the same settings. I would always play the same and so forth... and I got to thinking that I would like to have something like that just to tinker with on my own... something to play with.

— Bill Hemsath, Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer, 2002[1]

Minimoog tech specs

  • Released: 1970[2][1]
  • Company: Moog
  • Type: Monophonic synthesiser
  • Polyphony: Monophonic
  • Timbrality: Monotimbral
  • Control: 1V/Oct CV & S-trig gate (later 1.02V/Oct)[3]

The Minimoog was a monophonic synthesiser released by Moog in 1970.

It's a cut-down, hardwired synthesiser based on their 900 Series modules. As such, it made the big Moog sound portable and simpler to use.

It was invented by several of Moog's employees, chiefly Bill Hemsath and Jim Scott. Hemsath scavenged parts on his lunch breaks, cobbling together the first prototype out of the broken modules strewn about the company's attic.[1][4]

This design got rid of the 900 Series's intimidating wall of modules, connected via loosely strung patch cables and resembling a phone switchboard, along with the equally intimidating price tag. The resulting product, the portable Minimoog, was the first all-in-one synthesiser that combined everything in a simple, neat little package. Everything was hardwired, with no patch cables in sight.

It seems Bob Moog himself wasn't initially very excited about the Minimoog, as its hardwired nature was inherently limiting.[1][4] Personally, I also value expressive sound design over portability, but then I'm more of a composer and producer than an actual musician, and I don't tour.

I can see why, for most music makers, the Minimoog is a better option than the 900 Series modulars, even if it's less versatile. (And I must confess I use my 900 Series clone simply for the same old three-oscillator basslines far more often than I'd care to admit.) Few bands would care to lug a sprawling 900 Series modular on stage every night.

Despite coming out a year after the sequencer complement, the Minimoog still rather stubbornly uses a Cinch-Jones S-trig input, rather than a more modern ¼" TS phone jack V-trig input. Still, it's nice that it has external CV and gate inputs at all. Most musicians are content to play on its built-in keyboard, a feature copied to the point that the words "synthesiser" and "keyboard" are now seen as almost synonymous.

The Minimoog introduced several innovative new features that have since become easy to take for granted. The Model A ditched all the cables and affixed the keyboard directly to the synthesiser itself. The Model B replaced the discrete modules with a single integrated panel. The Model C added pitchbend and mod sliders, which the Model D replaced with pitchbend and mod wheels, introducing these now-ubiquitous controllers to the world.

The Minimoog, 2600, and VCS3 were all demoed at the exact same convention.[1] Shrinking down synthesisers was an idea whose time had come. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the company which had created the most iconic modular synthesiser had leapfrogged its competition to make a synthesiser that wasn't merely semi-modular but fully hardwired.

Quotes

Such a good machine. The sounds are so meaty and strong.

— Liam Howlett, The Prodigy, 1993[5]

Notable users

References

  1. Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer Trevor Pinch & Frank Trocco, 2002, ISBN 0-674-01617-3, pp. 214—236
  2. "Total recall" Peter Forrest, The Mix, May 1995, pp. 159—160
  3. "Understanding CV, Gate, and Trigger Compatibility" CZ Rider, Jun 2015
  4. "Moog said, 'We're not going to do anything like that.'" Switched On: Bob Moog and the Synthesiser Revolution Albert Glinsky, 2022, ISBN 978-0-19-764207-8, pp. 192—196
  5. "Prodigious Talent" David Robinson, Future Music, Feb 1993, pp. 31—34
  6. Moon Safari Air, 1998, p. 10
  7. "Another Chapter In The Story..." Paul Wiffen, Electronics & Music Maker, Apr 1985, pp. 46—48
  8. "[Unknown]" 1975
  9. The Sound of the Machine: My Life in Kraftwerk and Beyond Karl Bartos, 2023, ISBN 978-1-915841-19-3, p. 114
  10. "Advance Guard" Simon Trask, Future Music, Jan 1995, pp. 46—48
  11. "Ambient Techno: Pete Namlook, Mixmaster Morris, Scanner & David Toop" Mark Prendergast, Sound On Sound, Mar 1995
  12. "Nine Inch Nails" Robert Doerschuk, Keyboard, Apr 1990
  13. "Trent Reznor" Greg Rule, Keyboard, Mar 1994, pp. 88—94
  14. "Nine Inch Nails Synths" Charlie Clouser, Gear Space, Apr 2011
  15. "Classic Tracks: Nine Inch Nails 'Closer'" Richard Buskin, Sound On Sound, Sep 2012
  16. "Gary Numan" Dan Goldstein, Electronics & Music Maker, Dec 1983, pp. 16—20
  17. Pink Floyd: Song by Song Andrew Wild, 2017, ISBN 978-1-78155-599-6, pp. 75, 79, 81—85, 89, 90, 94
  18. "Sun Ra came to our shop in the early '70s. We built two Minimoogs for him. One of them was a very early prototype!" "An Interview With Bob Moog" 2000

Retrospectives

Modifications

Hardwired synthesisers: CZ-101 | Juno-6 | Juno-106 | MS-1 | Minimoog | Model D | Polivoks | RS-101 | RS-202 | SH-101 | Solina String Ensemble | String Ensemble | TB-303 | VC340 | VP-330

Monophonic synthesisers: MS-1 | Minimoog | Model D | SH-101 | TB-303

Moog: 900 Series (Moog) | Bob Moog | Bode Frequency Shifter | Minimoog | Sequencer Complement | The evolution of the 900 Series