Moog needs better demos

[MFenkner]

Sorry, I've posted three consecutive threads; I'm just excited about receiving my new Moog E1.

One thing I've noticed is that the demos for the guitar have been mediocre. Based on the demos alone, I would have never bought one - but I understand the potential of the guitar.

For me, I see the greatest value of the infinite sustain to be in more experimental or ambient music. There are several musicians who already use sustain technologies and would have a field-day with the Moog guitar. The first, and best, that comes to mind is Michael Brook. He invented the "Infinite Guitar", but naively didn't patent it; later the Sustainer and Sustainiac copied his idea. He uses the technology to great effect and I could only image what he could do with a Moog guitar. If you want to see a great demo, he'd be the man to talk to.

Mark

[Sweep]

I agree with this.

I've not yet heard a demo that makes me really interested in this guitar, though I expect it could do great things in the right hands.

I remember hearing about Michael Brook and his guitar design many years ago, though I never heard his music. (Thanks for reminding me. I'll try to check him out now.) He does sound like an appropriate person to consider on the basis of what he's done, though. But certainly someone with real skills and originality is needed.

I think making demos is a complex area. Having made some demos for XILS and having done some other demo work off my own bat I'm aware that people look for different things in a demo, and a single demo may have to do several things. One approach is to do several demos of specific things - leads, pads, chords, filter sweeps and other sounds in isolation. Another is to make a piece of music. I prefer the latter approach as an instrument is first and foremost for making music and not just for making sounds, but I think both approaches are needed to cover the wider range of potential buyers.

I bought a Voyager because I was already familiar with Moog sounds in music I loved, and it seemed likely from the spec that the Voyager would sound sufficiently similar. Despite different views on the similarity/difference with Voyager and MiniMoog it's close enough for me, and in fact several years down the line I'd rather have my Voyager than a Model D Mini. But with a new instrument like the Moog guitar there isn't the music available yet, and it also seems to be the case that really good musicians don't make the kind of money they made in the 70s, so the chances of someone really creative buying a Moog guitar are a lot lower than of someone creative buying a MiniMoog in the 70s.

So yes, loan/give one to someone like Michael Brook - or Bob Fripp, or Steve Hillage - or find someone less well known but with the ability to do something new and startling with this instrument. It'd definitely help.

[EricK]

I actually saw this demo posted, and I posted a link to it in this forum...the title of the post was Moog Guitar Clinic. You might can find it in a search.

It was the best demo that I have seen of the guitar...ruined only because this idiot that visited the factory started trying to convince Jason D (the Moog employee demonstrating the guitar) through "dowsing" (of all ridiculous fraudulant claims) that the energy from the Vo Pickups was detrimental.

EricK

[Sweep]

Thanks. That was definitely much more valuable than the other examples I've seen of this guitar being used. It gives a lot more idea of how it could be used musically, and how it would compare with other sustaining guitars.

Regarding the dowsing part - I'm not interested in any kind of argument about this, but I used to work for a water company and it's known that in skilled and sensible hands dowsing can detect both the line and the depth of a water main. I've known people who've found dowsing to work when water company plans have been wrong and more orthodox tracing methods have failed.

Other kinds of detection are also possible, but there are quite a few cranks around as well as well-meaning but vague people, and this tends to cloud people's judgment of the whole area. The same seems to be historically the case with magnetism, electrictity and so on.

I don't know why this person thought the field he appeared to detect was detrimental. It would be interesting in the first instance to see whether his findings on the location of the field can be verified by other means - for example whether his measure of the limits of the field coincides with the magnetic field generated by the guitar. Before that, dowsing would need to be done with a non-metal object to see if the field was detectable that way, and isn't simply the result of using a metal object to detect a magnetic field. In other words, some hard thinking and clear-headed testing would need to be done. Having tried dowsing myself and having encountered respectable uses of it, I'm not inclined to dismiss it. But of course simply swallowing everything whole without proper examination isn't a good idea either.

[mugwump]

Check my links to audio and video here:

http://www.moogmusic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9899

Jeff