At 7 PM, Dr. Herb Deutsch (Hofstra University) will discuss his serendipitous 1964 encounter with Dr. Moog, and their collaboration which launched the development of the Moog synthesizer.
Following Dr. Deutsch, composer, professor and MacArthur Fellow, Dr. John Eaton, will discuss his 10-year project with Bob Moog to develop the Eaton-Moog Multi-Touch Sensitive (MTS) keyboard on which each key is equipped with sensors that detect the three-dimensional position of the performer’s finger.
Both guests will perform selections from their composition repertoire. Additionally, the only working MTS keyboard in the world (on loan from the New Jersey Institute of Technology) will be demonstrated by Dr. Eaton.
This is an extremely rare opportunity to see the only two MTS keyboards in existence (the prototype and the working model) as well as interact with two composers/musicians who are central to the Moog legacy.
Tickets are $10; $7 for Museum members and students. For tickets, please call (760) 438-5996 or purchase tickets online.
Man, that MTS keyboard would make a sweet midi controller… It’d be like having a Voyager touch pad under every key. Why not include polyphonic aftertouch while we’re at it New product idea, Amos??
That would be a really cool lecture to attend. Wish I could go…
The talks were great, it was REALLY cool to see Herb soloing on the Minimoog - he’s quite creative and adept. Ought to be, as THE Longest Moog synth owner! John Eaton also played some on the MTS and showed video of it in it’s prime. As he said, it’s VERY hard to play with that kind of control. Many people still have problems hitting the right key, much less your placement from L/R or front/back! The potential is there, but it’s not a product that would make anyone money - too expensive.
I can certainly see it being too expensive, but i think it would be beside the point to worry about proper orientation. I think it would be great to have just to be able to bring in some random behaviour to one’s playing. Even just front/back orientation would be cool. Assign one axis to filter cutoff, and another axis to the pitch of a sync’ed oscillator. How cool would THAT be?
New product idea, Amos??