Tell us about yourself....

In a Moog Mood? Here's a forum for discussion of general Moog topics.
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Portamental
Posts: 888
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:53 am

Post by Portamental » Wed May 13, 2009 11:24 am

Hi everyone. My name is Réal. My story goes like this:

I had a couple of years of classical piano as a kid. As a teenager, I got hooked by the music of Jethro Tull, got a flute, played some for a while, but that was just a trip, I was never all that motivated at that age.

Although I never played much instruments (besides the above, which almost does not count), music was always a great part of my life. I was a rock DJ for 12 years. I also had the immense opportunity to brush shoulders with many many of the greats of the rock/progressive scene of the late 70's, being a photographer for a local Rock newspaper, with backstage passes for all the shows. A few of my pictures got awarded, and I used to make album covers and posters for local bands trying to make it big.

I was a professional photographer for fifteen years of so, recycling myself into computer programming when photography went tough business wise. But work is accessory to the good life I think.

Although there are lots of great music (and musicians) out there, I was always focused mainly on Keith Emerson's music, the Moog sound, and acoustic Jethro Tull, both of which I saw live a countless number of times. Honorable mentions here go to : Gentle Giant, PFM, Happy the man and Triumvirat (which I am getting to play quite nicely). Oh yeah, forgot to mention Zappa.

Last fall, I walked into a music store, thinking about giving my young son the gift of music, bought a small Yamaha keyboard. The son didn't catch on all this much, but dad was hooked. That's probably my only regret in life : why didn't I do that earlier? A little bit awkward when I think I have been playing keyboard hero in my head for some 35 years.

If last fall was synth season for me, late winter and spring were guitar seasons. Now that I got all this stuff, i don't let it collect dust. There are very few minutes in a day where I don't practice an instrument. I don't consider myself particularly gifted, but luckily, i don't totally stink either. Keyboards come more naturally to me than guitars, where i find myself struggling to keep pace, but I have been at it only a few months, and my progresses are quite good my guitar teacher tells me.

I don't have any performing goals, the most important thing is I am having a ball. But there are three dreams I cherish :

1- Find myself a (mint if at all possible) Minimoog Model D
2- Make my own homebrew interpretation and recording of KE's Abaddon's bolero.
3- Play acoustic Tull on guitar. I already play Nursie quite well :)

That's it, in a nutshell.

_______________________________________
LP StageII/CP251/DS Mopho/Nord Rack2x/Alesis Micron/Blofeld/SH201/Kurzweil K2500X/Guild guitars/Epiphone LP-SG/Fender Geddy Lee Jazzbass/Dean Edge 6 bass

musiclovr89
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:44 pm

Post by musiclovr89 » Mon May 18, 2009 1:00 pm

hey everyone...just wanted to say hello! i love love love music so if anyone has any suggestions of good music i should listen to, im all ears!

calaverasgrande
Posts: 118
Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 3:43 pm
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Post by calaverasgrande » Mon May 18, 2009 1:38 pm

Hugo Montenegro, Mort Subotnick, Sixteens, and of course Wendy/Walter Carlos.
Taurus III, Digitone, Dark Energy, OB6, MG1, Grandmother, Blofeld

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JohnLRice
Posts: 386
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:23 am
Location: Western WA USA
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Post by JohnLRice » Tue May 19, 2009 1:19 am

Welcome to all the new guys from a mostly new guy! ;-)
John L Rice
MiniMoog, MinitMoog, MG-1, Sub Phatty, 5U modulars, Eurorack modulars

Anna's Digit
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:53 am
Location: Auckland

Post by Anna's Digit » Tue May 19, 2009 7:41 am

musiclovr89 wrote:hey everyone...just wanted to say hello! i love love love music so if anyone has any suggestions of good music i should listen to, im all ears!
PLUXUS (their older albums)they kick Kraftwerk's ass back and forward
Who 'em i ? who are you ?
Born in 1987 .
http://www.myspace.com/donteatdinosaurs (8bit/lo-fi proyect)

Anna's Digit
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:53 am
Location: Auckland

Post by Anna's Digit » Tue May 19, 2009 7:51 am

Just Me wrote:I might as well get in on this. I'm in my 50's and have listened to weird and off the wall stuff my entire life. I've lived in Chicago, L.A. and Phx for long periods and been all over the rest of the country. In 1974/5 along with 2 friends, built a modular synth from plans in Radio Electronics magazine. We used to fight over who could play it and who could make the coolest sounds! In the 77-8 I Moved to Chicago and worked at a music store in Wauconda and started collecting old guitars. The music store in Barrington got an ARP2600 in and I went and played it and was hooked. I could not afford it. (was over $3000 if I remember right) I ended up with a minikorg 700 at the time. Started selling guitars. (Gibson double neck, Rick 2002 bass, Les Paul Studio, Martin Acoustic and Gibson mandolin) Bought a Model D (used). Soon after managed to pick up a used Mellotron. Hauled these around for a few years until rent became more important. Moved back to AZ and part timed in Scottsdale working on amps, keys and mixers in a repair shop. Then, in the mid 80's when digital was becoming king and people were dumping their analog mono synths I was able to buy 2 ARP 2600's for under $300 each! I also picked up my first B3 at the time from a music auction. Started playing with samplers and digital stuff then also and the collection went through a Memorymoog (Zon Vern Pyles bought my Memorymoog and one of the 2600's back then. We worked at competing music stores but were friends, anyway!) Ensoniq Mirage, ESQ-1 and SQD-80, Sequential Multitrack, Tom and Pro-1 and an Octave Cat. (all sold, some missed) Can you tell what brands my music store carried??
Quit playing for a number of years and started to get the itch again about 10 years ago. A couple local music stores used to help me 'hunt dinosaurs' and I was able to pick up the ARPs I now have for no more than $25 each! I think I paid around 200 for the JX-3P/MKS-20 setup. Bought the PX-800 from a store going out of business for .25 on the dollar, found a couple Hammonds on Craigslist and got a smoking deal on the Signature on eBay.
During all this time, I've played bass, run sound, done engineering for a few somewhat known bands. (And there have been a bunch more guitars and basses through the door.)
I've always been a better technologist than player and because of that, am building my own analog studio. I want to be able to put all these machines together and don't have Wakeman or Emersons talent to play them all at once.
I do know that over the years, I've ticked off my friends who were trying to make a living playing. I had all the cool gear and only used it at home to 'make noise'. Would let them borrow it in the studio. Something about haveing "REAL" jobs and an income! :)
That's enough rambling for now, Just got the 351 installed in the Voyager last night and want to continue experimenting with reversing envelopes with the 251's output attenuators. (I missed that ability on the Voyager almost instantly!)
I wish you lived nearby !
Who 'em i ? who are you ?
Born in 1987 .
http://www.myspace.com/donteatdinosaurs (8bit/lo-fi proyect)

calaverasgrande
Posts: 118
Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 3:43 pm
Contact:

Post by calaverasgrande » Tue May 19, 2009 11:49 am

Anna's Digit wrote:
musiclovr89 wrote:hey everyone...just wanted to say hello! i love love love music so if anyone has any suggestions of good music i should listen to, im all ears!
PLUXUS (their older albums)they kick Kraftwerk's ass back and forward
But now that you mention Kraftwerk, Man Machine, Autobahn and Computerworld are pretty much required listening. Trans-Europe Express is way way up there on my list of records to blow the minds of people under 30. "this is 4 german dudes? No way!"
More recent Kraftwerk is disapointing in comparison, kinda like the last couple of George Lucas movies!
And of course gotta mention good ole Oxygene by Jean Michael Jarre.
I know its not all moog, but there is some moog in there. And Devo "Duty now for the Future" is wall to wall Moog. Devo Harcore vol I and II have some pretty sinister moog on them when they do break out the keys.
Taurus III, Digitone, Dark Energy, OB6, MG1, Grandmother, Blofeld

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