How you use your Moog

museslave · Post by **museslave** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:50 pm

How many people out there are using their Moogs or other analog synthesizers actively to write music that is not techno/electro/dance/industrial etc.?

OysterRock · Post by **OysterRock** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:12 pm

I never really write music exclusively on a Moog. Moog is the spice that comes later. I usually play on my Rhodes to come up with chord progressions, melodies, etc. Lately the technique I've been using is to jam over a drum loop or something then use Abelton Live to mangle, chop it up and rearrange it. But due to recent revelations, I'm really trying to get away from this style and get back to my roots (see recent "Tell us about your rig" post).

I am a keyboardist first. I've played in many band including a 9 piece funk band complete with horn section and an organ trio where I played left hand bass (Hammond, saxophone and drums). I'm certainly not an accomplished player, but I can hold my own.

museslave, surely you aren't suggesting that techno/electro/dance/industrial is not music. While I agree that 99% of that stuff is pure bull-plop, there IS some good stuff out there.

MC · Post by MC » Tue Sep 26, 2006 7:01 pm

+1

I write funk, fusion, rock, blues, orchestral, and even some "syrupy" music. The moog is sometimes the feature instrument, sometimes the supporting instrument. Depends on the song.

museslave · Post by **museslave** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:38 pm

OysterRock wrote:museslave, surely you aren't suggesting that techno/electro/dance/industrial is not music. While I agree that 99% of that stuff is pure bull-plop, there IS some good stuff out there.

I would be a horrible hypocrite if I did... I wrote electronica from about 1985-1999!

I ask the question because the overwhelming assumption tends to be that if you play keyboards, you're a techno, etc. musician. Even here on these boards, the assumption is that you're going to be using MIDI, sequencing, drum machines, etc. I'm just wondering how many people this is not true for.

While the proliferation of inexpensive programming gear and software has made everyone think they're a techno musician... and I cannnot imagine why the genre is holding on when it is awash in devices that make even the most clueless novice sound like the accomplished programmer (often due to loops made BY those programmers), I will never state that it is not music, nor will I state that there aren't amazingly talented musicians involved with the genre.

matt the fiddler · Post by **matt the fiddler** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:37 pm

I am a classical/ rock/ bluegrass/ irish fiddle player.. and I do a lot of different stuff in each of the styles, Moog is involved in all but classical right now. I am working on some projects now... Hopefully I can get some stuff up in the future.

Matt

till · Post by **till** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:54 pm

None of these modern styles here !
I do Berlin School EM with step sequencers, pads and lead lines. I use the Voyager and/or the Minimoog for leads mainly.

elanmak · Post by **elanmak** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:07 am

I play my Moog Rogue in a ska/punk/pop band. I'm usually laying down basslines, but I'll pop in a few leads. One of our other guys is playing the trombone, and the other guy's playing guitar. I usually just play my Rogue and monitor the drum machine.

I write all the music. I'll usually start with a bassline that I'll write on the Rogue. Then I'll lay out a chord progression on my guitar or my Casio MT-70. I'll program the drum beat, and then my friend writes a sweet lead for his trombone.

I also do techno and electronica, entirely on my Rogue. The drums and everything.

If you want to check out my band, head on over to www.myspace.com/dopplegangerska[/url]

THM · Post by **THM** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:28 pm

I'm working on an ambient album - Tangerine Dream style.
Main synths are my MOOG Memorymoog (with L.A.M.M.) and my Synthesizers.com/MOTM modular system.

CZ Rider · Post by **CZ Rider** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:21 am

Even here on these boards, the assumption is that you're going to be using MIDI, sequencing, drum machines, etc. I'm just wondering how many people this is not true for.

Well, I don't own a real Moog modular, too expensive and rare. So I went
with the more modern Moog emulation route, and compose with that.
Guess I belong to the MIDI, sequencing crowd. I am in an ambient/space,
"Philly School" band. Right now I am trying to compose a piece for an
upcomming live radio show at the end of this month. I mostly compose the
sequences on the computer and send it out via MIDI.
The small live setup includes a computer that can play no less than 5
seperate synthesizers at once. (Quite a lot for a small box). The sequencer
is running my Moog modular emulator. The MIDI out is synced up to a
Roland pre-set synth and can advance the sequencer/programer. And the
MIDI is synced up to a Polyphonic/Multi-timbral synth with an onboard
sequnencer, so all of the clocks are from the master MIDI sequencer.
Also have a Minimoog emulator with presets. (Try that with a model D!) A
string ensemble emulator, run thru a PS-3100 resonator emulator.(Swoosh!)
A super cool "Advanced Simulated Analog Synthesizer". And can't forget
my tiny MS-20. A lot of gear to bring out live, but the sound is most
important.
So even though I have a mouse in my setup, I get a very Retro Analog Sound.
I will be posting pics of the setup soon, if anyone is interested.

Terry

Here is a clip from a previous radio show. Had to compose this on the Moog
right before we went on air. Sounds very Moogy.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6s1hi/site ... short5.mp3

TheLustyGhost · Post by **TheLustyGhost** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 11:53 am

I use synthesizers almost exclusively as live sound sources to be processed, and haven't used one as an external midi device in about 4 years. I usually do sort of kraut/space rock when I use them.

Sweep · Post by **Sweep** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 3:22 am

I don't fit in to any of those categories, either.

I write - well, music..

Of course there are elements in common with other musicians. Everything I listen to goes into a sort of melting-pot and comes out in different ways, so there may be jazz elements, world music elements, Berlin school electronic elements, classical elements, whatever.

Presumably the aim of the original post was to establish how widely Moog synths are used outside the areas they're best known for. It sounds like a good question.

For me, buying a Voyager had several motivations, none of them techno, dance etc:

I've loved the distinctive sound of the Moog synth, and especially the Moog filter, since the early 1970s

I was writing original material for a singer with classical technique and a very rich and beautiful voice, and I wanted my instruments to be of a tonal quality appropriate to accompanying her.

There were certain things I wanted to do with a Moog sound. For example, when I bought Klaus Schulze's Trancefer I'd hoped for interplay between the cello and the Moog filters, and I was disappointed that he hadn't explored those areas. Nor, it seemed, had anyone else, so I wanted to work with a cellist and do that myself. (In the end I bought a cello and started to learn to play it myself).

There's much that can be done with Moog synths outside the typical confines.

CZ Rider · Post by **CZ Rider** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:34 pm

Ok, finally got some pics up of the set I'm composing on for the
upcomming radio show this October 29 at 1:59AM.
Here is the left side.

And the right side.

More info on the "Back in Time 3"concert at:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6s1hi/index.html

Terry

PS:Didn't have room to bring my roland synth with presets. Oh well!

Captain Beardy · Post by **Captain Beardy** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:52 pm

Nice set-up, CZ rider,...( ahem, you don't reaaaally ride a CZ ,do you ?LOL ! ).

I bought my SE Voyager this year ,( along with a Kurzweil K 2600 XS ) really to add some parts to material I was working on with my prog rock / metal band,...
I'm a drummer first and last, but a lot of the music I grew-up listening to and loving had Moog magic running through it at certain points,..

We, ( the band, that is ) have had sod-all luck in finding keyboard players,
( and that's living in the supposed ' Rock Capitol ' of the planet ! )
and so, it was a great excuse to 'splash some serious cash ' and buy a couple of top notch synths

It's been quite a year so far, what with all the 'sizers ' and recording gear I've been trying to get to grips with,...

Hopefully, the album will be finished by the end of the year (

).

CZ Rider · Post by **CZ Rider** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:58 am

Nice set-up, CZ rider,...( ahem, you don't reaaaally ride a CZ ,do you ?LOL ! ).

Almost, I ride with a CZ! Nothing like the freedom of battery powerd synths.
Now if I can just get one of my Moogs to run on batteries.

I'm a drummer first and last, but a lot of the music I grew-up
listening to and loving had Moog magic running through it at certain points,..

Have you tried a Moog 1130 Percussion Controller? Or Moog drum as
I always celled it. Hours of fun. There were not many concerts I did way
back, where the drummer didn't use this during the drum solo. Lately I
have been runing the CV out through a scale quantizer to make the random
CV's more musical. Add a Taurus foot controller to transpose keys and your
in Moog percussion heaven.
Terry

jon_kull · Post by **jon_kull** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:43 pm

CZ Rider wrote:Almost, I ride with a CZ! Nothing like the freedom of battery powerd synths.
Now if I can just get one of my Moogs to run on batteries.

Hey a fellow Triumph owner! I've got a 73 Tiger. Triumphs and Moogs...classic!

Sorry...

Anyway now that I've revived a dead thread...I don't fit into the techno/dance/industrial/etc. catagory either...although industrial in the late 80s is what made me buy my first Keyboard. That and a father that was a musician with electronic leanings in the 70s. I practically grew up on Tomita records.