It was time to say goodbye to everyone amongst all my newly found toys in the lab for now. I have however made the decision that at some point I want to buy a Theremin. It appears to be the most affordable for me among all of their models. Moog will be hearing from me soon regarding this.
Our tour guide's name was Paul and he had a lot of good information about the instruments themselves and the evolution of the Moog music industry from the beginning to the present.
We learned that the Moog synthesizer was made popular back in the 70's but lost some momentum in the 90's with music styles and the modernization of the competition (i.e. Korg, Roland etc.). Moog models became harder to find as they grew more and more obsolete. However today, analogue sound has made a new come back and now as much as ever Moog instruments are used for movie soundtracks and once again part of today's popular music. Henceforth, there is now a greater demand for production.
The Moog factory was behind closed doors in a separate area from the lab. Now I have to confess, the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" sort of gave me the creeps the first time I saw it when I was a kid. I do think it's okay though for grown ups to have the same sense of wonder that little kids have when they cash in a golden ticket and the magic doors finally open. It was my Willy Wonka my way.
The Factory
The first thing I remember was the sound testing in the form of an arpeggio in a room full of brilliant people. They all just seemed like ordinary folks but they were working with sodering irons and piecing together soundboards with fine detail and connecting modules to computers for wave testing. Who the heck are these people?!
Some of these employees wore business attire, some of them were women. It turns out that these people who appeared to me as wizards started out in the company just processing orders and shipping them out as rookies. Over time with on-the-job training these employees along the way learned how to create the instruments after having been in that environment. What else did I learn? Well, here is what really impressed me the most. The Moog corporation is employee owned and operated and each day, new orders come through to the company. These beautiful instruments are literally crafted by their own hands from scratch!
Now since I am a musician but not an engineer, I'm not going to attempt to provide a pseudo intellectual explanation of the process. I wouldn't wish that on anyone but from what I observed, I was able to make some sense of it all. There were different departments which included the assembly of the main casing of the instrument. Once this was complete, the next step was inserting in the circuit board. The process varies depending on the instrument. Once all the instruments have been calibrated, tested and fully constructed they are now ready for the final stage. This is where the instruments are powered up and tested for 48 hours. This is known as the burn-in process. During this time, if anything goes wrong, it can be corrected before the instruments go out into the world.The tour was only about 45 minutes long, however I'm sure the stories throughout the day on the premises of the things going on are many. The employees themselves I'm sure have their fun and mess around on these instruments themselves.
I held this experience very near and dear to me. There was a depth of intellect associated with this far beyond what I could ever comprehend but I felt as though it was designed for quirky people like me to enjoy and learn more about. There were about ten people or so in our tour group and it was every bit as jaw dropping for them.
We did take a drive to the Biltmore House later that day. We got as far as the gift shop.
Bob Moog
Here's where it all started. Bob Moog was a nerd. From a very young age he was fascinated with
electronics and even built his own Theramin when he was 14. He went on about his life and became the brilliant engineer that would design a modern day synthesizer that is portable and would best meet the needs for all commercial musicians.
