1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:18,320 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,159 Speaker 1: and how the Tech area. It is time for a 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: classic episode. This episode is called the Mog or Moog Story, 6 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: Part one, about you know, the Moog or moge synthesizer. 7 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: I've heard it pronounced both ways. I've been led to 8 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: understand that mog is more correct, but I'm sure I'm 9 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: always going to get it wrong. Uh. This episode actually 10 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 1: is a little bitter sweet for me because last year 11 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 1: in late twenty two, Herbert Deutsch, one of the co 12 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,240 Speaker 1: creators of the Mog synthesizer, died at the ripe old 13 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: age of ninety. So, yeah, this is a story about 14 00:00:55,560 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: that synthesizer's genesis and evolution. And as I said, it's 15 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: part one, so we know what we're getting next week 16 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: on Friday. But sit back and enjoy this classic episode 17 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: from February third. So yeah, we're gonna talk about mog synthesizers. 18 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: And when I brought this up, I gave Joe a 19 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: list of potential topics. These were all ones that were 20 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: suggested by by listeners. So thank you guys for sending 21 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 1: in your suggestions. That's awesome. I really appreciate it. And 22 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: Mog synthesizers are kind of amazingly cool, Jonathan, they are 23 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: not cool, they are cool. Okay, that's fair. Yeah. For 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: the longest time, I thought it was Moog. I thought 25 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: it was Moog too. And when I told my wife 26 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: Rachel that I was going to be recording an episode 27 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: with you on on Mog, she was like, what's that 28 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: And she was like, is it not Moog? And I 29 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: was like, yeah, I used to think the same thing. 30 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: But apparently we're just all super ignorant because MOG is 31 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: not an acronym for something. Doesn't stand for massive open 32 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: online gorillas or modular organic oh led garage. I don't know. No, 33 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: it doesn't stand for anything. It's it's a person's last 34 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: name rights the last name of old Bob Moog, who 35 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:22,959 Speaker 1: not Moog Bob move. It's a hard habit to break, dude. No. 36 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 1: I remember I did a podcast with Chris Palette years 37 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: and years and years ago, and I think I said 38 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: Moog synthesizer and that, and I was get some angry, 39 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: angry letters. I was. I was thrashed about the neck 40 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: and wrists with a with a ruler, which Chris kept 41 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,680 Speaker 1: on him. Chris, Yeah, I mean, well, he's a percussionist 42 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 1: for one, and you know he's been in bands. You know, 43 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: he opened for he opened for for Indigo Girls. I mean, 44 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: he's like, we're talking serious musician here, um, And I'm 45 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: only slightly ripping him because that's all true. But no, 46 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: he he was very kind actually to point out my paw. Now, yeah, 47 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: I don't remember many Indigo Girls songs being big on 48 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: the Moges. No. I was just using that as a 49 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: way of establishing Chris is uh musical chops in the 50 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: sense that he was an established musician, not so much 51 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: to specifically put him in a mog camp. I would 52 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: like to attend Mogue camp. I bet it would be fun. 53 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: But we wanted to start off before we get into 54 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: the nitty gritty of mog We wanted to talk a 55 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: little bit about electronic music, because part of the story 56 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: is how electronic music wasn't always an acceptable musical format 57 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: to the general public, but of course now it's it's 58 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: an incredibly huge, uh genre of music. Well, despite being 59 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: really popular among some people. I mean there are lots 60 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: of people who love electronic music and that's their favorite 61 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: genre of music. There is still sometimes you'll see a 62 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: kind of I don't know what you call it, a 63 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: kind of acoustic elitism snobbery that that isn't so much 64 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: at electronic music itself, though you do encounter that a 65 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: little bit, like like explicitly electronic music, but a lot 66 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: of times I see it at music that is that 67 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:23,159 Speaker 1: uses electronically generated tones in conjunction with traditional arrangements and instruments, 68 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: so like pop songs that have synthesizers in them. Is 69 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: that there are like snobby, elitist opinions against that, and 70 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: I wonder why that is. I mean, I know there 71 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: is there's sort of a general idea that electronically generated 72 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: tones are fake, which is, you know, they're like it's 73 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: almost like they're not real sound. Yeah, when you get 74 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: down to it, when you really peel away all the 75 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: layers of this onion, you realize how ludicrous an argument 76 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: that is. Because a musical instrument is a construct we 77 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: use to generate sound. It it doesn't necessarily have any 78 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,359 Speaker 1: electronic components to it, but it's still a tool that 79 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: we're using to create these musical notes, like there's nothing natural. 80 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,839 Speaker 1: You don't go to the violin tree and pluck a 81 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: violin off the viol injury, right, I mean, these are 82 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 1: all tools and well, it's sure, but my wardrobe broke 83 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: down like three years ago, so I'm not going to 84 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: go to the old school violin maker who makes fake violin. Yeah, exactly, 85 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: Like you should be arguing like, well, you're not singing, 86 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: so you're just doing You're just faking it, Like unless 87 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: you're using the human voice and tapping upon your own 88 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: barrel chest for percussion, you, sir, are not a musician. Well, 89 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 1: this is a concept we're gonna have to revisit throughout 90 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: the episode today because I think it is a central 91 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:48,360 Speaker 1: theme of the career of Robert mog But I thought 92 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: it would be good to start just by asking you, 93 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: what is some of your favorite electronic music. You don't 94 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: have to be moge centric here because that might be 95 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,479 Speaker 1: kind of limiting. If if I just say, played on 96 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,599 Speaker 1: a mogue right with electronically generated tones, what do you like? Okay, 97 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna run through these pretty quickly because 98 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously we could we could have an entire 99 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: podcast dedicated to music effect. We used to have a 100 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:16,160 Speaker 1: music oriented podcast from How Stuff Works. Haven't done it 101 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: in ages. It was stuff from the B sides. I 102 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 1: would love to see that come back sometime. But here's 103 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: some First of all, have to mention daft punk obviously, 104 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: like that's like the kind of clear front runner of 105 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:32,720 Speaker 1: electronic music as far as mainstream awareness is concerned, outside 106 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: of just the electronica fans, who are of course their 107 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: knowledge runs far more deep than mine. Um. I could 108 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,039 Speaker 1: also just lump in pretty much any band that was 109 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: part of the new wave movement, because new wave was 110 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: very electronic heavy and in certain parts of that uh 111 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 1: that movement. Yes, the the the post punk new wave movement. 112 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: I love that that genre of music as well. UM, 113 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: the soundtracks the original Tron movie, I love it. I 114 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: also like Tron Legacy, which again goes back to daft punk. 115 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: But I love the soundtrack to the original Tron movie 116 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: Fight for the Users. Yes, and that was scored by 117 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: Wendy Carlos, and Wendy Carlos is very important in the 118 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: history of mog because Wendy Carlos also did an album 119 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: called Switched on Bach, which was an early album that 120 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 1: really uh pushed mog into the limelight like it. It 121 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: was a very popular album. It hit top twenty charts 122 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: and I own this on vinyl. It is at my 123 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 1: house right now. I have a vinyl copy of Switched 124 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: on Bach. Now did that album actually make an appearance 125 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: in the movie A Clockwork Orange? Or was that that 126 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 1: was Wendy Carlos scoring? When Carlos scored music and that 127 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:51,559 Speaker 1: oh wait, that was Beethoven, wasn't it Beethoven was the piece? 128 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: That was the music? That was That's right, the lindvig Van. 129 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: But Wendy Carlos scored Clockwork Orange. She also scored the 130 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: Shining Um. And then also, I like the soundtrack to 131 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: Lady Hawk. I don't know what that is. You don't 132 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: know what Lady Hawk is. Lady Hawk is a fantasy 133 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: film from the mid eighties and it starred Matthew Broderick 134 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: as a thief. No, no, he was a thief named mouse. 135 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: Rutger Howard played a no. Rugger Howard was a a 136 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: like canthrope who was in love with a a young 137 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: lady played by um By Lady Hawk. Well, she was 138 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: the Lady Hawk, but the name suddenly escapes me, and 139 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: that's terrible but anyway, and it will kill me. People 140 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 1: right in and tell me who was Michelle Phifer. Michelle Phiper, 141 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: she was Lady Hawk. Uh. So, the story goes that 142 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 1: he turns into uh, a wolf at night, she turns 143 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 1: into Rugger Howard. She turns into a bird in the daytime. 144 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: They are in love with one another, but they can 145 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,680 Speaker 1: never be together because as one is transforming into human, 146 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:57,959 Speaker 1: the other one's transforming into animal. And it's this kind 147 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,079 Speaker 1: of story of tragedy as they as Rutger, Howard's character 148 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: is looking to enact revenge upon the the person who 149 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: has cursed them to this existence. Howard has so many 150 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,680 Speaker 1: time related struggles. He wants more life. He needs to 151 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: be a day wolf. Yep. So the The soundtrack is 152 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: a mixture of orchestral uh and pop scynth, rock and uh. 153 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: Some people absolutely detest it. I love it. I love 154 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: it because it is very much a thing of its time. 155 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: It would not fit in any other time period. Like 156 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: if this movie remain in the nineties and it had 157 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: that soundtrack, you would be scratching your head wondering why. 158 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: But in the eighties it was right there at the 159 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:46,080 Speaker 1: forefront of this pop scynth score movement that some people 160 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: hate but I love also. I mean I mentioned switched 161 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: on Bach. Have you ever heard of the Disney's Main 162 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:55,839 Speaker 1: Street Electrical Parade. I know, I don't know what you're 163 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,079 Speaker 1: talking about. So it's a parade that was very popular 164 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: at Disney World and Disneyland. Don't know if they still 165 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: do it. Parade and actual parade. Yeah, you would go 166 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: and and find a spot on Main Street and wait 167 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: and the floats. It was at night, and the floats 168 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: were all lit up with various led lights. I think 169 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,959 Speaker 1: they are originally like incandescent lights when it was first going, 170 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: because that's how old the parade, sure, and uh, the 171 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: the but the music was all electronic music and very peppy, 172 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,839 Speaker 1: and it included motifs from various Disney films like Mary 173 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: Poppins and Pete's Dragon and that kind of stuff. And um, 174 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: and I had that on vinyl. It's a little uh uh, 175 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: a little uh tiny um, which is great. There was 176 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: an album called The Moge Cookbook. Did you ever hear this? So? 177 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: I didn't hear this came out in the mid nineties. 178 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: The mog Cookbook is a cover album. Uh. The cover 179 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: the songs are all like from the mid nineties but 180 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: covered with folks. So you've got like, wait, is it 181 00:10:57,640 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 1: not the Moke Coke Boke. No, it's not the Mo 182 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: Coke Boke. It's the Mo Cookbook. I looked it up. 183 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, it included a black Hole Sun, Buddy Holly, 184 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: basket Case, free Fallen, Smells like teen Spirit, and several 185 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:15,200 Speaker 1: other songs. Wait, it included the artist Buddy Holly or 186 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 1: the song Buddy the song Buddy Hollybyewheezer, because they were 187 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,960 Speaker 1: all from that that general era. And I also have 188 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: an un ironic love for the music of sticks, in 189 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: which keyboard solos often play a pivotal role. Well, it 190 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: can't fault you there some of my own favorite electronic music, 191 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: like you. A lot of the electronic music that came 192 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: to mind was from soundtracks. Of course. I think of 193 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: the Doctor Who theme, which is a wonderful early electronic masterpiece. 194 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: It was composed in the BBC Audio Workshops by somebody 195 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: named Delia derby Shire, or actually I think it was 196 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: composed originally by somebody else as a piece of written music, 197 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: but realized electronically in a fascinating and wonderful way. By 198 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 1: By Derby Shire at the BBC then, so much so 199 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: that the original composer actually said, at this point, this 200 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: music is not really my own anymore. It's it's Derby Shire's. 201 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: And not that that. It wasn't wasn't distancing from the music. 202 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:14,120 Speaker 1: It wasn't saying like this is a bad thing, but 203 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: this is a remarkable thing. Yeah. And also I would 204 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,440 Speaker 1: have to mention the electronic compositions of one John Carpenter. 205 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: For example, I cannot get enough of the soundtrack of 206 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: Halloween three Season of the Witch, a movie with much 207 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: better music than it deserves. Now did they use the 208 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: same motif as the Michael Myers motif and Halloween's one 209 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,280 Speaker 1: and two? It's been a lontestis and it's different. It's 210 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: got it's got some of some kind of similar themes 211 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: weaving in and out, but but it's its own thing. 212 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: You should dun dunt dun dundu dun mean that shows 213 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,079 Speaker 1: up a little, But you should just listen to the 214 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:55,839 Speaker 1: Halloween three soundtrack. It's great electronic musical. I'll have to 215 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: take a listen. Yeah, I love the John Carpenter stuff 216 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:00,559 Speaker 1: like I love this stuff from Big Trouble, Old China 217 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: and and uh, you know, like even some of the 218 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,679 Speaker 1: things that are are he's playing songs that are more 219 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 1: guitar driven, but you can tell them instead of guitar 220 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: they're using a synthesizer, which is kind of cool. That's 221 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: a kind of different thing once you start talking about 222 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 1: digitally edited together music. But also, earlier today, because I 223 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:22,440 Speaker 1: knew we were going to do this, I asked my 224 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,079 Speaker 1: co host, one of my co hosts from Stuff to 225 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:28,840 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind, Robert Lamb, about his favorite old school 226 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:33,079 Speaker 1: SyncE stuff and he recommended a guy named Mort Garson, 227 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: who had never heard of before, but who performs under 228 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: the He did perform under one name. Lucifer was the 229 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: performer artist's name, and there was an album unreleased under 230 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,000 Speaker 1: the artist name Lucifer. That's just great. I listened to 231 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: it earlier today and I loved it. It's very moogie. 232 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: I don't know if it was actually done on a mook, 233 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: but it it sounds like it's got that old school synthesizers. 234 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: Sounds analogue. Um, but what we should get to the 235 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:05,840 Speaker 1: origin of the Moog story. Moog the mogue. We should 236 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,559 Speaker 1: get to the origin of the Moge story. So who 237 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: was Bob mog Yeah, and and keep in mind, like 238 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: when we talk about the Moge story and we're talking 239 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: about the birth of the analog synthesizer, there were other 240 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: groups also working on synthesizers at the same time as Moge. 241 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 1: But Mogue's name has sort of become iconic in this 242 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:33,000 Speaker 1: idea of the analog physical circuitry synthesizer for multiple reasons. 243 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: So who was he, Well, he's he was born in Queens, 244 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: New York on May and as a kid, he became 245 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,239 Speaker 1: really interested in electronics, just thought it was a fascinating 246 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: thing and so he really kind of dove into it. 247 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: And he also was really interested in the idea of 248 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: using electronics to make music. I think it's called mosic maybe. Uh. 249 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:00,080 Speaker 1: He however, was not um a musician himself or or 250 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: mosician if you prefer. He was not a musician himself, 251 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:06,920 Speaker 1: but he liked the thought of creating the instruments that 252 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:10,520 Speaker 1: would be you know, would allow someone else to make music. 253 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: And one of the first things he really became interested 254 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: in was the thereman, which we have covered on tech 255 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: stuff before. The thereman had been invented back in the twenties, 256 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: so he was that had already been around for quite 257 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: some time before Mogue was even born, but Mog got 258 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: interested in it. And in case you don't remember what 259 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: a thereman is, just imagine a box that has a 260 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: pair of antenna. Typically you have one vertical antenna and 261 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: one horizontal antenna poking out of this box, and the 262 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: antenna rely on radio waves around them, and as you 263 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: move your hands closer to in a way from you 264 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: start to interfere with the waves that are around this antenna. 265 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: You never make contact, or you don't. You're not supposed 266 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: to make contact with the antenna. You don't have to. 267 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,320 Speaker 1: It's just by bringing your hands closer and moving them 268 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: further apart, you can change a tone that is generated 269 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 1: by this device. Now, what does the thereman sound like? 270 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: Just imagine in your head all of the goofy bad 271 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: horror and sci fi movies you saw in the nineteen fifties, 272 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: especially sci fi yeah that was big, like yeah and 273 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: uh and typically like not. Typically, the way it would 274 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: work is that one of the antenna would would change 275 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: the pitch as you moved your hand closer and further away, 276 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: and the other one controlled the volume. So as you're 277 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: one is one is how high the flying saucer is 278 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: often and the other one is how close it's coming 279 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: towards you, yeah, or whether it's moving towards you or 280 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 1: away from you. All Right, so I like, oh, it's 281 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 1: getting closer because Doppler effect. Uh so, yeah, it's It 282 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: was a really interesting and odd musical device, and mog 283 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: was really interested in them. He built his first one 284 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 1: when he was either fourteen or fifteen. I've seen reports 285 00:16:57,560 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: that site one age or the other. But right in 286 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: that friend that a four that he's well, no way, 287 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: I think that's when he said he sold his first one, right, 288 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,160 Speaker 1: So he started building them when he was still a teenager. 289 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: By the age of nineteen, that's when he started a 290 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: business them. Yeah, he actually and he didn't just sell thereman's. 291 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: He did do that, but he also sold kits and 292 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,400 Speaker 1: partially constructed ones. So in other words, he was helping 293 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: other d I Y enthusiasts. I assume that if you 294 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: wanted a completed kit, and that would obviously be more 295 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: expensive than just buying the parts from him and then 296 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: the instructions and putting them together yourself. Um, And he 297 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:36,479 Speaker 1: and his father kind of created a business together and 298 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: it was the r a MO company. Uh. He then 299 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: would go on to attend college and go on to 300 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: graduate school at Cornell and while he was there he 301 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 1: was studying physical engineering and in nineteen sixty three he 302 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: met a guy named Walter Sear who was a tuba manufacturer. Manufacturer, No, 303 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 1: how many times are we going to do this? You're 304 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: not the one who gets the email Joe yea? But yes, 305 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:08,200 Speaker 1: how many people have that job? At least one a right, 306 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:13,120 Speaker 1: at least oneacturers operate in the world at the same time. 307 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 1: You do wonder what the you know, how tuba's have 308 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,639 Speaker 1: to last a long time? Right, there's gotta be a 309 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: major resell expired. I gotta check it out. Tending to 310 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: go buy a new tuba? Uh so, Yeah, he met 311 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:30,120 Speaker 1: Walter Seer, and Seer thought that Mog was an interesting 312 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 1: guy and said that Mog should go to the New 313 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,119 Speaker 1: York State School Music Association gathering, And while he was 314 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:42,359 Speaker 1: there he met another guy named Herb Deutsch, and Deutsch 315 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,160 Speaker 1: was part of the experimental music movement that was starting 316 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,880 Speaker 1: to really kind of play with the idea of what 317 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: is music and what what can be music and what 318 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 1: can music do? Like really pushing the boundary going beyond 319 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: just the simple construction of a song and and get 320 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,679 Speaker 1: really weird stuff. And Mog talks about how it was 321 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,159 Speaker 1: his meeting with Deutsch that sort of really got him 322 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:10,080 Speaker 1: interested in electronic music and wanting to build equipment that 323 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:13,199 Speaker 1: would help us create new kinds of sounds. Yeah, the 324 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:15,919 Speaker 1: two of them kind of agreed that this would be 325 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,199 Speaker 1: a really interesting prospect, the idea of building a device 326 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:24,520 Speaker 1: specifically to create new sounds for music. And so, with 327 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: Deutsch's urging, that's what Mog set out to do, and 328 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: he created a shop near Ithaca, New York, UH and 329 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: began to experiment using silicon transistors as the basic components. 330 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 1: Transistors were kind of a game changer at the time, right, absolutely, Yeah, 331 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: totally changing what you could do with electronic equipment. Well, 332 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,439 Speaker 1: it certainly changed, yes, And the main reason is because 333 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,240 Speaker 1: they took up less space and generated less heat than 334 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: the alternatives, right, because it would be vacuum too exactly. 335 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,359 Speaker 1: We'll be back with more about the Mog story after 336 00:19:55,440 --> 00:20:08,480 Speaker 1: this break. So there were certainly electronics before transistors, but 337 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: they were larger and they generated way more heat. And 338 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: so if you wanted to have an electronic device that 339 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,520 Speaker 1: was a musical instrument before the invention of the transistor. 340 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: You're looking at some pretty unwieldy equipment. It's gonna be 341 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: bigger and hotter than what you would find later on 342 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 1: once you switched over to transistors. So he began to 343 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: look at transistors to be the basis of the circuitry 344 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: he would use to create a Mogue musical instrument. And uh, 345 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,360 Speaker 1: he found that he could alter the pitch, like as 346 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:47,720 Speaker 1: long as he created frequencies that were within the range 347 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 1: of human hearing, he could alter the pitch by changing 348 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 1: the voltage in various circuits before sending that signal out 349 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,200 Speaker 1: to to allowed speaker. So as long as you keep 350 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: the frequency betwe say twenty hurts and twenty thousand hurts 351 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: that's the range of human hearing, then you can do that. 352 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 1: If you go beyond that, obviously, then you most people 353 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:12,400 Speaker 1: are unable to perceive it. And obviously not everyone has 354 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:15,800 Speaker 1: exactly that range, right, Some people start, especially as you 355 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,479 Speaker 1: get older, you start to lose the ability to perceive 356 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,240 Speaker 1: at the higher end, which is why I no longer 357 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: hear children. Oh yeah, I remember those stories about the 358 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,880 Speaker 1: cell phone tones that only kids could hear. Because they're 359 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:29,840 Speaker 1: too high pitch for adults to hear. Was that true 360 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: or was that that I hope? I don't know. I 361 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: heard a similar story about how how like um gas 362 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: stations were employing loudspeaker systems that would play that pitch 363 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 1: at a high volume because adults couldn't hear it, and 364 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:47,720 Speaker 1: it discouraged kids from loitering. Man, that's that's that's that's 365 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: another story I heard, But I don't know if that's true. 366 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:54,120 Speaker 1: If you wanted to be a really cool uh synthesizer musician, 367 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: you could create a musical instrument that only plays in 368 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: the frequency range that adults can it here, and so 369 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: you couldn't have stodgy adults coming into your concert and 370 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,640 Speaker 1: just well I guess you could have them just they're pretending, 371 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: or they would or they just say like, I don't 372 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 1: understand the music these days, uh, or yeah, yeah I 373 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,199 Speaker 1: hear it. Man, you go a step further and you 374 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,160 Speaker 1: just make music for dogs. You know you could do that. 375 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 1: So so Moe created a circuit. One of the one 376 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: of the music stores I go to here in town 377 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 1: called Decatur c D. If you go in there, there's 378 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 1: an album they sell. They've always got in stock that 379 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: I think is called music for dogs. There might be 380 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:39,400 Speaker 1: called like music dogs love. I've never listened to it. Yeah, yeah, 381 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:41,560 Speaker 1: just be a bunch of cats melling. I don't know 382 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: what it is, maybe maybe a doorbell occasionally. Have to 383 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,240 Speaker 1: ask about it next time. Well, Moe created a circuit 384 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,199 Speaker 1: that produced a pitch and then with an increase of 385 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: one vault, that pitch would go up one octave. That's convenient, right, 386 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: And then the pitch would change back and forth using 387 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,040 Speaker 1: different types of wave forms, which I will cover it 388 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,160 Speaker 1: are on in this episode, so I'll explain all about 389 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: the different wave forms because that's an important part of 390 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 1: what makes a mogue sound the way it does, and 391 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: other analog synthesizers as well. Um, and it would create 392 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: the sort of weird vibratos sound. And he gave the 393 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:19,640 Speaker 1: instrument his own last name, possibly following the lead of Thereman. 394 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: Therreman was named after the guy who invented it. It's 395 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: not a word that was made up for the device. 396 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 1: It's actually named after the inventor. It sounds like a 397 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: made up word, it does, but it was somebody named 398 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: like like Jeff Thereman. Yeah, it was exactly that. It 399 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: was Jeff thereman, it was not, but at any rate, no, 400 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 1: it's he decided to name it after himself. You know, 401 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:49,880 Speaker 1: there are tapes of Mog giving early demonstrations of of 402 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,439 Speaker 1: his synthesizer equipment when he when he was very first 403 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: developing it. And in one of those tapes that I 404 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: heard by listening to the documentary Mogue, which which is 405 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: a documentary that that I watched online about Robert Mgane. 406 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:04,880 Speaker 1: And it's available on YouTube, so you can actually watch 407 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 1: the whole thing, right, it might be a bootleg. I 408 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:10,200 Speaker 1: don't know. Well, well, it definitely is there. If you 409 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,640 Speaker 1: want to unethically watch the whole thing, it's on there. 410 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: But yeah, so there there was a nineteen sixty four 411 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:21,800 Speaker 1: demonstration where Mog is talking about a prototype modular synthesizer 412 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: and he calls it the Abominatron and I love that. 413 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:29,920 Speaker 1: So he obviously has a sense of humor about it. 414 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: But it does kind of get to a problem that 415 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,159 Speaker 1: Mog started noticing when he was first making his his 416 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: synthesizers public. He says that people reacted to it by 417 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: saying it wasn't natural. He says that, you know, the 418 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 1: first response was that it was just not right, something 419 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:54,119 Speaker 1: about using this electronic means of creating musical pitch was 420 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: not the way things should be in music. And he 421 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,239 Speaker 1: even tells a story where there's an interviewer who is, 422 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,199 Speaker 1: you know, interviewing him about his new technology, and he 423 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: leans into him and the interviewer says, tell me, Mr Mog, 424 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,639 Speaker 1: don't you feel guilty about what you've done? Sick burn? 425 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: And so MoG's interpretation of that is that the the 426 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 1: reporter's point of view was that by creating the means 427 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:25,720 Speaker 1: to generate tones without traditional instruments made of wood or 428 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: brass or plucking strings or something like that, he was 429 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:34,680 Speaker 1: somehow perverting and destroying music, doing something offensive to an 430 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,600 Speaker 1: ancient tradition from human culture, which again to me, is 431 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:42,960 Speaker 1: ludicrous on the very face of it, because the history 432 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: of music is one of innovation, where people have created 433 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 1: instruments that are more capable than their predecessors. Right, the 434 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,960 Speaker 1: piano forte is a lot different than the ancestors to 435 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 1: the piano. Well, yeah, and I hate to break it 436 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,439 Speaker 1: to these people, but the piano has not existed for 437 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:01,880 Speaker 1: tend that in years, and it was only a few 438 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,600 Speaker 1: hundred years old, right, And before that they were. You know, 439 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: you had the harpsichord, where you had the plucking of 440 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,959 Speaker 1: metal tabs as opposed to the percussion of strings. And 441 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: if you look at the history of music again, it 442 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:17,359 Speaker 1: is all about innovation, and so I think it was 443 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: just that it sounded so different from the stuff that 444 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:26,440 Speaker 1: came before it that people's initial reaction was one of confusion, 445 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: and maybe they were a little unsettled that this thing 446 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: that did not have any moving parts to it, unlike 447 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,719 Speaker 1: something like, you know, a stringed instrument where you can 448 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,679 Speaker 1: actually see the action that is creating the sound that 449 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: you hear, or a wind instrument where you can see 450 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,879 Speaker 1: that the musician is breathing life into this object and 451 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: you're getting music out of it. This is a monstrosity 452 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,080 Speaker 1: of a machine of wires and transistors that you know 453 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: when you press a button a sound comes out of it. 454 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:58,719 Speaker 1: And I think it must have just felt like it 455 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: was too far removed for some people to be comfortable 456 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,879 Speaker 1: with it. Well, one possibility that comes up this is 457 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,639 Speaker 1: also from MoG's comments in that documentary, and I think 458 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: this is really interesting. I've always thought of the idea 459 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: of a synthesizer as Okay, it has that name because 460 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: it creates something synthetic, like there are natural sounds, and 461 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: then there are synthetic sounds, as in fake sounds created 462 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 1: by this fake sound making machine, the synthesizer. The the 463 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:36,000 Speaker 1: idea being that this this device can synthesize the sound 464 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,199 Speaker 1: of other quote unquote real musical instruments. But that's not 465 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: at all the sense in which the name was originally intended. It. Originally, 466 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: Mog says, the term synthesizer came from the other main 467 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,560 Speaker 1: meaning of synthesis, like the combination of elements to create 468 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 1: a whole. Like when you, you you know, you take a 469 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: bunch of research sources and synthesize them into a single 470 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: co current vision of something, right, like a like a 471 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 1: dissertation of some sort. Yeah, that would be synthesis. Uh, 472 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: and so in that applies to his technology because originally 473 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:14,959 Speaker 1: what Mog was creating was individual modules for modulating sounds. 474 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,680 Speaker 1: So you'd make a module that generates a square wave, 475 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 1: or a module that does this, or module that does that. 476 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 1: And if you combine all these modules together into a 477 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 1: single huge instrument that you can manipulate in lots of 478 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:33,360 Speaker 1: different ways, you're essentially creating an electronic music, modulation, synthesis, 479 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:36,200 Speaker 1: it's it's a synthesizer. It's it's it's a hole that's 480 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,920 Speaker 1: greater than the sum of its parts in many ways, 481 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: because these modules are arranged in such a way so 482 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: that you can connect them in in different ways dynamically, 483 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,040 Speaker 1: like you can change the connections, so it's not like 484 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: you can plug one into another or you can buy 485 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,800 Speaker 1: Now you've made a new type of machine. And that's 486 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: that's the I mean, that's the whole basis of modular 487 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 1: uh electronics and modular inventions. It's this idea that by 488 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: making these combinations you can innovate. We've seen that in 489 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: technology and other areas to the idea like the modular phone, 490 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: where you put a phone together with just the elements 491 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: that you want. And there are a couple of different 492 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: companies that are trying this approach out and it you know, 493 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 1: we'll have to wait and see if that actually becomes successful, 494 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: but it's a really interesting idea where the consumer determines 495 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,040 Speaker 1: what his or her phone has just based on the 496 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 1: modules you want to include, and you leave out anything 497 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,800 Speaker 1: you're not interested in. Well, that's sort of the same 498 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: idea behind the synthesizer except of course, the goal was 499 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 1: what are the different ways we can manipulate electronic frequencies 500 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: to create different types of sound? Yeah, and so eventually 501 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: Mog did bring a model to market. Yeah. He He 502 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,280 Speaker 1: actually made quite a few different models. One of the 503 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: one of the ones that was in development for a 504 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 1: very long time was the Mini Mooge. I think that 505 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: was a popular one. Yeah. So the mo mode are 506 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 1: um like, if you're thinking of just a keyboard, your 507 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 1: way off mogue is buying a Mogue is like buying 508 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 1: a boat. Yeah. I mean they talked about it in 509 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: in some detail in this documentary were Mog talks about 510 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 1: how when they sold these things originally it was kind 511 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: of a tricky business because it wasn't like, you know, 512 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: they're generating Fender stratocasters and things sell a hundred thousand 513 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: of them a month or something like that. I don't 514 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 1: know how many stratocasters, but it wasn't a mass market item. 515 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:38,320 Speaker 1: They were making them one at a time and selling 516 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: them one at a time, and they were very bulky 517 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:45,400 Speaker 1: and very expensive, and so most of their customers were 518 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: people who had a lot of money and expected to 519 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:51,600 Speaker 1: get a lot of use out of the machine. So 520 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:56,120 Speaker 1: for example, like a music house studio that recorded commercial 521 00:30:56,240 --> 00:31:02,400 Speaker 1: jingles or something like soundtracks to nine science films. So, uh, 522 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,080 Speaker 1: the way I tend to describe these early synthesizers, these 523 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,960 Speaker 1: analog synthesizers, is that imagine that you've got a keyboard 524 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 1: and it's attached to a what looks like a old 525 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: fashioned telephone switchboard, the kind where you would plug cables 526 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,560 Speaker 1: in to make the connections, like, uh, you know, I'll 527 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: ring her for you, and you plug the cable in 528 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,760 Speaker 1: and then you make the actual physical connection between two 529 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: lines similar to that, except of course, instead of connecting 530 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:33,760 Speaker 1: two lines, you are connecting modules together to manipulate an 531 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: electronic signal in some way. When I used to see 532 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,960 Speaker 1: mog synthesizer boards with all of the cables hanging out 533 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 1: of them, what I honestly thought was that this was 534 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 1: just people. It was like intentional obscurity. I thought it 535 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,280 Speaker 1: was people just trying to look cool or be funny 536 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: by having all these cables hanging out. No, that's how 537 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: you make the sound of your instrument is by plugging 538 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: like fifty different cables into different places, right, And it 539 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: all depends on how many modules you have as part 540 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: of your synthesizer, if you have one of the big ones, yeah, 541 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:06,800 Speaker 1: because because I mean if you have just a few modules, 542 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,520 Speaker 1: then one your synthesizer is going to be more limited. 543 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,440 Speaker 1: You won't be able to do as many variations on 544 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: that electronic signal as you could with one that has 545 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,800 Speaker 1: a lot more modules, but it also be smaller. Like 546 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: that was the idea that Mini Mogue, right, was the 547 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: idea that let's try and get something that is of 548 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:29,360 Speaker 1: a manageable size because these are big instruments. Um So, 549 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 1: one of the other models that became famous with the 550 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 1: Mogue name, and somewhat controversially is the Sonic six, which 551 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 1: began its life as a different device that was made 552 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: by someone who had originally worked for Mogue left the 553 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:49,440 Speaker 1: company ended up joining another company. That company ended up 554 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 1: buying Mogue because, as you were pointing out the business 555 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: model Mogue was following, it's pretty limited. It was it 556 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: was hard to make a profit, it was hard to 557 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: stay afloat. And so I believe that that Moge was 558 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: sold for something like a quarter of a million dollars, 559 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: which was the amount of debt it had accrued, and 560 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: but they decided to keep the Mogue name because it 561 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: had real brand recognition among musicians, and they actually did 562 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 1: take this pre existing prototype that was originally not a 563 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:23,520 Speaker 1: Moge device, changed it around a little bit by adding 564 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: in some components that were found in Mogue devices and 565 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 1: put that the market. So it's the Sonic six is 566 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:32,760 Speaker 1: very different from the other Mogue instruments of that time. 567 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,720 Speaker 1: But um and it's one of those that that still 568 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 1: like like aficionados still really love that particular instrument. Uh. 569 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: Mog himself passed away in two thousand five, but the 570 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:49,560 Speaker 1: Moge brand name still exists. You can still buy products 571 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: from Mogue. It's not it's kind of it's not not 572 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 1: as bad as Atari, but it is kind of different 573 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,360 Speaker 1: from the original Mogue company. But but it has a 574 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: stronger claim to that name than say anything that you 575 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: call Atari these days. That name is is long since 576 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,920 Speaker 1: severed all connection to its origins. Well, then what is 577 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: it you really think of as being the essence of 578 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,319 Speaker 1: the legacy of Moga. I I don't know to what 579 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: extent this is true about the products they create today, 580 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,720 Speaker 1: but historically I think of Mog as being a company 581 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: associated with analog electronic music, as opposed to digitally digitally 582 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:32,200 Speaker 1: created electronic tones. Yeah, and and the difference there is important. 583 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:36,920 Speaker 1: Although you could argue that our our ability to get 584 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:42,160 Speaker 1: ever more refined digital music has largely erased the gap 585 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,360 Speaker 1: between the two, there still is a fundamental difference in 586 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 1: the technology. And UH the best way of of explaining 587 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: this is to imagine that the sound you get with 588 00:34:54,320 --> 00:35:00,359 Speaker 1: analog UH instrumentation and analog recording is a contin u 589 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: s wave of sound. Right Like, just as I am 590 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,680 Speaker 1: creating sound right now, to you, Joe, maybe not to 591 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: the listeners because they're listening to a digital file, but 592 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 1: to you, Joe, I'm creating sound is a continuous a 593 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:16,439 Speaker 1: wave every time I'm generating that sound, right, But you, 594 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:21,719 Speaker 1: you listeners at home, are getting, unfortunately, just a sampling's voice, 595 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 1: because that's the digital conversion. So if you were to 596 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: look at analog music in a in a form where 597 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 1: you're you know, you're trying to visualize it, we always 598 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,759 Speaker 1: use the wave form, right, That's that's how we we 599 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:39,680 Speaker 1: visually depict a a sound file or a sound or 600 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:44,440 Speaker 1: rather a sound wave in an analog format. UM. And 601 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:48,400 Speaker 1: this is because it's continuous. There's no point where in 602 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:50,840 Speaker 1: one moment it ends in the next moment it begins. 603 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: For for a single sound, it's it's continuous until the 604 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:58,560 Speaker 1: sound is done. Um, this is different from digital. Digital 605 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:03,120 Speaker 1: is discreet. Digital. You have numbers that represent a single 606 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: slice of time at which point there is a sound, 607 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:10,560 Speaker 1: and the number of slices of time you have within 608 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:14,400 Speaker 1: say a second, tells you the sample rate that you 609 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 1: have for your digital sound file. The sample rate is 610 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 1: how many times you sample that sound within a second 611 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,319 Speaker 1: h to represent it in a digital format. The more 612 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: times you do it, the closer it's going to sound 613 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:30,719 Speaker 1: to the original analog source. But also the more information 614 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 1: you are including in your sound file. Your file gets 615 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:36,080 Speaker 1: bigger and bigger as your sample rate goes up. Right, 616 00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:41,080 Speaker 1: But if your sample rate is really low, then it's 617 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:44,680 Speaker 1: almost like you are only able to listen to a 618 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 1: fraction of a second of each moment that you're listening 619 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,359 Speaker 1: to music. It will be a very different experience than 620 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:54,879 Speaker 1: if it's a continuous experience. You know, a continuous uh performance, 621 00:36:55,480 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 1: and that all applies to playback and stuff recording a 622 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,480 Speaker 1: piece of music and then playing it back. You could 623 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:07,640 Speaker 1: have an analog playback format like a vinyl record or 624 00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:12,440 Speaker 1: digital playback format like an MP three or SC or something. Uh. 625 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:15,360 Speaker 1: But but here we're we're talking about the generation of 626 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:19,400 Speaker 1: sounds inside the machine and that that happens differently in 627 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: digital versus analog ways to So in the digital version, 628 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,759 Speaker 1: and the way MOG would explain it is, you know, 629 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: you've got a sound saved in memory that's represented digitally 630 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,399 Speaker 1: a set of values. You call that up, you send 631 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:37,680 Speaker 1: it to the speakers, and the speakers play it, so 632 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:41,400 Speaker 1: they create the vibrations there With an analog generated tone, 633 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,319 Speaker 1: what's coming out of the speakers is generated by the 634 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:49,920 Speaker 1: natural vibrations of the electronic components in the machine, right, 635 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,279 Speaker 1: And by by vibrations, we're talking about the frequency of 636 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:58,520 Speaker 1: the the electronic signal. Yeah, so it's the circuitry that's 637 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:03,319 Speaker 1: making the sound as opposed to just replicating something with 638 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,480 Speaker 1: ones and zeros. It is a bit of a fine distinction. 639 00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:12,200 Speaker 1: There's also there's also another concept called sample precision, which 640 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:15,839 Speaker 1: tells you how big a gradation you have when you're 641 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: doing a step from one sampled moment of a of 642 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,080 Speaker 1: a piece to the next. Um Like, are you able 643 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,520 Speaker 1: to get that so precise that it feels like a 644 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,440 Speaker 1: continuous piece of music. Because one of the things about 645 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:34,160 Speaker 1: a analog wave is that you have an infinite number 646 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:37,520 Speaker 1: of values within any analog wave, right, because you could 647 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 1: just keep getting more and more fine tuned. So uh like, 648 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:47,240 Speaker 1: if you're looking at a sixty hurts uh frequency sound 649 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 1: wave where it's going from positive sixty to negative sixty 650 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: hurts any point in there, you could say, like, all right, 651 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:56,040 Speaker 1: well here's twenty hurts right here, this is the part 652 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,800 Speaker 1: of a period of a wave where it's a twenty hurts. 653 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:00,640 Speaker 1: But then you can zoom in and say, okay, well 654 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:04,359 Speaker 1: here's twenty point five hurts. You can zoom in more 655 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,160 Speaker 1: is it? Here's twenty point five five hurts, and you 656 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,480 Speaker 1: could keep on doing that. With digital you can't. You 657 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,520 Speaker 1: have a specific value for a specific moment of time, 658 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,800 Speaker 1: and then you have a specific value for the next 659 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,440 Speaker 1: moment of time. But there's nothing in between. You can't 660 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:23,319 Speaker 1: you can't zoom in any further. You are as far 661 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:25,600 Speaker 1: in as you can go. So they are discreet. There 662 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,359 Speaker 1: is a finite amount of representation in a digital file. 663 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,279 Speaker 1: There's infinite and analog. Jonathan, are you trying to get 664 00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:37,680 Speaker 1: me to have thoughts about my mortality? You know? I 665 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,120 Speaker 1: got some stuff to sell you after the end of 666 00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:42,399 Speaker 1: this podcast, but I'll save it for when we're off 667 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,240 Speaker 1: the air. We have a bit more to say about 668 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,319 Speaker 1: the Mogue synthesizer, at least part one of it, but 669 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:51,320 Speaker 1: we'll be doing that after we have this quick break. 670 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,240 Speaker 1: So one thing I thought would be really cool, obviously, 671 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:07,000 Speaker 1: is to talk about these modules, the circuitry that are 672 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,799 Speaker 1: that's in a Mogue synthesizer and actually explain what the 673 00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 1: heck these things do, because if you know, we're talking 674 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:17,120 Speaker 1: about generalities and and the principles behind it, but how 675 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,920 Speaker 1: does it actually work? Right? Well, we we mentioned before 676 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:23,520 Speaker 1: that the the this idea of a synthesizer is made 677 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: out of modules, and that's modules in the sense of 678 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:30,920 Speaker 1: something being modular right there. There are pieces that you 679 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:33,759 Speaker 1: can insert and exchange, and the basic idea is that 680 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:38,920 Speaker 1: each module does something specific and relatively simple. You get 681 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,080 Speaker 1: even more simple when you look at the components within 682 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,879 Speaker 1: those modules. They are they are like the embodiment of 683 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:48,879 Speaker 1: that idea. Each circuitry component does a very specific thing 684 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,520 Speaker 1: and that's all it does. And that simplicity is what 685 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:55,960 Speaker 1: allows you to pair these with other elements to create 686 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:59,279 Speaker 1: more complexity. So when you break it down to its 687 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:03,600 Speaker 1: individual parts, it's simple. When you put them all collectively together, 688 00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:05,919 Speaker 1: that's where it gets complex and you start to think 689 00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:08,440 Speaker 1: you've got to have a degree in physics to play 690 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:11,880 Speaker 1: this instrument. And uh, it's really cool. Well, we know 691 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:13,440 Speaker 1: that there are going to be a lot of different 692 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:17,440 Speaker 1: ways of manipulating the sound electronically, but I'm interested in 693 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 1: where the sound actually comes from. What like, So a 694 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:22,959 Speaker 1: sound is a vibration in the air, but that's got 695 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:27,839 Speaker 1: to originate with something oscillating inside the equipment. Where does 696 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:31,720 Speaker 1: that come from? That comes from? An oscillator actually is uh, 697 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,319 Speaker 1: which I originally thought was a breed of like kind 698 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:38,040 Speaker 1: of type of cat, part of the feline family. Where 699 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:42,799 Speaker 1: oscillators that's apparently awesome lots you know they're called oscillators, right, 700 00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:47,680 Speaker 1: So oscillators are that's what provides the the the oscillation 701 00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:53,920 Speaker 1: the frequency here of a a an electric electronic signal. 702 00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:58,120 Speaker 1: So oscillators don't have to be electronic, right, Oscillators can 703 00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:01,360 Speaker 1: be a pendulum is an oscillator? Is it? Is? It 704 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:03,879 Speaker 1: pretty much that if anything goes back and forth, it's 705 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,279 Speaker 1: an oscillator pretty much. Yeah, it's something that it has 706 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:11,239 Speaker 1: a a wave, and it has each you know, it 707 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:15,719 Speaker 1: has this periodic behavior to it that repeats until some 708 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:18,880 Speaker 1: other force causes it to stop. In the case of 709 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: a pendulum, friction will eventually cause the pendulum to stop swinging. 710 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:26,360 Speaker 1: So when Mo slaps Larry and curly back and forth 711 00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:31,680 Speaker 1: rapidly between their two faces, his hand is yeah, it's oscillating, 712 00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:34,719 Speaker 1: and uh yeah. So an oscillator swings back and forth 713 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:38,560 Speaker 1: a certain number of times in a certain number within 714 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:41,200 Speaker 1: a certain time period. Usually we talked about a second 715 00:42:41,239 --> 00:42:43,880 Speaker 1: being the time period and the number would be at 716 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,080 Speaker 1: least in sound. We talked about it. It hurts by 717 00:42:47,239 --> 00:42:50,439 Speaker 1: the length of time that a waves period passes through 718 00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:53,719 Speaker 1: a certain stationary point. So a period on a wave, 719 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:56,080 Speaker 1: you pick a stationary point on a wave. Let's the 720 00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:58,680 Speaker 1: easiest is either the peak or the trough, like the 721 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 1: lowest point or the highest point on a wave, and 722 00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:05,279 Speaker 1: you go to the next peak or trough, whichever one 723 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:09,400 Speaker 1: you picked. So peak to peak from mountain, valley, mountain 724 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:13,440 Speaker 1: to mountain, and that distance from that same point on 725 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:17,239 Speaker 1: those on those two sections, that's the period of the 726 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,440 Speaker 1: wave and the number of times that passes. Uh that 727 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:24,080 Speaker 1: happens within a second. That's the frequency, and if it 728 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:27,440 Speaker 1: happens twenty times in a second, that's twenty hurts. Hurts 729 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,680 Speaker 1: as the unit we give for frequency, and twenty hurts 730 00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:35,160 Speaker 1: is again at that low level of perception for humans, 731 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:36,839 Speaker 1: like that's that's about as low as you can go 732 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:39,640 Speaker 1: after that. When you go lower than twenty hurts, you 733 00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:42,320 Speaker 1: get into sounds that you cannot hear, but you can feel, 734 00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:46,680 Speaker 1: like if you've ever felt the force of something but 735 00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:51,760 Speaker 1: you're not actually hearing anything. That's probably below twenty hurts. Uh. 736 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:53,680 Speaker 1: And then of course if you get up to twenty 737 00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:57,080 Speaker 1: thousand hurts, that means that the waves are repeating twenty 738 00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:01,760 Speaker 1: times a second. That's that the upper end of human hearing. 739 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:06,319 Speaker 1: And also the frequency relates to the pitch, right, The 740 00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,239 Speaker 1: lower the frequency of the lower the pitch, The higher 741 00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:10,760 Speaker 1: the frequency, the higher the pitch, more vibrations per second, 742 00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:15,480 Speaker 1: the higher it sound exactly. So Uh, the oscillator is 743 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:19,319 Speaker 1: the heart of the synthesizer. The oscillator is what allows 744 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:22,960 Speaker 1: this frequency to happen and then be sent to the 745 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:27,040 Speaker 1: other modules to have it altered in some way. So 746 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,520 Speaker 1: you could just use an oscillator. In fact, you could 747 00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:34,120 Speaker 1: just use an oscillator connected to speakers, but you would 748 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,920 Speaker 1: just constantly be generating noise because there'll be no governing 749 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,680 Speaker 1: element there to stop it from making noise. As long 750 00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:43,520 Speaker 1: as that course it had a signal coming into it, 751 00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:45,799 Speaker 1: you obviously have to feed it with electricity. So a 752 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:50,200 Speaker 1: very simple oscillator would be pairing a capacitor with an inductor. 753 00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:55,279 Speaker 1: These are two very basic electronic components, and a capacitor 754 00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:58,040 Speaker 1: is essentially a pair of plates and you build up 755 00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:00,759 Speaker 1: the charge on one plate until there's enough charge for 756 00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:04,359 Speaker 1: it to jump across the gap. So capacitors are kind 757 00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:06,960 Speaker 1: of like batteries. They store energy, but they release all 758 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:10,359 Speaker 1: their energy in a single go acting batteries. Yeah, so 759 00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:15,000 Speaker 1: like the flash on an old camera, flash that works 760 00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:18,080 Speaker 1: by capacitor because you wanted to release the energy all 761 00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,560 Speaker 1: at once. If it were a battery, the light would 762 00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:22,839 Speaker 1: take too long to light up and go down, and 763 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:25,080 Speaker 1: it would you would never get a good photograph. So 764 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:27,400 Speaker 1: they're different from batteries and that they release all that 765 00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:31,200 Speaker 1: energy at one time. The inductor is essentially a coil 766 00:45:31,239 --> 00:45:34,640 Speaker 1: of wire and when it encounters electrical charge, it creates 767 00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: a magnetic field. So if you pair a capacitor with 768 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:41,640 Speaker 1: an inductor. What happens is electricity goes from the capacitor, 769 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:45,239 Speaker 1: discharges into the inductor, which creates a magnetic field. That 770 00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:48,080 Speaker 1: magnetic field begins to build up a charge on the 771 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:53,920 Speaker 1: capacitor's other plate. So you're getting the polar opposite charge. 772 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,280 Speaker 1: So talk about voltages, Actually you get the polar opposite voltage. 773 00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:00,719 Speaker 1: So you put in sixty volts on one side, it's 774 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,960 Speaker 1: the minus sixty volts coming back the other way. Uh. 775 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:07,319 Speaker 1: It's the way we describe the movement of electricity here. 776 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:10,640 Speaker 1: And then it discharges again, but now it's the opposite polarity, 777 00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:12,560 Speaker 1: and then it doesn't again. So that's why when you 778 00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:17,480 Speaker 1: look at the the wave depiction of uh sound, you 779 00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:20,040 Speaker 1: have those peaks and those valleys. It's the going from 780 00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 1: the positive end to the negative end of whatever that 781 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:26,759 Speaker 1: sound actually is um And it's pretty neat stuff. That's 782 00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:29,400 Speaker 1: a very but that's a very basic oscillator. That's and 783 00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:33,280 Speaker 1: also it would just like a pendulum would eventually stop 784 00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:38,080 Speaker 1: because of friction, electronic oscillators would eventually stop if you 785 00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:40,600 Speaker 1: don't feed more energy into them, they'd eventually stopped because 786 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:44,120 Speaker 1: of resistance. You know, you have resistance with electric wires. 787 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:47,480 Speaker 1: That means you lose some energy to heat and eventually 788 00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:49,359 Speaker 1: you would lose enough where if you didn't pour more 789 00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:51,640 Speaker 1: energy into it, it would just stop. You wouldn't have 790 00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:55,240 Speaker 1: enough energy to discharge the capacitor in the first place. So, 791 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:58,600 Speaker 1: um a lot of reasons why it's similar to a 792 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:03,640 Speaker 1: physical oscillator, so that you're very basic component that is important. 793 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:06,360 Speaker 1: But like I said, if you don't have anything else, 794 00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:08,920 Speaker 1: like if you had a keyboard connected to an oscillator 795 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:10,960 Speaker 1: that was connected to a speaker, like an amplifier and 796 00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:15,080 Speaker 1: a speaker, then it would always be making noise. You 797 00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:17,840 Speaker 1: can change the pitch by pressing keys on the keyboard, 798 00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:20,279 Speaker 1: but it would never stop like it would you would 799 00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:23,080 Speaker 1: just be like, unplug this thing. It's a monstrosity. So 800 00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:27,320 Speaker 1: it sounds like some kind of gate a gatekeeper for voltage, 801 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:30,360 Speaker 1: and that would be the voltage controlled amplifier or v 802 00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:33,400 Speaker 1: c A, which can raise or lower the volume of 803 00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:37,520 Speaker 1: a synthesizer. And so it affects the amplitude of a wave. 804 00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:40,799 Speaker 1: The amplitude is how high and low those peaks and 805 00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:43,680 Speaker 1: troughs are right. So the frequency is the number within 806 00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:47,440 Speaker 1: a certain given amount of time. The amplitude is the 807 00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:51,719 Speaker 1: height the volume essentially of this and so with a 808 00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:53,720 Speaker 1: v C A you can lower that volume to nothing 809 00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,520 Speaker 1: and you can create a gate where the is a 810 00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:00,279 Speaker 1: very simple logic gate which essentially says, if there's a 811 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:05,080 Speaker 1: signal coming in, then allow it to go to the speaker. 812 00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:07,560 Speaker 1: So you would connect that so that when you press 813 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:10,279 Speaker 1: a key, that's essentially a signal saying I would like 814 00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:13,000 Speaker 1: you to make sound now, and when you stop pressing 815 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:15,080 Speaker 1: the key its I would like you to stop making 816 00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:17,560 Speaker 1: that horrible noise. And the v C A is what 817 00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:20,640 Speaker 1: allows that to happen. So that's another very basic component. 818 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:26,359 Speaker 1: Um there to your electronics. Look there there for me? 819 00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:29,640 Speaker 1: All right, I'm not there for them. You gotta understand 820 00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:34,160 Speaker 1: whose boss, otherwise electronics will rule your life. I hope 821 00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:38,000 Speaker 1: you enjoyed that classic episode from two thousand sixteen. We 822 00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:41,960 Speaker 1: will conclude the two partner next week and if you 823 00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:44,880 Speaker 1: have any suggestions for topics I should cover in tech Stuff, 824 00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:47,799 Speaker 1: you can either download the I Heart radio app. It's 825 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:49,759 Speaker 1: free to download and use. 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