Category: Jam Session
Hi guys. Just thought I'd pass this along and see what you all think of this. Moog is releasing a version of their Sub Phatty that has a Braille overlay on it. The post from Synthtopia can be found here:
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2014/05/03/moog-intros-sub-phatty-synth-for-visually-impaired-players/
I think it's great that Moog is doing something like this, especially since they're pricing it the same as the regular one. I haven't had much experience with Moog except toying around with some at the music place I do my shopping at, but to me they seem accessible as they are. There's literally a knob, switch, or button for everything so there's no need to worry about screens and screens of menus. It's just a matter of memorizing the function of each. Also, I wonder how exactly they did it? The Moogs I've seen have had pretty cluttered interfaces and I doubt they have the room to have the function of everything Brailled out.
I played Moogs back in the 80s, when they were old then. But I loved the things: sounded like real raw synthesis when you knew how to use them right. It just takes a lot of practice. And livens up the clubs, I will say that much! Fun stuff.
I don't know where they'd put a Braille overlay either, unless the new layouts are different: digitally-controlled analog, etc.
Anyway that is some serious fun. Those boards can be put into near any rig if you wanta do some fat horns, warm strings, or the monophonic growly synth stuff for old rock tunes, or even in front of a drum machine / bass sequence for rave. At least the early 90s industrial-ish rave.
I've no clue what a Moog synth is, but it sounds cool. Well, scratch that, I gather Moog is a brand, I've probably never heard the name or the sound.
If you play keyboard you need to look up Robert Moog, pronounced Moag, as he is the father of modern synthesis. He and Walter/Wendy Carlos.
As Walter Carlos he worked with Robert Moog on designs for analog synthesizers and as Wendy she has worked on a large number of movie soundtracks featuring synthesizers, famous among them being A Clockwork Orange.