Bob Moog
interview by Skylaire Alfvegren
SECONDS: Do you have any predictions where electronic music technology will be heading in the next ten years?
MOOG: I think the two things we just talked about I see the clearest. Computers will become more important to musicians and sound synthesis will become more standardized and the devices you play will become more complex.
SECONDS: Do you ever run into analog synthesizer purists? Are they upset you're working with computers?
MOOG: Sometimes. My view is that I'm the engineer and as an engineer, it's not my place to be a purist. On the first day of engineering school, the dean of students said, ÒLet me tell you guys what an engineer is. An engineer is somebody who can do for two cents what any damned fool can do for three cents.Ó That's always been my view. We fill requirements at the cheapest price. If using ÒimpureÓ ways is the cheapest, then that's how we'll do it.
SECONDS: What music do you listen to?
MOOG: I listen to just about everything. I'm the most interested in experimental music — the crazier, the better. Among Electronic musicians, the artist I have the greatest respect for is Wendy Carlos. I'm not thinking of Switched-On Bach as much as I am her original music.
SECONDS: Do you keep abreast of trends in popular music?
MOOG: I'd have to say no. I find out about them but I don't make a point of following them.
SECONDS: Over the years, who has utilized Moog technology to the best and worst effect?
MOOG: There's an awful lot of worsts out there. What I call bad is musically uninteresting stuff and there's no end to that. I think a lot of these Techno bands are really interesting — Orbital, Stereolab, and Weezer. And Roger Manning and Brian Keho with their Moog Cookbook — that's a hoot! I laughed my head off!
SECONDS: Some very serious types were put off by Moog Cookbook.
MOOG: You can't stick me with that one. I'm not very serious.
"I can't imagine being a musician today without using a computer. I think the computer is the greatest tool for musicians since the invention of catgut."
"As an engineer, it's not my place to be a purist."
— Robert Moog
