Moog Google Doodle
Google has truly outdone themselves with today's Google Doodle. Or should we say Moog Doodle. That beautiful sounding (and looking) piece of analog synth hardware on the Google main page is in celebration of what would have been the 78th birthday of Dr. Robert "Bob" Moog, the father of the modern synthesizer.
Using HTML5, Google's boffins have created a playable, and more importantly, recordable virtual Moog synth. The app works best in Google Chrome (natch) and allows the user to play the keys right on screen or through their keyboard. Try tweaking all of the knobs and switches to change up the sounds produced by it in innumerable ways. The reel-to-reel recorder gives you four tracks to craft your sound and share it.
My humble first attempt at Moognificence is a re-creation of Deep Purple's legendary riff to "Smoke on the Water" (which is pretty much the only thing I can play, but, I can play it on just about any instrument!) Click to listen.
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| More examples of the Moog Synth (used under Creative Commons) |
If you are unfamiliar with the creation of Bob Moog (pronounced properly as rhyming with "vogue") but the sounds still ring familiar, there are several very good reasons for it. Moog synthesizers and their offspring feature in numerous classic rock standards, film soundtracks like Wendy Carlos' legendary recordings for A Clockwork Orange and Tron, and are among the earliest strands of the DNA of EDM. While other electric and electronic (even mechanical) instruments predate the mid-60's birth of the Moog, it was Dr. Moog's creation that gave keyboard players (especially in the progressive rock scene) a fantastical new way to color their sound.
One of the earliest and best examples of a Moog synth line can be found in the solo to Emerson, Lake & Palmer's classic, "Lucky Man".
If you try your hand at creating something using Google's Moog Doodle, please share the link to it in the comments!
UPDATED: Clever people with real music skills (ie: not me) are now posting their Moog Doodle creations to YouTube. For this particular rendition of Daft Punk's "Aerodynamic" all that needs to be said to re-composer Brett Domino is: Well done, indeed!
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