Following a small pilot production run back in 2016, Moog Music has announced the return to full production of the mighty Minimoog Model D analog synthesizer, which helped shape modern music from the 1970s onwards.
The idea for the original Minimoog was to make the company’s monstrous and expensive modular synthesizers more accessible to ordinary folk.
The first Minimoog prototype was a lunchtime project put together from discarded components and modules by R.A. Moog Company engineer Bill Hemsath, including a three-octave keyboard cobbled together using key caps from a larger keyboard that was raided for repairs – reportedly the first time a keyboard and a synthesizer were part of the same instrument.
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The Model A ended up with around six modules and a slide pod (which later became the pitch wheel), and the build project spawned three more prototypes over the next few years. But it was the walnut-encased Model D featuring controller, oscillator, mixer, modifier and output modules plus a built-in keyboard with pitch and mod wheels that went into production in 1970 as a portable synth for musicians.
Read more: New Atlas
