page_title: Moog Music
section_title: 1970 – Minimoog
hierarchical_section_title: Moog Music / Major products / 1970 – Minimoog
caption_attribution_description: Minimoog synthesizer
context_page_description: Moog Music Inc. is an American company based in Asheville, North Carolina, which manufactures electronic musical instruments. It was founded in 1953 as R. A. Moog Co. by Robert Moog and his father and was renamed Moog Music in 1972. Its early instruments included various Moog modular synthesizer systems, including the world's first commercial synthesizer, followed by the launch of the Minimoog in 1970, which became one of the most coveted and influential electronic instruments of all time.
  In 1971, following a recession, Robert Moog sold Moog Music to Norlin Musical Instruments, where he remained employed as a designer until 1977. In 1978, he founded a new company, Big Briar. Moog Music declared bankruptcy in 1987 and the Moog Music trademark was returned to Robert Moog in 2002 when Big Briar resumed operations under the name Moog Music.
  Moog Music also manages Moogfest, a pioneering electronic music and music technology festival in Durham, NC.
context_section_description: Despite the success of the Moog, its relatively large size made it impractical for general use. Together with engineers Jim Scott and Bill Hemsath, Moog built the Minimoog. The Minimoog employed the minimal number of modules possible and did away with patch cords, instead hardwiring the various modules together. Furthermore, the Minimoog introduced the pitch wheel, enabling vibrato and pitch-bending an interval of a perfect fifth above or below the note played on the keyboard. Its compact size and range of available sounds allowed the Minimoog to be a comparative success, selling over 13,000 units over the next decade. Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Tangerine Dream were among the numerous musicians who used the Minimoog.
  Other variations on the Minimoog continued to be produced, until the company simply decided to re-release the Minimoog in 2016.
caption: The Minimoog, introduced 1970
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