Product Description

Though ubiquitous today, available as a single microchip and found in any electronic device requiring sound, the synthesizer when it first appeared was truly revolutionary. Something radically new--an extraordinary rarity in musical culture--it was an instrument that used a genuinely new source of sound: electronics. How this came to be--how an engineering student at Cornell and an avant-garde musician working out of a storefront in California set this revolution in motion--is the story told for the first time in Analog Days, a book that explores the invention of the synthesizer and its impact on popular culture.

The authors take us back to the heady days of the 1960s and early 1970s, when the technology was analog, the synthesizer was an experimental instrument, and synthesizer concerts could and did turn into happenings. Interviews with the pioneers who determined what the synthesizer would be and how it would be used--from inventors Robert Moog and Don Buchla to musicians like Brian Eno, Pete Townshend, and Keith Emerson--recapture their visions of the future of electronic music and a new world of sound.

Tracing the development of the Moog synthesizer from its initial conception to its ascension to stardom in Switched-On Bach, from its contribution to the San Francisco psychedelic sound, to its wholesale adoption by the worlds of film and advertising, Analog Days conveys the excitement, uncertainties, and unexpected consequences of a new technology that would provide the soundtrack for a critical chapter of our cultural history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #417341 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Library Journal
The sleek digital synthesizer of today is so easy to play and so ubiquitous in the world of popular music that its presence is often taken for granted. In this well-researched, entertaining, and immensely readable book, Pinch (science & technology, Cornell Univ.) and Trocco (Lesley Univ., U.K.) chronicle the analog synthesizer's early, heady years, from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. The authors give preeminent pioneer Robert Moog due prominence, but they also chart the achievements of other luminaries from this era, such as rival inventors Donald Buchla and Alan Perlman, composers Wendy Carlos and Pauline Oliveras, and rock stars Keith Emerson and Mick Jagger. American readers will be interested to learn details of a lesser-known British entry in the analog synthesizer field-the VCS3-which became the preferred tool of many rock stars of the 1970s. The authors are especially effective in exploring the cultural, sociological, and economic sides to the synthesizer revolution. Throughout, their prose is engagingly anecdotal and accessible, and readers are never asked to wade through dense, technological jargon. Yet there are enough details to enlighten those trying to understand this multidisciplinary field of music, acoustics, physics, and electronics. Highly recommended.
Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, PA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
[An] unusually intelligent and straightforward cultural history.
--Sir George Martin, C.B.E. (20021108)

The sleek digital synthesizer of today is so easy to play and so ubiquitous in the world of popular music that its presence is often taken for granted. In this well-researched, entertaining, and immensely readable book, Pinch...and Trocco...chronicle the analog synthesizer's early, heady years, from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s...Throughout their prose is engagingly anecdotal and accessible, and readers are never asked to wade through dense, technological jargon. Yet there are enough details to enlighten those trying to understand this multidisciplinary field of music, acoustics, physics, and electronics. Highly recommended.
--Larry Lipkis (Library Journal 20030111)

How many retrowavey, electroclashy hipsters really know the true roots of the sound they're preening and prancing to? We're not talking about '80s swill like Human League or Erasure--we're referring to Robert Moog, the inventor of the eponymous sound-generating device that, more than any other single contraption, made the whole electronic-music world possible. Analog Days, penned by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco, is a richly detailed look at the early days of synthesized sounds, and is quite fascinating. (Time Out New York 20030201)

On the subject of discovery, Analog Days covers with polished authority the invention of the electronic music synthesizer by Robert Moog and its usage, between 1964 and the mid-'70s by such sonic explorers as Wendy Carlos, the Beatles and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, as well as the work done by electronic music pioneers Morton Subotnik, Don Buchla and Vladimir Ussachevsky, detailing the battle to use or not use the keyboard which so affected popular music.
--Brad Schreiber (Entertainment Today 20030113)

Pinch and Trocco interview the engineers and musicians who fashioned the new devices, and build up a satisfying picture of the one technology that caught the imagination of the "counterculture" of the 1960s and 1970s...[The authors] have a fascinating story to tell. Today, it is hard to recall what music was like when sounds were restricted to those made by blowing, plucking or hitting things. Music is ubiquitous as never before, and so are synthesized sounds: the two facts go together. So Analog Days is more than a chronicle of an encounter between old arts and new technology: it illuminates a defining technology of our culture.
--Jon Turney (New Scientist 20030221)

Through a series of detailed interviews with people associated with the Moog's development, ranging from Bob Moog himself to assorted technicians, sound gurus, marketing people and musicians who had input into the Moog's development, they reconstruct, with the care of anthropologists studying the habits of some obscure tribe, how exactly it was that the Moog became a significant force in musical culture in the 1960s.
--Marcus Boon (The Wire 20040101)

[Pinch and Trocco] have a fascinating story to tell. Today, it is hard to recall what music was like when sounds were restricted to those made by blowing, plucking or hitting things. Music is ubiquitous as never before, and so are synthesized sounds: the two facts go together. So Analog Days is more than a chronicle of an encounter between old arts and new technology: it illuminates a defining technology of our culture. (New Scientist )

In Analog Days, Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco tell the story of how the Moog synthesizer came about. They discuss how synthesizers reflected and reinforced cultural aspirations for transformation and transcendence, which were so prevalent in the 1960s. And they explore how this particular synthesizer--developed by Robert Moog and colleagues in a funky storefront in Trumansburg, New York...managed to beat out a host of competitors for commercial success and popular acceptance...Pinch and Trocco have crafted an informative and entertaining account of the complex process by which new instruments and inventions come about, and they analyze the relationship among inventor, user, and general public that leads to widespread acceptance of a new medium or tool...The book is crammed with wonderful stories and details about the many colorful scientists, musicians, salesmen, and cult figures...whose lives intersected through the lure of new musical possibilities...This is a story well worth telling, and Pinch and Trocco do it well.
--Tod Machover (Science )

A compelling narrative presented in a thoroughly readable style and told with real affection for its subject matter, the book tells the reader pretty much everything they could want to know about the topic, and if it didn't make even the most unmusical reader desperate to get their hands on an analogue synth and a set of patch cords, I'd be very surprised.
--Jeremy Gilbert (Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory )

Review
[An] unusually intelligent and straightforward cultural history.
--Sir George Martin, C.B.E. (20021108)

Customer Reviews

True Analog Bliss
I found this book to be incredibly interesting. So interesting, in fact, that it made me wish I had been involved with the analog synthesizer scene during the era which this book details. Hearing the stories and personal accounts of individual contributions to the development, marketing, and subsequent musical evolution caused by the early analog synthesizers, made me lust for yesteryear.



After reading several compliants regarding the sociological study-aspect of this work, it must be stated that the sociological impact analysis is a vital component of the historical content contained within. In fact, if the sociological discussion was ommitted, the work would suffer, as I feel the Moog's and early synthesizer's impact on society is a fascinating subject. During the time period which this book dissects, individuals were, for the first time, hearing totally unique and original sounds. Unfortunately, humanity has since become jaded to the excrutiating beauty of subtractive analog synthesis. The statement which described the sound of two analog oscillators beating against each other on the morn of (I believe--challenging my memory here) the second day of Woodstock, reflecting it was the first time many had heard that exact sound, made me yearn to be there.



Ultimately, if you are interesting in an account of historical fact, coupled with social impact commentary as it pertains to these now ancient analog synthesizers, and associated early sequencers, read this book. However, if you have no desire to learn of yesteryear and absorb depictions of the early evolution of music technology, which has led to the crap that is virtual analog, don't waste your time.

A Good History of the Moog Synthesizer
As an unsatisfiable 'gear head,' the thing I thought was lacking was a greater examination of the modular Moog itself, and especially a detailed analysis of some of the more esoteric/custom modules that Moog made for various customers. After all, this was THE machine that set the engineering standards for years, almost decades to come. (Case in point, Moog's 902 Voltage-Controlled Amplifier was developed in the early '60s, and yet is still almost CD audio quality some 40 years later!) At least give us some loving closeups of Keith Emerson's 'Monster Moog!'

The interviews make up for the lack of photos, especially with the lesser-known lights who helped blaze the trail but are largely forgotten today.

Not just a biography on the Moog Synthesizer, but early synths
An enjoyable read. I've been a Moog enthusiast for many years. Recently I've seen the Video Biography on Robert Moog as well and these complement each other. The enjoyable thing about the book is that is delivers good information on early synth development and there appears to be a division as to how musicians wanted to use these synths. Robert Moog worked closely with musicians who wanted a keyboard trigger and this became a worldwide format, but there was an independent group who wanted a different means of triggering and not so set on a chromatic keyboard format. There is also a very detailed chapter on Wendy (Walter) Carlos. Those that were upset at her absense in the Moog Video Documentary can gain a bit more insight here. This triggered more interest for myself in her recordings.
Overall a very good history book on early synth development and good account of early Moog modular synth Development as well as an extensive chapter on the Minimoog as well. ARP and Buchla also included.