While a graduate student in
engineering in New York, Robert Moog
wrote a magazine article introducing
do-it-yourself kits to build the
electronic musical instrument known as
the Theremin. In 1954 he founded a
company that sold Theremin kits, and
he began to dabble in electronic
circuitry to create and modulate
electronic sounds. The result was the
Moog synthesizer. In 1968 Wendy Carlos
(then Walter Carlos) released the
Grammy-winning album Switched-on
Bach, played entirely on a Moog.
The synthesizer quickly became a
significant instrument for pop
musicians, played by groups like The
Monkees and The Beatles (who used it
on Abbey Road) and contributing
to the amped-up sound of the disco
era. Moog continued to manufacture and
sell electronic musical instruments
until his death in 2005.