via this auction
Piece of unrelated DIY work, or something actually from the early Moog days. You be the judge. This one is from the seller listing a number of Moog items from an estate sale supposedly of an early Moog engineer. I'm curious who that might be. The following is the item description:
"The auction is for a Moog thingamajig. I am not sure what this is. It is labeled only as a frequency divider. It was found with the Moog gear I have. Came from what I believe to be the estate of an early Moog engineer. as you can see it is in beyond rough shape. Case broken and missing parts. Boards damaged. Very incomplete. Yet its has some value to the Moog collector. Was this a custom built piece? A prototype? A rare part of the modular system? I do not know. But is for sure a missing link in Moog synthesizer history. Likely the only one to, well, sorta exist. So, here is what I see. We have 12 input, output sections. 12 pots labeled as scale.
12 breadboards underneath loaded with cap and resistors. Most boards look damn near identical. With one board looking a bit more complex. This excludes the 13th broken board, that may be a power supply board. or output board. The keyboard looks to be touch/force sensitive. Output jacks are labelled 1,2,4,8. With a switch for internal or external on each set of input, outputs. Check the pics. If any of you Moog junkies out there got any ideas. Please share. This is the first of a few unreleased Moog items I will be listing. I also have a Moog Apollo synthesizer. Which is from what I can tell a final rendition of the Polymoog keyboard, previous to its release. And another keyboard named the Moog "Polypreset".
Which shares some likeness to a Polymoog. But is really unique in features and layout."
Update: see this post for an update on the possible Moog tech this belonged to.
Very hard to say. A frequency divider with 12 outputs is how a basic organ works. Take a high freq oscillator and subdivide out the twelve notes of a full octave (C C# D D# etc). But how this works other than that, I have no idea. The 12 identical cards are just like a Farfisa or Vox organ, so nothing much of a synth nature, and no CV control doesn't indicate much of a Moog product. Who knows - someone's organ kit design?
ReplyDeleteCurious as to where the name "Moog" is anywhere on this device???
ReplyDeleteI don't think the name is on there. Though the wooden keyboard does slope underneath like a 950 modular keyboard, several of the other wooden parts don't match a 950 exactly. It seems maybe like someone modified a "divide down" transistor organ to have tunable pitches ("scale") for each of the 12 notes, and individual outputs for each tone? It does use the small BOSS-like knobs that resemble Moog knobs. And the rest of the pile is certainly some old Moog stuff, likely from when the factory in Buffalo closed...
ReplyDeleteThis is probably an early prototype polyphonic keyboard. As Brian points out above, you can generate the upper octave's notes, then use frequency dividing to get all the other notes, so you can use twelve oscillators to make all the notes you'd like, and all can be played at once. The "1, 2, 4, 8" powers-of-two markings are more than likely the various footing (octave) outputs of the frequency dividers, and the twelve scale knobs (one for each oscillator, so one for each note, regardless of the octave) let you program in alternative tunings, like with the Korg PS-3300.
ReplyDeleteRemember the Minimoog was made by Bill Hemsath in his spare time, if my memory of reading Analog Days serves, so maybe him or someone else made this too?
The external input and switch on the patchbay makes me think it was intended for a modular rig. Like.. a bigger/better EML Polybox.
ReplyDeleteHaving many old Moog products to compare these pics to, I can give a good guess as to what is Moog on that keyboard. The wood case is from an older 950 keyboard housing, and there is only the top half and sides. Cutout in the top is hacked in, and the metal panel is not typical of a Moog prototype. Usually made of black anodize, this appears painted. Hardware is not typical, as most Moog panhead screws had a flattened top. Moog would either etch or use Dymo lables, this has painted or rub-on labling. The pots, (Allen-Bradly), the jacks (Switchcraft), and those small toggles, are all typical of what Moog used. The knobs look strange, never seen these small type before with notch on top and dot on skirt. The wiring to the top half is also typical Moog wiring. This type grey covered with red, green, black three conducter was used on modular systems to provide power. But was not the type wiring used for audio, that would be shielded. That is the end of the Moog stuff. The rest of it is foreign, and not American made. My guess would be some kind of Italian organ. The keyboard (not Pratt-Read) and those circuit boards are not Moog at all. Even the resistors and caps look foreign, Moog never used anything like this. So half Moog- the wood, some wire, jacks, switches, and the pots. Half an unknown organ of some type.
ReplyDeleteSo without some note or story somewhere about Dave Luce throwing together a polyphonic prototype with electronics from a donor organ, I don't see any worth here. Very little Moog and absolutly not a Moog circuit in sight. The existing wiring with colors from the donor organ, tied with string is typical of Italian organs from that time. Looks like the Moog part is just tapping into that existing organ circuit and wiring, via those three conductor wires, and simply bringing those points to a panel. No Moog frequency divider, just a frequency divided organ.
Would be nice to ask someone from that time at Moog if they knew of this. Otherwise looks like home project. Could be something Dave Luce used to pitch the idea of a Polymoog? Needs documentation to be sure.