Mars, The Bringer of War, From The Planets, On Moog Modular

This Moog Modular was originally owned by Gershon Kingsley and was played at the January 1969 performance of the Moog Quartet. Over the years, it was also owned by Ken Bichel and has had numerous additional modules installed.

The Analog Lab in NYC has restored this vintage Moog Modular and the unit can be heard in all its glory in this video (which even features some ‘vintage tuning effects’). No additional effects were added.

The guts of the system , over half of it, was the original modular system first owned by Gershon Kingsley. He used it in a group called The Moog Quartet, who gave the first ever live public performances of a synthesizer at The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.

Most of the modules are dated Jan.1969 (they are stamped inside), some Oct.1969, some 1971, a few later than that.

It is a huge system, with 6 oscillators, 4 filters (2 low pass, one high pass, & one fixed filter bank), 2 VCA’s, 4 envelope generators, and many other modules, some quite rare (such as the filter coupler) and topped off with 2 sequencers, complete with sequential switches and a sequential interface. It is three and a half cabinets worth of modules , with some room left in cabinet #1for future expansion- you could add additional modules if you have them or can find them.

A complete list of the modules follows. with cabinet #1 being the furthest left in the photos, #4 all the way to the right:

  • Cabinet 1: 1x 904a Low Pass Filter, 1x 904b High Pass Filter, 1x 904c Filter Coupler, 1x 911a Dual Trigger Delay, 1x 903 White Sound Source, Control Voltages (no model #), 6 blanks
  • Cabinet 2: 1x 901 VCO, 1x 903a Random Signal Generator, 1x 905 reverb unit, 1x 995 attenuator, 1x 912 envelope follower, 3x 901a oscillator controllers, 5x 901b oscillators, 2x 4 channel mixer modules (no model #)
  • Cabinet 3: 1x 907 Fixed Filter Bank, 1x 904a Low Pass Filter, Filter and Attenuator (no ID #), 2x 902 VCAs, 4x 911 Envelope Generators, 1x 911a Dual Trigger Delay, 2x 962 Sequential Switches, Envelope and Trigger Voltage Module (no model #), Mult module, Power Module w/ trigger and pitch in/out (no model#)
  • Cabinet 4: 2x 960 Sequential Controllers, 1x 961 Sequential interface,

The Moog modular is currently being auctioned on eBay.

via TheAnalogLab

 

5 thoughts on “Mars, The Bringer of War, From The Planets, On Moog Modular

  1. This is what modular synths dream of when they’re asleep. Or we’re asleep. Or all three.

    It’s no Tomita, but I liked it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *