The Bob Moog Foundation has announced its fall raffle for a fully-restored vintage Memorymoog Plus synthesizer, owned and signed by Dominic Milano, former longtime editorial director of Keyboard magazine. Milano was also the author of the original Memorymoog manual and a long-time friend of synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog.
The raffle began October 16, 2023 and ends on Monday, November 6, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. EDT, or when all 5,000 tickets are sold. Tickets are $25 each, 5 for $100, 12 for $200, and 35 for $500. The winner of the instrument will also receive an original Memorymoog manual that will be inscribed to the winner by Milano. Tickets can be purchased at this link.
Milano originally received the Memorymoog Plus as partial payment for writing the manual in the mid-1980s. As a former member of the Bob Moog Foundation Board of Directors and a current member of its Board of Advisors, Milano saw the instrument’s potential after a recent restoration by renowned synthesizer technician Wes Taggart.
“After hearing Wes gush about what a great synth it was … I figured it would be perfect for the [Bob Moog] Foundation,” said Milano.
The Memorymoog Plus was Moog Music’s follow-up to the original Memorymoog, Moog’s first production instrument to offer programmable patches saved to a memory bank. This enabled users to recall pre-programmed sounds instantly. In addition to the instrument’s massive sound, made possible by six-voice polyphony and three voltage-controlled oscillators, Milano cites the 100-patch memory bank as a favorite feature.
“Being able to use a foot switch to advance through patches was a godsend for live gigs,” he recounts.
The Memorymoog Plus added functionality over the original model with a MIDI interface, as well as polyphonic and monophonic sequencers.
The Memorymoog Plus up for raffle is noteworthy not only for its massive sound and historic innovations but also its unique provenance. The instrument was owned exclusively by Milano, who helped launch Keyboard magazine in 1975 as assistant editor and would eventually become its editor-in-chief and editorial director.
Keyboard magazine quickly established itself as a publication at the forefront of the rapidly evolving synthesizer industry. Milano and Keyboard magazine Founding Editor Tom Darter interviewed Bob Moog for the magazine’s first issue. This interview sparked an ongoing relationship between Bob Moog and the publication, with Bob Moog agreeing to write a regular column, “On Synthesizers.”
“That was the start of a multi-decade friendship that I will always cherish,” Milano said.
The Bob Moog Foundation is proud to offer this historic instrument to the public to enhance its ability to inspire new generations of creators and innovators for years to come.
All proceeds from the raffle of the instrument, valued at $15,000, will benefit the Bob Moog Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that seeks to inspire creative thinking at the intersection of science, music, history, and innovation through its three hallmark projects: Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, and the Moogseum.
“The Bob Moog Foundation is proud to be sharing this iconic Memorymoog Plus while also bringing to light Dominic Milano’s unique history as it relates to this synthesizer and the synthesizer community,” noted Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation. “Keyboard magazine was an essential source of information for a burgeoning synthesizer community when the technology was quickly evolving. Thousands of synthesists have Dominic and the Keyboard team of editors and writers to thank for what quickly became an indispensable resource for a worldwide community.”
The Memorymoog Plus raffle ends on Monday, November 6, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. EDT, or when all 5,000 tickets are sold. For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to the Bob Moog Foundation website.
“Valued at $15K” will raise some eyebrows, heh heh. Keyboard magazine was a serious win for many budding players, including me, so I understand the historic aroma. The original Memorymoog was released too soon and had tuning bugs, etc. Being tweaked to the max, this Plus model won’t come burdened with any of that. I hope the buyer will actually play it, not just collect it.
I’ve had my share of Moogs, but I’m happy with Cherry Audio’s Memorymode. It has a righteous sound that feels like the old hardware, minus the oscillator drift and being able to cook a burrito on the heat sink.
There was a Memorymoog in Excellent condition that sold on Reverb a few years ago for close to $20k. More recent sales, though, have been closer to $10-11k, probably because of the Moog One being out.
You’re missing the point, though. This is a fund raiser for a non-profit, the prize is a very cool synth and your odds are way better than a lottery ticket.
Couldn’t agree more about the MemoryMode. I had my MM for a decade before having to let it go unfortunately and I accepted that no software was ever going to get it right. Until Cherry Audio I think there had only been two small attempts and they were garbage. MemoryMode IS the sound I heard in my studio for ten years. I don’t know how they did it, but it is pure synth beef. A miracle. Now if someone would just make a damn hardware controller for it…
Software synths don’t match the sound of classic analog synth, except for recreating specific mainstream sounds.
It’s “selling the sizzle, not the steak”.
Companies tailor soft synths to recreate some key patches effectively and that’s enough to make people happy. If a soft synth can do the ‘Jump’ sound pretty well, people will think they’ve got an Oberheim OB-X.
Synthesizers are for making music. If you’re standing in your studio A/B-ing softsynths against the real thing, you’re doing it wrong. The Cherry Audio instruments are great. They’re not identical to the originals, but who cares?
Quick question, is Bob Moog Foundation independent from the normal Moog business?
I’m asking because I don’t want to support InMusic…
The Bob Moog Foundation is a completely independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that preserves Bob Moog’s work in three main ways: they create STEM educational content that teaches kids science through sound; they preserve Bob Moog’s archives; and they created and run the Moogseum.
We’ve noted this in our coverage of BMF for the last decade, because some people confuse the non-profit with the for-profit Moog Music.
This is unfortunate and a bit ironic, because it’s fair to say that Moog Music has been somewhat at odds with the BMF for much of the last decade. This is because Moog Music has a commercial interest in controlling and using Bob Moog’s image and legacy.
Moog Music did donate a synth for a Foundation raffle last year, and that appeared to represent a ‘thawing’ in their relationship.
Torgood, my only real point of disagreement would be that even 2 or 3 Minimoogs will have slightly different overall tones. I don’t ask for a 100% recreation in software; that would be unreasonable. I accept the differences because I couldn’t own a Memorymoog any other way, so that 85%-95% accuracy sounds pretty good. Remember, its people like us who create the gear; they want things to get close to the mark, too. My response is “Shut up and take my money!” 😛
Just remember, if you win something, you have to pay windfall tax. For this Memorymoog, it would be wise to have at least five grand in cash lying around. If you don’t have it, you will probably have to sell the Memorymoog just to pay the tax on winning it. Welcome to reality.