In celebration of Bob Moog’s 90th birthday, the non-profit Bob Moog Foundation has announced its latest fundraising raffle, featuring a Minimoog Model D reissue, signed by Jordan Rudess.

The synthesizer, donated by Moog Music for the raffle, features a beautifully distinctive Appalachian Cherry cabinet. It has been customized with pulse width modulation in and LFO out modifications, and builds upon the revolutionary legacy of the Minimoog.

The Minimoog featured has serial number MD-01730. The synthesizer was produced at the Moog Music factory in Asheville, North Carolina, and has an estimated value of $5,000 USD.

The three-oscillator, monophonic, analog synthesizer is housed in an Appalachian Cherry cabinet and hand-finished aluminum chassis.

Sounding as vibrant and deep as ever, its legendary low-pass ladder filter, powerful oscillators, and rich saturating mixer retain the exact component placement and through-hole design of a 1970s-era Minimoog Model D.

The Minimoog Model D reissue includes a series of popular functional modifications that expand this legendary instrument’s sonic capabilities. These modifications include a dedicated analog LFO with triangle and square waveshapes, a premium Fatar keybed with velocity and after pressure available via top panel CV jacks with onboard trimpots, MIDI integration, and a mixer feedback modification which allows the Minimoog Model D to overdrive and scream with the turn of a knob.

The Minimoog Model D reissue also features a spring-loaded pitch wheel with center deadband, allowing for improved playability. This newest edition also includes updates to the MIDI functionality, allowing for improved modern studio integration.

This modified Minimoog Model D reissue also features two new CV jacks.

• First, the onboard LFO now has a dedicated output jack. This jack will allow you to interface your Minimoog with external equipment or the new pulse width modulation modification (PWM) CV input.
• The PWM input is routed to the pulse width modulation modification oscillators 1, 2, and 3. PWM offers new timbres not found on stock Minimoogs. This modification was performed by Moog Music engineer Tim Johnston.

“The Minimoog became an organic friend to me because it’s designed in such a way that you can put your hand down on the key, you can turn a knob and things happen, and all the different interactions between the knobs became my world,” notes Rudess. “When I’m playing the Minimoog, I feel this like deep, organic brain-solid connection not only to the way it’s designed, but to the way that it sounds. The Minimoog was my first love when it came to synthesizers, but even now, when I have the perspective of playing so many different synths, I still go back to it fifty years later.”

The raffle is open now and ends on June 17, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. (EDT), and is open internationally. Tickets are $25 each, 5 for $100, 12 for $200, or 35 for $500. The winner will be announced on Friday, June 21, 2024.

Funds raised from the raffle will be used to expand the Bob Moog Foundation’s hallmark education project, Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, which has inspired over 30,000 elementary school students through the science of sound. The raffle will also help support the Bob Moog Foundation Archives and the Moogseum, an immersive, experiential facility located in Asheville, North Carolina.