Cue Theremin and synthesizer dirge...

Robert Moog has passed away after battling a brain tumor for several months. He is generally considered the inventor of the analog synthesizer, heard in the late sixties on everything from Wendy Carlos' Switched On Bach to the Beatles' Maxwell's Silver Hammer.

Though the analog synthesizer (complex, hard to tune and keep that way, limited sound palette) has mostly given way to the digital synthesizer (simpler, computer-controlled through MIDI, easy to change the sound by changing samples), there is still a demand for that "old school" analog sound as found on albums like Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd—though the synthesizer used there was the British-made Putney VCS-3, which has a sound all its own. Check out the Moog Cookbook CDs (an acquired taste, but great stuff) for some entertaining aural landscapes.It should also be mentioned that the synthesizer did not spring full-blown from Mr. Moog's mind like Athena from the head of Zeus, but has its antecedents going back as far as the electronic musical instrument known as the Theremin (as used on the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations--check out this excellent documentary)—in fact, Moog's current company still makes them.Another major influence on the Moog synthesizer was the electronic work of his one-time mentor, Harry Warnow—still practically unknown as the composer Raymond Scott—whose music was used by Carl Stalling in countless Warner Bros cartoons under license; for example: his most famous composition, Powerhouse (MP3 sample clip) appears in more than 35 Warner Brothers cartoons itself. Mr. Warnow built synthesizers and sequencers that were primarily used for sound effects in commercials (MP3 sample clip), though he did design other instruments.

Another interesting bit of Raymond Scott trivia: Johnny Williams, his Quintette drummer—the drummer on the Powerhouse sample linked above—was the father of John Williams, the Star Wars composer. You can definitely hear Scott's influence, especially on tunes like the Cantina Band sequence from the first Star Wars film.