Moog Music Resumes Production Of The World’s First Portable Synthesizer

Asheville, NC, July 20, 2016 — Today, Moog Music announces that they have resumed production of the Minimoog Model D synthesizer after more than 30 years. Introduced in 1970, the Minimoog Model D was the first portable synthesizer and served as the archetype for all electronic keyboards that followed.  Conceived as a response to the large-scale modular synthesizers of the 1960’s, the Minimoog’s portability, affordability and accessibility made it the go-to instrument for musicians looking to expand beyond the traditional sounds of the time.  Bernie Worrell used the Minimoog to establish Parliament Funkadelic’s futuristic funk sound.  Kraftwerk employed the Minimoog on the successful concept album Autobahn, sparking an entirely new genre.  Gary Numan replaced his live band’s guitars with Minimoog’s, creating the prototype for industrial music.  The classic sound of the Minimoog Model D can be heard on Bob Marley’s Catch A Fire, Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic; Detailed in the mini-doc series “A Brief History Of The Minimoog”. Moog Music today releases the second installment of the series chronicling the influential artists of the 80’s & 90’s who used the Minimoog Model D to explore new genres and discover the sounds of tomorrow.

Each Minimoog Model D is lovingly handcrafted at Moog’s employee-owned factory in Asheville, NC.  This legendary 3-oscillator monophonic instrument is securely housed in a hand-finished aluminum chassis and  locally-sourced Appalachian hard-wood enclosure.  To realize the unmistakable sound of the world’s first performance synthesizer,  Moog Music preserves the component placement and through-hole design of the original analog circuit boards, employing military-spec precision resistors and custom-reissued transistors to complete the circuit.

Though no changes have been made to the original sound engine or audio signal path, the Minimoog Model D now includes a series of functional modifications to expand the instrument’s sonic capabilities beyond the factory specifications of a 1970’s production unit. These modifications include a premium Fatar keybed with velocity and after pressure available via top panel CV jacks, a dedicated analog LFO with triangle and square waveshapes, CV outputs for pitch, gate, velocity and after pressure, basic MIDI integration, and a mixer overload modification, which when engaged, allows the Minimoog Model D to conjure thicker and far more overdriven sounds than before.

The Minimoog Model D is now available for order through authorized Moog dealers world-wide.

*NOTE: Due to the complexity of the build process coupled with the demand for other Moog instruments, we are only able to produce a small number of Minimoog Model D units per month. 

Kidz Gear Co-Sponsors Strider Cup World Championship for Children Around the World

San Francisco, CA, July 19, 2016— Kidz Gear™ www.GearForKidz.com, the award-winning Grown-up Performance, Built for Kids! brand, announced today that it is a co-sponsor of the 6th Annual Strider^® Cup World Championship for kids balance bike racing. Strider Bikes, the world’s leading manufacturer of children’s no-pedal balance bikes, will welcome over 500 1½ to 5 year old toddlers – some still in diapers – at the Strider Cup World Championship for balance bike racing, presented by FedEx, July 29-30 at Pier 35 in San Francisco, California.

 

Toddlers as young as 18 months old will put their bike skills to the test during these family-friendly races. The Strider Cup World Championship is co-sponsored by Kidz Gear, the leading provider of headphones for children, who is sponsoring the 4-year-old class. Additional sponsors include Golden Gate Urgent Car for the 2-year and under class, Yelp for the 3-year-old class, and Clover Stornetta Farms for the 5-year-old class.
 

Sennheiser Helps Train the Next Generation of Women in Audio with SoundGirls.org Camps

Old Lyme, Conn. July 19, 2016 – This summer, middle and high school aged girls have the opportunity to get hands-on training with professional audio gear at the SoundGirls.org Live Sound Camps. Audio specialist Sennheiser has joined in sponsoring these unique learning opportunities by providing 20 each of its professional HD 280 headphones and evolution series microphones for use during the workshops. Held four times over the summer in cities throughout the U.S., the Live Sound Camps provide an opportunity for girls to learn the basics of live audio from top professionals in the industry, covering topics from signal flow to microphone setup and mixing.

SoundGirls.org began three years ago following a panel hosted by Women's Audio Mission and Terri Winston at AES 2012 that acquainted some of the leading women in audio with one another, among them Karrie Keyes — known in the industry as the long-time monitor engineer for Pearl Jam. She and prominent front of house engineer Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato, whose credits include Gwen Stefani, Jewel, and Ke$ha, founded SoundGirls.org to provide a way for women in audio to network, share ideas, and provide support.

Keyes says the camps help present opportunities for girls within the audio industry at an early age. “When I was young and interested in doing something in music, I didn’t have any support or guidance at school,” Keyes says. “I found it very much by accident. But having the kind of experience we’re able to provide at the SoundGirls.org camps gives girls a chance to experience some of the opportunities that exist in the sound world well beyond what they might be exposed to in school. ”

Keyes and her instructors believe having access to the best professional audio gear is a key part of the experience for the campers. “I have used Sennheiser microphones and wireless gear with Pearl Jam for years, so by using Sennheiser equipment for the camps I knew we were giving our campers a true taste of pro gear.”

The first of this year’s five-day camps took place in Modesto, California on June 20^th, followed by Nevada City, California, Wilmington, Delaware, and St. Louis, Missouri. The curriculum begins with a look at audio safety before campers progress to learning the elements of a console, microphone placement, stage plots, and input lists. “Each afternoon we have local youth bands coming in and we let the girls set them up with the gear, so it’s really hands-on.” The Sennheiser e835 microphone will serve as the perfect choice for vocal micking, offering consistent on and off-axis performance thanks to its uniform frequency pick-up pattern and minimal proximity effect. The HD 280 Pro headphones provide the perfect tool for honing in on the right sound for the mix, boasting excellent sound quality backed by strong isolation from external noise. “It’s exciting for them to get to use the pro-level gear, and they pick it up incredibly quickly,” Keyes says.

The week culminates in a full live show that the campers run on their own, featuring some the week’s locally sourced talent. “It’s always really inspiring to see how much knowledge they’ve retained from the week,” says Keyes. “In particular I love to see them hit a snag and then figure out the solution on their own using what they’ve learned.”

The support of Sennheiser is a key to help Keyes and her colleagues further the overall mission of SoundGirls.org. “We have been lucky at SoundGirls.org to be able to create a support network for women working in audio at all levels that has been going strong for three years,” she says. “Now in our second year of running camps for girls, we are excited to open up a world of possibilities for the next generation of women in audio, and we couldn’t do it without the help of sponsors like Sennheiser.”


Image captions:
1) Sennheiser is sponsoring the SoundGirls.org Live Sound camps, which provide an opportunity for middle and high school age girls to get hands on experience in the professional audio industry.

2) Sennheiser provided several of its e835 dynamic microphones to help campers capture detailed sound from local bands performing at the camps.

3) Campers using Sennheiser's HD 280 Pro headphones to hone in on just the right sound.