Moog Synthesizer III (1967–early 1970s)
The Synthesizer III was the largest of the first commercial Moog modular systems, sold alongside the Systems I and II beginning in 1967. It was a wall of voltage-controlled oscillators, filters, amplifiers, and envelope generators patched together with cables. The architecture was the same subtractive synthesis Bob Moog had been developing with composer Herb Deutsch since the 1964 prototype. Earlier vacuum-tube instruments didn't work this way. Moog's transistor-based circuits used voltage control, with pitch represented logarithmically by control voltages. That allowed precise, repeatable modulation of pitch, timbre, and amplitude.
In 1968, Moog expanded the system line into console (C) and portable (P) designations, and the Synthesizer III P - "the largest" of the systems - came in portable cases. Period photos of a 1968 III P layout show a relatively uncommon R.A. Moog 991 filter and attenuator module at the top of the first case. Keith Emerson used a Synthesizer III C on Trilogy (credited on the album as "Moog Synthesizer III C"). Florian Fricke of Popol Vuh used a Synthesizer III to add eerie, cosmic atmosphere to the group's 1970 debut Affenstunde, an album that avoided the "Switched-On" clichés of the time. Fricke's Moog can also be heard on Tangerine Dream's Zeit (recorded 1972). Bernie Krause and Paul Beaver pooled their savings in the mid-1960s to buy one of the first III systems. The Quietus reports they paid $15,000, though Krause himself has cited a list price of $6,190 for a system photographed in late 1967 or early 1968.
These instruments were enormous, expensive, and used by very few musicians. Modular system sales peaked at 99 units across the line in 1969, and only around 243 modular systems were manufactured from 1967 to 1971.
In 2018, Moog announced a limited reissue, the Synthesizer IIIp, built from all-original documentation, art, and circuit board files. It was priced at $35,000, with only 40 units produced worldwide. It sold out.
Known specifications
- Modular analog synthesizer, patch-cord based, subtractive synthesis
- Largest of the original Moog Systems I, II, and III (1967)
- 1968: console (C) and portable (P) variants introduced
- Known module: R.A. Moog 991 filter/attenuator (1968 III P layout)
- Original period: 1967 to early 1970s
- 2018 reissue: Synthesizer IIIp, $35,000, 40 units worldwide
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