Inventing the Synthesizer
When Moog started designing the world's first synthesizer, the price of silicon transistors was dropping, and becoming fore widely available. Transistors allowed a change in voltage to alter then pitch of the tone produced. He then designed it so that a change in one volt would change the pitch by one octave. The machine used two oscillators to create a feedback loop that changed pitches back and forth, much like the theremin he was designing before. He designed the machine to use subtractive synthesis, where the raw analog wave form can be attenuated by a filter, which cuts out certain frequencies of the original analog signal.
After he formed the Moog company, he received a $16,000 grant from the New York State Small Business Association. Moog sought feedback from Deutsch and other composers, resulting in the invention of the ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, release) Envelope. The ADSR envelope modulates the behavior of the analog singnal. The attack of a signal dictates the amount of time before the signal reaches its peak volume, and the decay indicates the amount of time the signal drops from the peak attack level to the sustain level. The sustain maintains a certain volume from however long a key is pressed, following attack and decay. The release is the amount of time the signal takes to deplete to zero after the key is depressed.
After he formed the Moog company, he received a $16,000 grant from the New York State Small Business Association. Moog sought feedback from Deutsch and other composers, resulting in the invention of the ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, release) Envelope. The ADSR envelope modulates the behavior of the analog singnal. The attack of a signal dictates the amount of time before the signal reaches its peak volume, and the decay indicates the amount of time the signal drops from the peak attack level to the sustain level. The sustain maintains a certain volume from however long a key is pressed, following attack and decay. The release is the amount of time the signal takes to deplete to zero after the key is depressed.