VIRTUALITY Video: Part 1 The Moog Legacy (HD)

via interstellarcrew:

The high definition version of the first of many podcasts to come features the Bob Moog legacy and talks about how Amin Bhatia came to dedicate the album to him.

Interviewed guests include Steve Porcaro, Patrick Moraz, Michelle Moog-Koussa as well as producers, engineers and musicians from “Virtuality”.

The podcast series was written and directed by Saul Pincus with contributions from cinematographers and journalists all over the world. Special thanks to the crew at Full Sail University, as well as the Bob Moog Foundation and the offices of Steve Porcaro, Patrick Moraz, Bhatia Music and Splice Heist.

The second of Virtuality podcast features The Making of Bolero Electronica and talks about the inspiration for using 75 years of synthesizers; the origins of the instruments; and the challenge of putting it all together, including footage of rare keyboards used at the esteemed Cantos Foundation.

Along with composer Amin Bhatia, guests including Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi, Steve Porcaro, Patrick Moraz, Michelle Moog-Koussa as well as producers, engineers and musicians from “Virtuality.”

The podcast series was produced by Mark Dwyer and Saul Pincus with contributions from cinematographers and journalists all over the world. Special thanks to the crew at Full Sail University, as well as the Bob Moog Foundation, the Cantos Foundation, and the offices of Steve Porcaro, Patrick Moraz, Bhatia Music and Splice Heist.

The Bob Moog Foundation is celebrating its second anniversary and is highlighting their recent accomplishments:

• The Bob Moog Foundation hosted the first ever Moogfest Symposium with a panel of pioneering synthesists.
• The Foundation now has music available for download on its MySpace page. Many of the tracks come from the Mooged-Out: Asheville CD. The Mooged-Out CD is available as a gift with a $25.00 donation made here.
• They’ve also updated their MySpace page with an original all-Moog composition by Erik Norlander. Erik’s track The Princely Hours is a tribute to the Moog sound. Erik used five Moog instruments in the making of this piece: his massive 1967 modular Moog, Minimoog Model D, Taurus pedals, Moog Rogue and Minmoog Voyager. Note: Erik Norlander’s synth is bigger than yours.
• The Caring Bridge site that Bob’s family established for him in the summer of 2005 has now topped 300,000 visitors.
• The Foundation held its first fundraising event, Enter the Mind of Moog. Almost 500 people packed the Orange Peel and immersed themselves in Moog instruments and Moog history and a live “Mooged-out” recording session .
• The Bob Moog Foundation celebrated Bob’s birthday with the release of Amin Bhatia’s Bolero Electronica, which is a celebration of synthesizer evolution. Amin dedicated the album to Bob and released it on Bob’s birthday.
• The Foundation launched its YouTube channel. The channel features friends, family, colleagues, musicians and music-lovers reflecting on the impact Bob had on their lives, and on the world of music.

The Bob Moog Foundation today announced that it was honoring what would have been the 74th birthday of synth pioneer Bob Moog with the release of a new synth CD, Amin Bhatia’s Virtuality.

The first half of Virtuality is comprised of ten tracks which transport the listener through an orchestral and electronic voyage through the modern day computer with such tracks as “Hymn to the Users”, “Need for Speed”, “Virus Attack” and “In Search of Lost Identities”.

The second half of the album is “Bolero Electronica“, a work based on Maurice Ravel’s 1928 orchestral masterpiece “Bolero”, in which instruments of the orchestra are featured one after the other in growing layers and dynamics over 18 stanzas. In place of orchestral instruments, Amin uses over 75 synthesizers and electronic instruments (which span a 75 year time period) and introduces them chronologically with the shift in each stanza.

The piece begins with a Moog Modular, ARP 2600, Buchla 100 Modular and and EMS Synthi 100 and concludes with Arturia’s Moog Modular V, Spectrasonics Distorted Reality, the Alesis Andromeda A6, the Studer 820 and the Minimoog Model D

You can preview the Bolero Electronica below.

To see a “Timeline of Technology Used”, click here.

“Ever since my first Minimoog and a 4-track I’ve witnessed – and been part of – many revolutionary changes in electronic music. From tubes to transistors, tape to MIDI and now to computers and virtual synthesis each change has brought about new and exciting combinations of music and sound,” says Bhatia.

“Bob Moog was going to help on a narration track for “Bolero Electronica“. Sadly that never happened, so I’ve dedicated the album to him and to the Bob Moog Foundation. It’s my way of saying thank you for my very first Minimoog that started it all.”

Amin is donating part of the proceeds from the sale of each CD to the Bob Moog Foundation.