The Bob Moog Foundation has announced its fall raffle for a fully-restored vintage Memorymoog Plus synthesizer, owned and signed by Dominic Milano, a longtime editorial director of Keyboard magazine. Milano was also the author of the original Memorymoog manual and a long-time friend of synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog.
The raffle begins on Monday, October 16, 2023 at 7 a.m. EDT and ends on Monday, November 6, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. EDT, or when all 5,000 tickets are sold. Tickets are $25 each, 5 for $100, 12 for $200, and 35 for $500. The winner of the instrument will also receive an original Memorymoog manual that will be inscribed to the winner by Milano. Tickets can be purchased here.
Milano originally received the Memorymoog Plus as partial payment for writing the manual in the mid-1980s. As a former member of the Bob Moog Foundation Board of Directors and a current member of its Board of Advisors, Milano saw the instrument's potential after a recent restoration by renowned synthesizer technician Wes Taggart.
After hearing Wes gush about what a great synth it was ... I figured it would be perfect for the [Bob Moog] Foundation. Being able to use a foot switch to advance through patches was a godsend for live gigs.
DominicMilano
The Memorymoog Plus was Moog Music's follow-up to the original Memorymoog, Moog's first production instrument to offer programmable patches saved to a memory bank, enabling users to recall pre-programmed sounds instantly. In addition to the instrument's massive sound, made possible by six-voice polyphony and three voltage-controlled oscillators, Milano cites the 100-patch memory bank as a favorite feature.
The Memorymoog Plus added functionality over the original model with a MIDI interface, as well as polyphonic and monophonic sequencers.
The Memorymoog Plus up for raffle is noteworthy not only for its massive sound and historic innovations but also its unique provenance. The instrument was owned exclusively by Milano, who helped launch Keyboard magazine in 1975 as assistant editor and would eventually become its editor-in-chief and editorial director.
Keyboard magazine quickly established itself as a publication at the forefront of the rapidly evolving synthesizer industry. Milano and Keyboard magazine Founding Editor Tom Darter interviewed Bob Moog for the magazine's first issue. This interview sparked an ongoing relationship between Bob Moog and the publication, with Bob Moog agreeing to write a regular column, "On Synthesizers."
That was the start of a multi-decade friendship that I will always cherish.
Dominic Milano
The Bob Moog Foundation is proud to offer this historic instrument to the public to enhance its ability to inspire new generations of creators and innovators for years to come.
All proceeds from the raffle of the instrument, valued at $15,000, will benefit the Bob Moog Foundation, an independent 501(c) (3) non-profit organization that seeks to inspire creative thinking at the intersection of science, music, history, and innovation through its three hallmark projects: Dr. Bob's SoundSchool, the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, and the Moogseum.
The Bob Moog Foundation is proud to be sharing this iconic Memorymoog Plus while also bringing to light Dominic Milano's unique history as it relates to this synthesizer and the synthesizer community," noted. "Keyboard magazine was an essential source of information for a burgeoning synthesizer community when the technology was quickly evolving. Thousands of synthesists have Dominic and the Keyboard team of editors and writers to thank for what quickly became an indispensable resource for a worldwide community.
Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation
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