Moog Music Forum

All I can say is, I hope they did some market research. I don't see a lot of steel guitar products
in my local music stores, maybe it's me.

There are hardly any Moog products in any of the music stores around me.

Well it could be like the Taurus 3, only 1000 made of those. And they already had the tech developed in the Moog Guitar so development time and cost has been negligible.

Oh my gosh!!! A Moog Lap Steel jumps off the page at me as so cool...here's why....

I think that a lot of instruments get automatically attached to certain genera. The sound of the steel guitar really conjures a connection to country music that's hard to break away from. For example, I was working with a band here in Texas that had a pedal steel--we were trying to write songs that departed from a lot of what we had done before--songs that had a very Nashville/Texas conteporary country sound. Whenever we had the steel guitar sound in the mix, it was just impossible to break out of the feeling that we were not moving away from the trappings of what the sound (and playing technique of the instrument) brought about.

With the Moog Guitar Pickups on this new instrument--and the sounds and playing techniques that are possible with this technology, we've got the opportunity to move the steel guitar out of country music.

I'd love to have one of these to create sounds akin to an ondes martenot!

Wouldn't it be cool to have an envelope controled VCA moogerfooger with a trigger switch to gate the sounds of the Steel Guitar in a way similar to the Ondes Martenot!?

I'll bet that in infinate sustain mode, the guitar could be played with two slides at the same time...That could be crazy cool!

I've seen the many posts on this forum that call for "traditional" synth gear like sequencers. Here's my guess about why Moog dosen't jump on these requests in favor of pursuing something like a Moog Steel Guitar (or the Moog Guitar, or Mooger Foogers, or even the Filtron)...These instruments can carry the strange/experimental sounds of analog synthesis into genera of music that would otherwise be closed to these sounds. Country music is not a place for session musicians to drag their modulars (or their little phattys)...but they could get away with bringing a Moog Guitar or Moog Steel....Conversley, these instruments can bring "traditional" sounds and techniques into experimental music.

So, to sum up my guess, I think that a good deal of the new products that come out of Moog aim to facilitate creativity by giving musicians new tools to build bridges between suposedly incompatible styles; paving the way for genuinely interesting new sounds. A lot of the products that folks have asked for....Well, while they'd be neat to have in one's collection, I really don't think that they have the potential to do this.

I seem to remember a film with Bob Moog where he was saying something along the lines of him not being happy that synths are considered keyboard instruments - it's just that at the time the technology needed to be simple so an on/off key was the easiest solution. In some ways that's a shame.

Synths are not keyboards, they are oscillators, filters, envelopes etc. What you choose to control them with should be up to the user. OK the guitar isn't exactly a synth controller but it's all part of thinking outside the box or perhaps, thinking outside the 'board.

Anyone ever try an E-Bow on a pedal steel guitar?

Kevin Lightner wrote:Anyone ever try an E-Bow on a pedal steel guitar?

No, but I've used it with a bottleneck, so I imagine that's similar.

Mr Arkadin wrote:

Kevin Lightner wrote:Anyone ever try an E-Bow on a pedal steel guitar?

No, but I've used it with a bottleneck, so I imagine that's similar.

A pedal steel'd be of a kin, sure, but similar like a micromoog is to a room-filling modular

moremagic wrote:

Mr Arkadin wrote:

Kevin Lightner wrote:Anyone ever try an E-Bow on a pedal steel guitar?

No, but I've used it with a bottleneck, so I imagine that's similar.

A pedal steel'd be of a kin, sure, but similar like a micromoog is to a room-filling modular

Have you guys worked with the Moog guitar?

moremagic wrote:A pedal steel'd be of a kin, sure, but similar like a micromoog is to a room-filling modular

Well I was thinking more in terms of that the EBow only plays one string at a time, so you're not going to get a massive amount of something extra on a pedal steel that I can think of - it's only one string after all. If I had a pedal steel I would put my three EBows on there - that might be something.

theglyph wrote: Have you guys worked with the Moog guitar?

Wish I had the money. No, the nearest I get is my Fernandes Sutainer which certainly does the infinite sustain thing but not the other stuff the Moog Guitar can do obviously.

moremagic wrote:A pedal steel'd be of a kin, sure, but similar like a micromoog is to a room-filling modular

Don't go picking on the MicroMoog or it's furniture quality wood sides! I love mine.

Very nice! was like a Slide Guitar/Sitar hybrid.

I've seen much cheaper, poor ones made out there... but the one in your vid looked and sounded beautiful.

EricK wrote:

moremagic wrote:A pedal steel'd be of a kin, sure, but similar like a micromoog is to a room-filling modular

Don't go picking on the MicroMoog or it's furniture quality wood sides! I love mine.

You mean, JC Penny furniture quality wood sides, right?

I for one, am quite interested to see a Moog lap steel...I can't imagine the possibilities of such a thing, and would love to see a demo of it. I'd also think that such a beast would cost upwards of $2400 or more...

Kevin Lightner wrote:Anyone ever try an E-Bow on a pedal steel guitar?

Kevin, the Moog pickups aren't merely an e-bow or fernades sustainer effect... I thought you might already know that, but if not, wished to throw that in.

I'm really excited for this. As an avid slide player, I can't think of something more awesome. I play bottleneck, and the skill set is a little bit different for lap steel playing, but wholly the same, and the things that one could do with this lapsteel would be amazing. I'll be one of the first to pick it up, that's for sure.