RIP beep boop

Robert Moog, creator of the Moog Synthesizer, has died of cancer at the age of 71.

I remember that when "Switched on Bach" came out, most everyone loved it and was amazed at the versatility shown by the synthesizer. I, contrarian as usual, was disappointed: I thought it unfortunate that here we were, presented with something that offered the possibility of an entirely new range of musical expression, and we were to judge it by how much we could make it sound like the instruments we already had.

So as my own sort of tribute, as I write this I'm listening to "Silver Apples of the Moon." It actually wasn't done on a Moog, but it was one of the first (and, as it turned out, one of the few) pieces of electronic music meant to be heard as electronic music, not as an imitation of existing instruments.