Bob Moog Foundation Hosts a Virtual Listening Party of the Historic Abominatron Tapes to Bid Farewell to the Moog Prototype

We are proud to announce the Abominatron Virtual Listening Party with composer, sound designer and engineer Seva David Ball on Sunday, February 14, 2021 at 2:00 pm ET. Tickets are available through Eventbrite on a “pay what you can” basis HERE. Note: this event had ended.

The historic Abominatron tape is the audio recording originally sent to Herb Deutsch from Bob Moog in 1964, in which Bob himself explains every parameter of the Moog synthesizer prototype. The 84-minute reel-to-reel tape was donated to the Bob Moog Foundation Archives by Herb Deutsch in 2009, and has been carefully restored and transferred to digital format by Seva.

“We have been very careful about how we share the rare material on this historic tape,” noted Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation. “But with the prototype ending its days at the Moogseum before being returned to The Henry Ford museum, and given the challenging times that we are all experiencing together, we decided the time was right to reveal more of this invaluable documentation of Bob Moog methodically explaining the instrument he designed, at a time when it was so new that neither he nor Herb Deutsch could have conceived how revolutionary it would be. It will indeed be a rare experience for our audience to hear his thoughts and reflections at such an early stage in the development of synthesis.”

Sections from the Abominatron will be explored and played by Seva, seated in the Moogseum beside the prototype, which is on loan from The Henry Ford museum. As the first recording of the instrument that helped pave the way to a revolution in music technology, many parts of the Abominatron tape have never been shared with the public. For a brief preview of the restoration process by Seva, and samples of the tape, visit the two blog posts below.

Seva Reports on Transferring the “Abominatron” Tape, part 1

Seva Explores the Abominatron Tape, part 2

All proceeds from the event benefit the Moogseum, which was closed for five months due to the pandemic.

More about “Seva” David Ball:

D.L. Ball, known as Seva in the music business, played his first Moog synthesizer at 12 in 1970 (a IIIp at FSU). He was the associate founder of Waves, mastered Dolly Parton records, and archived most of Bob Moog’s personal analog tape archive with a Grammy™ grant on behalf of the Bob Moog Foundation. He holds a BA in Music Composition, studying at Belmont, SUNY Buffalo, and UTKnoxville, including master classes from Lejaren Hiller, Morton Feldman, and Aaron Copland.