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Pictures Roger & Shathy Summer 2000 Summer 2003 Elizabeth More Pictures... Music Keith Emerson Music Trades Other Guestbook Hart Dykes On The Web UK Hart Dyke Site As part of the Smithsonian Institution's Piano 300 project, a special event "The Keyboard Meets Modern Technology" was held Saturday April 15th 2000 at the S. Dillon Ripley Centre , which is part of the Smithsonian, in Washington DC. The event consisted of an exhibition of keyboard technology from Roland , Korg , Kurzweil , Yamaha , Big Briar , and Van Koevering , followed by a panel discussion with Robert Moog, Robert Margouleff, Malcolm Cecil, David Van Koevering, and Keith Emerson. "Who?" I hear you ask? Bob Moog was there, representing his company Big Briar . They make analog effects units (with unlikely names such as "Moogerfooger ™") and theremins. That's a theremin being waved at in the picture "What's a theremin?" Questions, questions... The theremin was invented and first demonstrated in Russia in 1920 by Leon Theremin. It comprises a box, usually with a vertical antenna and a metal loop protruding from the left-hand side. You play the instrument by waving your hands around not by touching it. The distance of the right hand from the vertical antenna determines the pitch of the sound, whilst the distance of the left hand from the metal loop determines the volume (the further away from the loop, the louder the sound). You may think you've never heard a theremin. If you've heard "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, then you've heard a theremin (remember the wailing sound?) Checking out some Kurzweil kit. that's a PC2 sitting above a K2600. I'd love to have a K2600, but if I had the gazillion dollars it would take, I'd probably spend it on something else anyway. Kurzweil was originally the brainchild of Ray Kurzweil . In the 70's, he developed a machine that would read text out aloud. Stevie Wonder had one (ever wondered where the album title "Talking Book" came from?) Later, Stevie bemoaned the state of electronic musical instruments, which lead Ray Kurzweil to turn his talents in that direction . The breakthrough instrument was the Kurzweil K250, which was the first instrument to feature "realistic" sampled grand piano. You can still see one in Paul Shaffer's keyboard setup on the Letterman show. Kurzweil Music Systems was sold to Young Chang, the Korean piano manufacturer in 1990, and they continue to produce top-notch, hideously expensive instruments (i.e, out of my price range). Bob Moog (it rhymes with "vogue"). This man is pretty much the reason that synthesizers are the way they are - this is the man that put the "VC" in VCO, VCF and VCA. I'm not obsessed, really, but I'll put my hand up to being a geek. Bob designed and built the instrument used by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos to create the "Switched-On Bach" album, plus several records after that. She recently remastered those recordings and released them as the " Switched-On Box ". I can recommend it, even if my Mum does think it sounds "tinny". Bob's quite clearly having a whale of a time.