The "Plantasia Moog" Modular Synth - An Untold Story
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- In 2023, Anthony Marinelli aquired a 1969 Moog IIIc modular synthesizer that has a very interesting history. In this video, we tell that story for the first time.
Huge thanks to Anthony and team for collaborating with me to make this film and thanks also to my Patrons on Patreon.
Please look out for related videos on Anthony's channel:
/ @anthonymarinellimusic
Got a chance to learn from the master, thank you and love to you Alex!
you both should produce a concept album with all your great synths, which have a great history...Michael Jackson, Jerry Goldsmith, movie soundtracks etc.
Thank you! So pleased we did this.
When you come to sell this I think I can scrape together $900.
Always a pleasure to hear from you, music and history-wise 👌👌👌
❤
That ending jam... That's how it's done, people.
Yes, it really lends itself to a multitude of possible melodic lines of accompaniment :) But maybe a shame that the actual Moog in question sounds a little buried?
Haha, "that old thing? It was too big, and my daughter bought me a Casio!" killed me. Clearly very un-sentimental :)
That was brilliant, yeah. 😂
He had a synth with no memory because he had to, not necessarily because he wanted to. I remember those days, it was a lot of work and sometimes frustration especially while composing and recording. 😄
This endsong is a completely awesome sounding piece of music! 💚
Totally epic!
Just make an album already... That last track was fire. Great colab!
Cannot agree more :) Great stuff Alex!
I vote for a twelve album set. :)
Alex AND Anthony! The best synth history guys 🙌
So awesome for you and Anthony to work together!
Cheers! Yeah, so pleased we did this. I'm sure we'll do other collabs.
Mister Alex , Mr. Marinelli, thank you sooo much! Your channel is a firestarter for a young generation. I recommend it to all my students
@@marcoaraujo2817 Cheers! Hopefully your students can all become synth nuts. 😀
My plants love this album. Can’t wait.
Set them up to watch the premier.
That last jam... Somewhere up above Bob Moog is feeling that and smiling.
An upcoming Alex Ball video is always something to be excited about 🎉
Thanks to everyone involved in this, especially you, Alex, for telling the story in your own inimitable way. What a beautiful synth, and the jam at the end was spectacular.
Best ending track by far Alex. Great video. Thanks for your efforts in putting this together.
Superinteresting video, ONCE AGAIN, OF COURSE.
These music story videos garnished with personalities and groovy sounds are simply your superpower.
I just saw Plantasia and Alex Ball and clicked immediately
That outro was absolutely fantastic! You guys are so great.
ahhh, that Recycler mention flashed me back...the SoCal source of every musician's dreams back then, nice.
Lovely video.
The bit with the noise source through the fixed filter bank made me think immediately of "Tillicum," a piece by the Canadian band Syrinx, which opens with a similar sound. It was written as the theme for Here Come The '70s, a TV series that first began airing on the CTV television network in Canada in September of 1970. (It supposedly aired in some international markets as Towards the Year 2000.) Released as a single "Tillicum" made it into the bottom of the Canadian Top 40 in June of 1971, a year before Hot Butter's version of "Popcorn" became an international hit.
John Mills-Cockell, Syrinx's keyboardist, may have been the first Canadian musician to perform live with a Moog as member of the multimedia performance group Intersystems in 1968. Unfortunately his Moog II modular was destroyed in a recording studio fire while Syrinx was recording their second album. He replaced it with an ARP 2500.
And while I'm rambling I'll mention another example of the influence of The Secret Life of Plants, an episode of the science fiction series Space: 1999, "The Troubled Spirit." When an attempt to communicate with plants psychically goes wrong the crew of Moonbase Alpha is menaced by a man's ghost before he dies. The episode includes a Coral Electric Sitar performance by prolific session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan, who appears in the opening of the episode dressed as a Moonbase Alpha crewman giving a performance of the piece.
this is my kind of comment!
Slay
Really a great collaboration and a fascinating bit of musical history. Thank you both!
Adore the fact he's running a priceless 70s Moog through a DS-1 at the end.
Beautiful
It feels like Alex has just read my mind.
I'm totally looking forward to it.
And: stay as you are, don't let the world corrupt you.
Holy Toledo, the jam at the end was EPIC. Amazng episode. Bravo!
Beautiful video, beautiful synthesizer with a great story and that song at the end was a proper belter.
Solid work all around, guys!
Cheers!
Great documentary Alex! Brilliant song at the end. WOW!
Thanks for this lovely video and insight of Mort Garson’s life! I actually bought the reissue vinyl of Plantasia when I visited LA in 2019. Also, wow, that cool ending track you guys made! ❤️
Hey Michael. Yeah, a great little album. A prolific composer, for sure.
Wow. What a story he’s got. Killer jam at the end too. Hear work on this Alex.
It's so great that you and Anthony provide the connection to the past. I love both of your channels. The jam at the end was awesome, and Anthony pulling the pin on the last beat was super cool.
An epic convergence of fantastic proportions. Thanks so much.
A great documentary, and a musical collab with the wizard who programmed the synth sounds in "Thriller"? This video couldn't get any better!
That was great, thanks.
Would love to see a doc about the rudimentary sampling technology used on The Secret Life of Plants.
Genuinely can’t wait for this. This album changed my entire perception of electronic music.
One of my favorite albums of all time, this entire era of "Space Age Pop" is some of the only synthesizer music that truly speaks to me.
It seems so rarely discussed, even demos of these early Moog units typically go for much later timbres and moods. The instrument, while fascinating, isn't nearly as much as the implimentation during the late 1960s. Truly seems a lost art, that cheerful yet eerie sound that remains simple yet vibrant.
I couldn't agree more! It was that late 60s, early 70s, hollow yet simultaneously full-bodied, eerie yet soft and friendly, sound which first drew me towards synthesiser music. (I also already loved theremins.)
I loved this, and Switched on Bacharach, the Cow goes Moog, and Wichita Lineman that's on some country Moog album.
song at the end of video is MASTERPIECE!!!!
Woo - I only know Ataraxia from The Adventure Zone so looking forward to seeing what Alex has in store for us!
I follow Anthony's channel, he knows synths like old friends
He's been at it since before I was born, yeah!
Really looking forward to this!
15:20 Mort sounded and looked fun. RIP.
Yeah, he really did.
@@AlexBallMusic that was a touching little jingle too
@@colinstu Cheers. I felt a little bit like I knew him when I wrote that. It was a Moog, naturally.
Fantastic! I'm sitting here, watching the video, and my wife says she doesn't want to continue doing what she was doing because the sounds she's hearing are so beautiful. That golden age Moog modular sound has a way of doing that to you. A perfect instrument then AND now.
Great story to an incredible instrument. Thanks as always for your talent and content.
Absolute banger outro piece.
Hello Alex: You have managed to combine two things which are of endless fascination to me, synths and the Apollo missions. Thank you.
Synths and space, perfect combo.
I've started playing synths for "the sounds" and now I keep playing them to keep the legacy alive.
Thanks Alex and Anthony to teach us this instrument's history through interviews, sawtooth waves and filters ♥️♥️♥️
The end jam was INSANE. And what a wonderful Story.
Level+1 on the production of this one, Alex! Informative and inspiring. Great stuff!
Wow!!!! That end track is fantastic. You two must make an album together! And a very interesting story about that Moog Modular!
I wish I could give one thumbs up for the story and a second for the musical collaborations between you and Anthony. What a great video!
Oh wow... What a great story... And that jam at the end was... like fire... like a really big bon fire... Nice!
Superb! Up there with the best synth videos on YT, fascinating and moving story
Thanks! Really enjoyed making this one.
Great story, Alex. Thanks for passing on this bit of Moog history. And Anthony, thanks for keeping that beast alive.
That end tune blew my white cotton socks off. Outstanding!
'Son of Blob'.... loved Morts title tune to this
Do more of these! I like when you introduce me to some interesting electronic musics (first unused Dredd OST and now this).
Probably my favourite piece of music on this channel so far!
Excellent first collab!!! Been waiting on this one for a while. Great jam too!!!!
My perfect Sunday morning soundtrack is this vinyl and nothing else and this is how I want it until I'm 100.
Do you water the plants whilst listening?
@@AlexBallMusic I forget to water my plants while listening to it, that's the whole point of music so captivating 😉
Fascinating story - love how you two managed to collaborate across the world to produce such an amazing jam at the end.
Nice. Alex and Anthony. Hard to beat that pairing. Great stuff.
Fantastic stuff, Alex. Thank you so much diggin into the deeps of history, technology, trivia and application of electronic intruments.
Fuggin epic Collabo...🎉😮 first u got an 808 now u jamin with Anthony. Boss shit.
Jeez this a moving piece of film. Several times brought to tears. It’s wild to hear the stories of how we all come to the sound and gear. Heart warming is and understatement. Trying to reach your heroes.
Ah, thanks. That's great to hear. Yeah, the story of this synth is amazing.
Thankyou Alex very interesting history and that synth still sounds incredible today.
Fantastic collaboration, and what a mind-blowing synth!
This should be interesting. Somehow I only discovered this album in the past year, and it's great.
such a beautiful story, and what a JAM at the end! nice!
Marinelli's RS-505 under the Mini is so alluring.
Oh man!! This is both the bee's knees and the dog's bollocks! Like having my cake and eating it too! I am awestruck! Speachless even... Absolutely flawless!!! I salute you!
What a fascinating story! and what a slappin' tune!
The outro is amazing! ❤
That final song was really good!
This is very informative and a wonderful story, now told. Tears in my eyes.
it's 5:30am after another sleepless night and I stumble across this - "I'll watch 5 minutes and then catch up"
Nope. And to be rewarded with a Polymoog at the end was just the icing on the cake :) More like this please.
Fabulously told, Alex. Excellent presentation.
The best of Synthdom all in one video, it seems :) Also the tune at the end is a bit of a banger!
Well this was beyond excellent, thank you both for doing this. The outro is stellar. Release perhaps?
Such a cool story! And holy wow! That closing song is killer! Please release that on Bandcamp or something
Wild how you two managed to make those futuristic sounds on vintage gear
The second one on the list, ordered by the Beatles, was soon returned and bought by the German musician and conductor Eberhard Schoener, who took it as the first synthesizer to Germany. Recently it was selled to the Deutsches Museum in München. (Interview with Eberhard Schoener here on YT)
Oh that's brilliant info, thank you!
The collab we all knew we needed!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
This video serves as a perfect proof of how electronic music has evolved using the same instruments. Tastes and styles may change, but the instruments can keep up with us. In short, you and Marinelli are making the case for why vintage pieces will continue to belong in modern productions.
I wake up every morning to the first notes of Plantasia, and for the last 7 years it has never failed to make me smile.
If I don't wake up after that, my second alarm is Morricone's "The extasy of gold". That does the trick.
Also, this is the best crossover episode.
I used Mark Bartons S.A.M. on my Commodore 64! Good stuff!!
Awesome collab on the track at the end, guys!
Excellent. Well done.
I"m nearly as impressed with that West LA Music hat. Many memories there.
Great story, fantastic track to finish!
Dude! Closing track, WTF!! Oh yeah!!!! Goosebumps
Moog power!
Great video , that tune at the end was fucking 👌🏻 CLASS ❤
Great job Alex! I’m so excited for this ❤
Amazing. Youll be composing and narrating a mainstream nature documentary any day now
Woot!! Great vid as always Alex!
Thanks for getting it working so we could film this!
More 70s phatness than a boil-in-the-bag curry, a bottle of Blue Nun and a double helping of Angel Delight for afters!
With a bag of chips on the side?
Wow that was great!
That end jam tho
This video just has everything you would ever want to see in a video:
- The perfect collaboration between two legends
- A fascinating story
- An epically hugh mungus Moog synthesizer
- And to top it all off, the most epic outro jam ever recorded
Really, it doesn't get any better than this folks. Though I have a feeling it does, every time Mr. Ball uploads a new video...
Hey Xavier! Cheers for that.
The Moog was very mungus. I hope to see it in person one day.
~16:15 Haha, that's kinda cool. Making it even more of an event.
Also, ngl, it's kinda cool that Mort would just be rocking a pentagram necklace back then. A bit ballsy for the time.
Fantastic episode, well done ❤
The music at the end.. WOW😮!
Fantastic collaboration!
This video is pure gold!!!
Great video and lovely to know the history of such a FAT beast.
I loved learning the Moog history...but the jam at the end could have lasted about 5 more minutes...Fantastic Work from two Synth Gurus