Google doodles for Robert Moog and his synthesizer

Remember last year's Les Paul Google Doodle? The one with the logo transformed into a solid body electric guitar resulting in people shirking work everywhere to make some music? This time the music comes in the form of a synthesizer and the Doodle is dedicated to the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, Robert Moog. The Doodle functions only in Google Chrome (as we've noticed so far, if it's worked in any other browser for you, let us know) and features a synthsizer which you can either play by clicking on the keys or by typing on your computer keyboard. The sharps and flats (black notes) are played with the numbers on your keyboard and the regular notes with the letters. The sound that emanates is electronic and you can adjust the pitch by using the pitch wheel on the left. You can record your composition by hitting the record button on the right and play back your composition. You can also share your work on Google+.

Google Doodles for the synth

Robert Moog was born on the 23rd of May in 1934 in New York city. He got his bachelor's degree in physics as well as electrical engineering and a Ph.D in engineering physics. Over the course of his lifetime, Moog formed two companies that manufactured electronic musical instruments. The Moog synthesizer was one of the first widely used electronic music instruments. The technological development which enabled the creation of the Moog synthesizer was the transistor. The Moog company was the first to commercially manufacture the modular voltage-controlled analog synthesizer systems in the early 1950s. In 1971, Moog Music started to produce the Minimoog Model D which was one of the first portable and more or less affordable synthesizers.

In 1970, Moog received a Grammy Trustees Award for lifetime achievement. In 2002, he was honoured with a Special Merit/Technical Grammy Award and an honorary doctorate degree from Berklee College of Music. On the 28th of April, 2005, Moog was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme brain tumour. He died four months later, at the age of 71 on the 21st of August 2005. A foundation, the Bob Moog Foundation was created as a memorial to him whose aim was to continue developing electronic music.