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Bob Moog Foundation Announces Bob’s Birthday Raffle for Minimoog Model D Reissue Signed by Jordan Rudess
May 23, 2024 (Asheville, NC) – In celebration of Bob Moog’s 90th birthday, the Bob Moog Foundation is excited to announce its fundraising raffle for a Minimoog Model D reissue, released in 2022, and signed by Music Radar Magazine’s “Best Keyboardist of All Time,” Jordan Rudess. The synthesizer, generously donated by Moog Music for the raffle, features a beautifully distinctive Appalachian Cherry cabinet, has been customized with pulse width modulation in and LFO out modifications, and builds upon the revolutionary legacy of the Minimoog.
The raffle begins at 7:00 a.m. (EDT) on May 23, 2024, and ends on June 17, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. (EDT). The raffle is open internationally. Tickets are $25 each, 5 for $100, 12 for $200, or 35 for $500, and can be purchased at bit.ly/MinimoogRaffle2024Tickets. The winner will be announced on Friday, June 21, 2024.
The Minimoog featured has serial number MD-01730. The synthesizer was produced at the Moog Music factory in Asheville, North Carolina, and has an estimated value of $5,000 USD.
Built by hand to last a lifetime, the new Minimoog Model D delivers the revered quality, undefinable feel, and authentic sound of a pristine vintage Moog. The three-oscillator, monophonic, analog synthesizer is securely housed in a locally sourced Appalachian Cherry cabinet and hand-finished aluminum chassis. Sounding as vibrant and deep as ever, its legendary low-pass ladder filter, powerful oscillators, and rich saturating mixer retain the exact component placement and through-hole design of a 1970s-era Minimoog Model D.
The Minimoog Model D reissue includes a series of popular functional modifications that expand this legendary instrument’s sonic capabilities. These modifications include a dedicated analog LFO with triangle and square waveshapes, a premium Fatar keybed with velocity and after pressure available via top panel CV jacks with onboard trimpots, MIDI integration, and a mixer feedback modification which allows the Minimoog Model D to overdrive and scream with the turn of a knob. And, for the first time in its history, the Minimoog Model D now features a spring-loaded pitch wheel with center deadband, allowing for improved playability and wild performance flourishes. This newest edition also includes updates to the MIDI functionality, allowing for improved modern studio integration.
This modified Minimoog Model D reissue features two new CV jacks. First, the onboard LFO now has a dedicated output jack. This jack will allow you to interface your Minimoog with external equipment or the new pulse width modulation modification (PWM) CV input. The PWM input is routed to the pulse width modulation modification oscillators 1, 2, and 3. PWM offers new timbres not found on stock Minimoogs. This modification was performed by Moog Music engineer Tim Johnston.
“The Minimoog became an organic friend to me because it’s designed in such a way that you can put your hand down on the key, you can turn a knob and things happen, and all the different interactions between the knobs became my world,” noted Jordan Rudess. “When I’m playing the Minimoog, I feel this like deep, organic brain-solid connection not only to the way it’s designed, but to the way that it sounds. The Minimoog was my first love when it came to synthesizers, but even now, when I have the perspective of playing so many different synths, I still go back to it fifty years later.”
As a classical prodigy, Jordan Rudess initiated his studies at the Juilliard School of Music at the age of 9. Fusing classical and rock influences, Rudess has enjoyed a career as the extraordinary keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist for the platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning progressive rock band Dream Theater. Beyond his role in Dream Theater, Rudess has played in Liquid Tension Experiment and has collaborated with Deep Purple, David Bowie, Steven Wilson, and Jan Hammer. As the owner of the highly successful iOS app development company Wizdom Music, Rudess has emerged as a pioneer in state-of-the-art keyboard controllers and music apps. Recently, Rudess has been working on an AI interactive project at MIT’s Media Lab.
Funds raised from the raffle will be used to expand the Bob Moog Foundation’s hallmark education project, Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, which has inspired over 30,000 elementary school students through the science of sound. The raffle will also help support the Bob Moog Foundation Archives and the Moogseum, an immersive, experiential facility located in Asheville, North Carolina, which brings Bob Moog’s pioneering legacy and the science of sound and synthesis alive for people of all ages. The Moogseum opened in May 2019 and has since welcomed nearly 40,000 visitors from all over the world.