What ever happened to Geddy Lee's giant Oberheim/Moog Synth?

[ppg_wavecomputer]

[...] As far as I know Keith loved his Moog. He said one of the biggest reasons he used it live was the theatrics of it, having that giant beast up there on stage. [...]

Quoting myself:

[...] To them, these were only *tools* which helped them either to set themselves apart from the rest, or to brag with (or both). [...]

Just what I said.

Stephen

[Carey M]

I honestly don't think these people care about what synthesizers Geddy uses on stage.

I've often heard people ask 'what about the 8-voice of Geddy Lee, how did it get so high?'

Did you wonder if it oscillates like an ordinary synth?

I know it, and it does.

And you're my fact-checking pals.

[SubliminalEffect]

I'd guess Rush have a warehouse of some sort, someplace. So the remnants might have been sitting in a box for the last 30 years. On the other hand it's possible they were sold off at some point, and someone has some or all of that 8 Voice and doesn't know it was a celeb owned instrument.

i grew up in Toronto. in the spring of 1990, there was an ad in the local entertainment weekly NOW announcing there would be a live one-off auction of a lot of used professional music gear in the former gymnasium of a converted elementary school downtown.

it was obvious from the quantity and type of auction items that the equipment had to have been from Rush. no other band in the area would have had as much stuff let alone duplicates of many. as an example, i won one of the two Oberheim Xpander lots that were available. i bid on some other synth (don't remember which - MemoryMoog?) but the bids went beyond what i could afford to put on my credit card.

apart from the professional auctioneer who was hired in to call the auctions and bids, everything else was nominally run by Saved by Technology, the local retailer whose founder, Jim Burgess, had a strong Rush connection - check the album credits.

even though all of the auction items were there at the school for examination prior to the start of bidding, everything had to go back to the store for pickup a couple of days later. it was made very clear that the store was only acting as a temporary agent for the unnamed seller. the auction items were not their back stock or excess inventory. they weren't warrantying any of the auction items nor accepting returns.

i had a few conversations with Jim Burgess at industry events a couple of years after the auction. i don't remember any specifics but i'm sure i would have mentioned the auction and remembered if he had said that equipment had come from some other band or source.

i left Toronto in 1994 and have only been back a few times several years ago. if anybody cares to, you can probably call up the store and fact check it with Jim Burgess but that is what happened to a chunk of their gear.

[SubliminalEffect]

As far as I know Keith loved his Moog. He said one of the biggest reasons he used it live was the theatrics of it, having that giant beast up there on stage. He's even had it on some more recent tours, and has said that if its out before the show starts where people can see it everyone is like really awe by it. And when he does the portemento sweep on the Lucky Man solo.

the Moog Modular has been restored by a well known Los Angeles restorer to the superstars. he had a video on his iPhone this past NAMM that showed it in action driven by the sequencer module - it sounded glorious...

[Bitexion]

Jordan Rudess doesn't NEED to bring his synthesizers.com modular system on stage on every Dream Theater concert either, but he still does. He barely uses it 10 minutes of a 3 hour show, at least physically. And it's usually playing some regular distorted lead sound.

But it looks cool on the big stage screens, and I guess that is why he brings it along on tour.

[OB-XaMinimoog]

[...] As far as I know Keith loved his Moog. He said one of the biggest reasons he used it live was the theatrics of it, having that giant beast up there on stage. [...]

Quoting myself:

[...] To them, these were only *tools* which helped them either to set themselves apart from the rest, or to brag with (or both). [...]

Just what I said.

Stephen

Well you got me there. But who wouldn't brag if they had a Moog Modular?

Its like the Plymouth Superbird of synths. Rare, not very practical and obsolete by today's standards, but god is it cool.

[OB-XaMinimoog]

I'd guess Rush have a warehouse of some sort, someplace. So the remnants might have been sitting in a box for the last 30 years. On the other hand it's possible they were sold off at some point, and someone has some or all of that 8 Voice and doesn't know it was a celeb owned instrument.

i grew up in Toronto. in the spring of 1990, there was an ad in the local entertainment weekly NOW announcing there would be a live one-off auction of a lot of used professional music gear in the former gymnasium of a converted elementary school downtown.

it was obvious from the quantity and type of auction items that the equipment had to have been from Rush. no other band in the area would have had as much stuff let alone duplicates of many. as an example, i won one of the two Oberheim Xpander lots that were available. i bid on some other synth (don't remember which - MemoryMoog?) but the bids went beyond what i could afford to put on my credit card.

apart from the professional auctioneer who was hired in to call the auctions and bids, everything else was nominally run by Saved by Technology, the local retailer whose founder, Jim Burgess, had a strong Rush connection - check the album credits.

even though all of the auction items were there at the school for examination prior to the start of bidding, everything had to go back to the store for pickup a couple of days later. it was made very clear that the store was only acting as a temporary agent for the unnamed seller. the auction items were not their back stock or excess inventory. they weren't warrantying any of the auction items nor accepting returns.

i had a few conversations with Jim Burgess at industry events a couple of years after the auction. i don't remember any specifics but i'm sure i would have mentioned the auction and remembered if he had said that equipment had come from some other band or source.

i left Toronto in 1994 and have only been back a few times several years ago. if anybody cares to, you can probably call up the store and fact check it with Jim Burgess but that is what happened to a chunk of their gear.

Interesting! I might be going into Ontario this summer (I live in Michigan) and if I do I might have to find that place and talk to that guy.

Oh, and I found this. I'm just gonna leave it here.

[ppg_wavecomputer]

[...] As far as I know Keith loved his Moog. He said one of the biggest reasons he used it live was the theatrics of it, having that giant beast up there on stage. [...]

Quoting myself:

[...] To them, these were only *tools* which helped them either to set themselves apart from the rest, or to brag with (or both). [...]

Just what I said.

Stephen

Well you got me there. But who wouldn't brag if they had a Moog Modular?

[...]

I guess I wouldn´t. I´d rather try to make some decent music with it while I still can.

[...] But it looks cool on the big stage screens, and I guess that is why he brings it along on tour.

Quoting myself:

[...] To them, these were only *tools* which helped them either to set themselves apart from the rest, or to brag with (or both). [...]

Just like I said.

I guess this is why I just don´t like anything "prog rock". Or Jean Michel Jarre, for that matter.

Stephen

[Bitexion]

Well, a concert with only synthesizers need some extra visuals, a Jarre concert would be pretty damn dull if all you saw was 3 guys hiding behind a mountain of synths, wouldn't it.

[madtheory]

I can unerstand Jarre dislike- his tunes can sound an awful lot like scales. Or at least, it's easy to hear the harmony sometimes. Great sounds though, and a great live performer.

Well, a concert with only synthesizers need some extra visuals, a Jarre concert would be pretty damn dull if all you saw was 3 guys hiding behind a mountain of synths, wouldn't it.

Well... no actually! He did the Oxygene tour with a giant mirror over the stage and fairly minimal visuals. The following tour, which I saw, did have a giant screen with abstract visuals but mostly it was all those synths and his leaping around that people looked at. He makes a good show.

[Romannis1972]

I saw the vid of the anniversary of Oxygene and I had no proble keeping my attention span glued to the video...
Great show!!

[tim gueguen]

As far as Emerson's Moog Modular goes he pretty much ignored it for close to a decade. It reportedly spent at least one winter in its road case outside Moog's Buffalo headquarters. In any case when keyboard tech Will Alexander got his hands on it circa 1990 it needed a lot of work, including replacement of corroded jacks and power connectors.

[AnalogKid]

...Geddy switched out his entire oldschool system in 1993 with sample based synths, nowadays he basically uses a Roland Fantom X7 and a Moog little phatty.

Nowadays, the keyboard parts are pre-recorded on backing tracks, as are other parts in Rush shows.

[Cumulus]

Nowadays, the keyboard parts are pre-recorded on backing tracks, as are other parts in Rush shows.

In before the lock...

[OB-XaMinimoog]

I wish he still used it. The Little Phatty sounds great too, but it's not a Minimoog or Oberheim. I'd also like to see him recreate the 2112 synth intro live, even just once, instead of sampling it.

Me, too!! Except I heard that was done with an ARP Odyssey, and is several layers of different sounds, so I'm guessing it would be really difficult to recreate from scratch. So its probably much easier just to sample it, which is what they've done even in the early days.

...Geddy switched out his entire oldschool system in 1993 with sample based synths, nowadays he basically uses a Roland Fantom X7 and a Moog little phatty.

Nowadays, the keyboard parts are pre-recorded on backing tracks, as are other parts in Rush shows.

Nah man, samplers and MIDI.