Moog Retail Price List, 1977

Moog Retail Price List from January 1, 1977.

Good lord. I haven't posted since August. Time is just flying since I took a new work gig in the spring. Told myself I was "retired" back in 2016, but after some consulting work during the height of COVID, I found an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. 

Anyways, I found this write-up sitting half-finished in my drafts, and thought it was a gooder since it includes some comparisons to other Moog pricing brochures I've already published. In particular, a 1974 brochure I posted in 2012 and a 1980 brochure I posted back in 2018. 

This 1977 brochure sits right in between, so I'd expect prices to fall somewhere in between as well. Let's take a look at a few....

Minimoog:

1974 - $1,595.00

1977 - $1,795.00

1980 - $1,995.00

 Satellite: 

1974: $595.00

1977: $695.00

1980: not on the list

Sonic Six: 

1974:$ 1395.00

1977:  $1495.00

1980 - not on the list

Micromoog

1974: not in the list

1977:  $795.00

1980: $895

Taurus:

1974: not on the list

1977: $795

1980: $1,195

Wowza! In fact... two wowzas. 

First wowza - we can see how the Minimoog seemed to transcend all those other Moog products. The Satellite, Sonic Six, and Taurus came and went, never appearing in more than two of the brochures, but the Minimoog just kept on truckin'! 

The second wowza was that price jump for the Taurus Pedals. All other price jumps were exactly one hundred bucks on the nose. But that Taurus Pedals jumped an astonishing $400 within three years. I wonder what caused that kind of drastic change in pricing?!?!

From a purely design perspective, there's a few interesting elements I'd like to touch on. First, is that signed photo of Keith Emerson. Not surprising since he had been a long-time spokesperson for Moog. And awesome that he shows up in a pricing brochure of all things. It's a big step up from the 1974 brochure that featured that little conductor dude that was their kind-of mascot back in those mid-70s days. 

Don't get me wrong, I still think Moog could make a killing slapping that little dude on a t-shirt. Just look at him over there ---->

 He even looks better on that Minimoog brochure that came out around two years previously. Look at him with the Moog logo behind him. 

Now put THAT image on a hoodie!!!!

   

Moog Dude. On a t-shirt. NOW!

ARP / Mu-tron price lists, 1980

ARP / Mu-tron price lists from January 1, 1980.

Given that I'm a HUGE fan of price lists, you'd think that I would have pushed this out the door a lot sooner, but I just never got around to it.  Even more surprising, I'm not gonna focus on the prices at all*.

* I reserve the right to change my mind

Instead, when I looked back at these scans I became more curious to the relationship between Musitronics and ARP, and quickly found that the history isn't remotely close to being as bright and rosy as I had wanted it to be. 

TO summarize... according to Wikipedia, Mu-tron, short for Musitronics, was a musical effects company founded by Mike Beigel and Aaron Newman in 1972. Beigel was an engineer who had been working on a synth project at Guild Guitar Company when the president of the company was killed in an accident. The new president wasn't as interesting in synths (what the heck?!?!) so Beigel and another former engineer new Newman from GGC, pulled the envelope filter outta that synth and called it the Mu-Tron III. 

By 1979 Musitronics had 35 employees and was churning out a number of effects units out of a retrofitted chicken coop. Eventually, they decided to sell to ARP Instruments on a royalty basis, but unfortunately ARP folded in 1980, before they could collect any money. 

Okay, I summarized a lot. 

But even if my severely summarized ditty isn't bumming you out enough already, Musitronics tried to keep going as Gizmo Incorporated, but it ended when Aaron Newman suffered a heart attack.

FACK.

I hate everything about this story. But the connect between these two companies is important history, the details of which we don't hear much about. So, here are two scans to help keep those companies connected just a little bit longer.

Okay - let's end this on a happy note - LOOK AT THOSE ARP SYNTHS.

There - much better. 

Rivera Music Services Engineering Brief and Photo Sheet for Minimoog Modifications, 1980

Rivera Music Services 12-page Engineering Brief and Photo Sheet for Minimoog Modifications from January 3, 1980.

Engineering brief also available as a PDF (4MB).

It's a lot of text, sure, but if you are a Minimoog modding freak or just a modding addict in general it's well worth the read!

These scans all began (that rhymed!) when someone in the Moog Fan Club Facebook group asked if anyone had a close-up photo of the Rivera Music Services (RMS) Chromatic Transpose Minimoog mod. I knew I had a glossy photo sheet of a fully modded RMS Minimoog somewhere that I could get a sweet close-up scan from, so I went digging and in the same sleeve was this engineering brief as well.

And what do you know... it comes with a price sheet. That's some historical gold, right there. And a good reason to scan everything and post. :)

A lot of the content of the engineering brief actually appears in the "RMS Modified Minimoog" brochure that I posted about a year and a half ago. But there's a lot that's different too, including prices!

So, it made sense to do a small comparison between the two docs... and I guess readers of the blog are coming along for the ride.

For a start, the engineering brief contains a whole new first section of mods called "Updates" that RMS said would increase the stability and reliability of a stock Minimoog. This included options for:

• New stabilized oscillator board - $320
• Octave range buffers - $70
• Power supply updates I - $80 and II  - $40
• service check $55

*None* of those are listed in the brochure! Excellent stuff.

The next section in the brief is called "Custom Features", with an array of options that "provide new and unique sounds, functions, and control capabilities". This includes a number of features also found in the brochure I posted earlier. I've included prices for each feature with brochure prices in brackets for comparison:

• Fine tune control:
  Osc 2 - $40  (brochure: $55)
  Osc 3 - $40  (brochure: $55)
  Master tune  - $40  (not in brochure)
• Beat tune  - $105 ($89)
• Ribbon controller with pitch wheel reassignment  - $190 (not in brochure)
• Chromatic transpose with assignment switches  - $185  (brochure: $189)
• Preamp mode - $35 (brochure:  $29.50)
• Distortion - $50 (brochure: $49.50)
• Sync (Osc 2 and 3) - $170 (brochure $174.95)
• Contour (Osc 2 and 3) - $100 (brochure $79.50)
• LFO 4 - $150 / $180 with LED (brochure $149 includes LED)
• Modulation pedal  - $90 (not in brochure)
• Keyboard trigger  - $125 (brochure $129)

The final section in the brief is called the "Interface Capabilities" which added features to allow your Mini to "patches involving other synthesizers, controllers, processors and studio equipment. Again, most of these were available at the time the brochure came out as well:

• External CV assignment - $90 (brochure $129.50)
• Oscillators, filter, and keyboard CV and date outputs - $200 (brochure $124.50)
• V-trig to S-trig conversion cable - $40 (brochure has built this into the Mini as a V-trig input jack  - $49.50)
• Separation of keyboard and console - $250 (not in brochure)

I originally estimated the date of the brochure at 1981, and I was hoping I could compare prices to this engineering brief dated January 1980 to get a better date estimate. I figured if prices in the brochure were higher, then an '81 date would still make sense. If prices were lower, then I'd probably date the brochure a bit earlier... maybe 1979 or even 1978 

But they aren't uniformly more or less when compared! For example, the Fine Tune Control mod costs less in the brief than in the brochure, but Beat Tune mod costs more in the brief than in the brochure. Gah! 

It's also interesting to note a few features from the brief don't appear at all in that brochure - the whole service section, but also the modulation pedal, keyboard separation, and the ribbon controller. The pedal and ribbon controller are just external hardware I believe, no real "modding required", so I can see those being left out just to give more space to actual mods. 

And the separation of the keyboard from the synth is not really a mod - its more a massacre of sorts and probably couldn't really be done by your friendly neighbourhood tech. So that, and all those service mods could probably be excluded from the brochure without too much worry too. 

But still... I like consistency. Maybe some future RMS docs will help me out. 

Moog Retail Price List, June 28, 1980

Moog 2-page fold out Retail Price List from June 28, 1980.

What isn't to love about this price sheet?

A list of awesome Moog synths? Check!  Retail prices for those synth history buffs like me? Yup!  And last but definitely not least, Tom Schuman from Spyro Gyra. No wonder he is smiling, by the time this price list came out, the guy was still barely into his twenties and already had three albums under his belt.

AND he's playing a Moog Liberation keytar. That would definitely make me smile too.

click image for more info

If this photo of Tom appears familiar, it probably means you are old.

Or a fan of vintage synth ads.

Or both.

Because a full colour version appeared in a July 1980 Moog Liberation advertisement, around the same time this price list did. As mentioned in the blog post for that ad, 1980 really was the year that the Keytar broke out.

Which makes it a good year indeed.

As mentioned above, as a synth history buff, I love to see prices listed. Most ads don't include prices and its like a puzzle missing one of the most important pieces.  I've posted a few other Moog price lists (with more to come!) and its fun (and a little terrifying) to watch inflation unfold.

click image for more info

For example, The July 1, 1974 Moog Retail Price List contains some of the same products, and I've included a few of those below for comparison. 

Minimoog:
1974 - $1,595.00
1980 - $1,995.00

Percussion Controller:
1974 - $249.00 
1980 - $350.00

Ribbon Controller:
1974 - $295.00
1980 - $$395.00

click image for more info

Also, the March 1, 1976 Moog Professional Systems Price List gives us a good comparison for their modular systems.

System 15:
1976 - $3,845.00
1980 - $4,960.00

System 35:
1976 - $5,935
1980 - $7,980

System 55:
1976 - $9,675
1980 - $12,000

Time to look for more Keytar ads.

Roland Alphabetical Retail Price List, September 1978

Roland Alphabetical Retail Price List for September 1978.

I had recently come across this price list and thought it was interesting enough to share. Don't really have much to say so I'll just start typing and see what comes out.

Well, gotta say it's a great list of historic gear that includes price lists for Roland's early synthesizers, drum machines,effects units and a wack of other things.

One of the highlights for me is seeing the retail prices for the System 100 synthesizer:

• S-100 Synthesizer System - $2,425
• S-101 Synthesizer - $795
• S-102 Expander Module - $650
• S-103 Mixer - $360
• S-104 Sequencer - $495
• S-109 Monitor Speaker Set - 149.50

Also, seeing prices for the System 700 and in particular the Laboratory system is kinda cool.

• S-700 System Synthesizer - $13,500
• S-700L Laboratory System (Blocks 2 & 8) - $3,100
• S-700M Main Console System (Blocks 1 & 2) - $4,995

The pricing for the individual S-700 blocks is also there, but because the list is in alpha order, I almost missed 'em because they are on other side of the page. 

Block 1 Main Console - $4,495

Block 2 Keyboard Controller - $650

Block 3 Sequencer - $1,695

Block 4 VCO Bank - $2,795

Block 5 VCF, VCA Bank - $1,995

Block 6 Interface/Mixer - $1,195

Block 7 Phase Shifter / Audio Delay - $1,150

Block 8 Lab Console - $2,565

Keep looking and you'll find pricing for the early TR drum machines and the SH- family of synthesizers. The RE-101, 201 and 301 Space Echos are also here. And those cute early Boss mixers.

And see those asterisk symbols by the TR-33, TR-55 and TR-700? Those indicate that the units were recently discontinued, giving us a fairly accurate date of when these early drum machines were taken off the market. Roland Canada's drum machine history page tells me these only came on the market in 1972, giving the three machines less than a two-year life span.

This list is pure gold.

Rivera Music Services (RMS) "The RMS Modified Minimoog" brochure, 1981

Rivera Music Services "The RMS Modified Minimoog" brochure from approximately 1981.

It takes a fair bit of equal parts motivation and curiosity to get me to sit down and write a blog post lately, and I gotta say the perfect storm happened recently. Motivation came in the form of alcohol, while curiosity came from last year's reissue of the iconic Minimoog and the recent urge to get my own '80s Minimoog modified.

And so, meet one of the original mod'sters of the synth world - Rivera Music Services out of Boston. They modded a few different synths in the late 70s and early 80s, and some of their most well known surgical procedures were done on the one and only Minimoog.

This brochure provides a great "wish-list" for anyone wanting to get their Minimoog modified, and theoretically, if the innards of the old and new Minis are close enough, any mods listed here should be able to get done on your brand new re-issue'd Minimoog as well. But - I have no data to back up this claim - just musing is all.

But evidence of this claim comes from the new Minimoog itself. It appears at least one similar modification was already included in the new reissue - the addition of a dedicated LFO (called LFO 4 in this RMS brochure). Nice!

Before I go any further into specifics on the RMS mods, I just gotta say something about the brochure itself. And in particular, about the folding used.

The 10 page brochure uses a double gate fold, but because of the extra page (five "pages" a side), one side of the gate has to have an extra fold to make it work. That way, when the brochure is fully closed for mailing, the photo of the modded Minimoog appears on the front (page 4) and the address label appears on the back (page 3).

Then, when someone received the brochure in the mail and opened it,  page 5 ("Introduction" page) and page 2 ("In summary/A special note") would have been the first "inside" pages they saw. Flipping it out the rest of the way (one flip on the left and two flips on the right) then reveals all the details of the mods that are written on side two of the brochure.

Mind blown!

It's an interesting fold and a designer would definitely have had to have known their folding options to make it work properly. Kudos!

Okay, enough about the folding. Let's get to the meat of this brochure. As stated earlier, the brochure provides a great overview of the main mods available for the Minimoog.

RMS divided their mods into four categories - with a page devoted to each. All mods are available individually as well, as priced out on the last page of the side two.

Curiously, the first category is best described as other mods - or as RMS refers to them "In a class by themselves...". These mods include:

• Fine Tune control  - with no backlash (ie: there is no tuning drift when your hand lets go of the knob)
• LFO 4
• Keyboard Multiple/Single Trigger Select (allowing the CG to fire whether or not the previous key is lifted)

The second category are referred to as "Tuning" mods that all directly affect the turning of the oscillators in unison or separately.

• Chromatic Transposition
• Beat tune (visually tune your Minimoog while the band is playing)
• Dead band on pitch wheel - increasing the "dead" zone in the middle of pitch wheel. 

The third set are referred to as "New Sounds" mods, that are designed to "increase the timbre range of the Mini by providing new modulation and control capabilities.

• Sync for Osc 2 and 3
• Contour control for Osc 2 and 3 - apparently super cool for drum sounds
• Pre-amp mod - produces a unique type of distortion similar to a ring modulation
• Distortion - a "cleaner and smoother" distortion than the pre-amp mod

Finally, the forth set of mods fall under the "Interface" category, providing even more unique functionality.

• External control voltage assignment (control each Osc individually!)
• Individual outputs for Oscillator 1, 2 & 3, and filter (Wowza!)
• Keyboard control voltage and gate outputs
• V-trig input jack - so your Roland sequencer can now control your Minimoog WITHOUT an s-trig converter - sweet!

That is some dang good history hiding out in those pages! Definitely take the time to read through the brochure for more info on the mods. And keep reading, because the best was yet to come - the price list!

Bingo! 

When reading the prices, remember that these mods are in 1980s dollars. The "full package" was originally priced at $1,087.95 - or about $3,150 in today's dollars.

Costly. Maybe. Worth it. Definitely.

And I have other docs that show these weren't the only Minimoog mods RMS provided.  So lots more to come from RMS shortly. And by shortly, I'm hoping in less that four months...  :)

So, who has the guts to attempt these mods to their new Minimoog? Or have you already? Let me know!

Moog Professional Systems Price List, March 1, 1976

Moog Professional Systems Price List from March 1, 1976.

When friend of the blog Micke posted those links to the Moog 1972 and 1974 modular price lists in the comments section of my Moog Synthesizer 35 post, I immediately recognized the 1974 price list as looking eerily similar to a 1976 price list I had on my shelves somewhere. I went over to the Moog section and after a bit of digging finally found this little gem - in great condition too. Nice thick paper. Dark print. Yum.

When I did a cursory comparison, they looked identical (except for the colour), but as I took a closer look the differences started to make themselves clear.

The cover of the 1974 price list and this 1976 price list are pretty much identical, except that the "TM" is missing from the Moog logo that sits in the top right corner - and in fact, its missing from every corner of every page. The design of concentric circles matches the design style used for their product reference sheets from the same time period.

Flip open the list to the inside pages and again - very similar. On the inside-left page, the two paragraphs in the 1974 price list and this 1976 list are identical. No words have been changed. Underneath is the Instrument price lists, and its a little surprising to see just how much prices have gone *UP* in just two years.

For example:
Moog System 15 -  1974: $3,495.00  ----  1976: $3,845.00
Moog system 35 -   1974: $5,395.00  ----  1976: $5,935.00
Moog System 55 -  1974: $8,795.00   ---- 1976: $9,675.00

And remember, those differences are in 1976-dollars. That was a lot of cash back then!

On the inside-right page of the 1974 price list and the 1976 list are modules prices. Again, we see the uptick in pricing in 1976, and we also are surprised with the availability of a few more modules!

• The 928 Modular Sample and Hold
• The 1630 Bode Frequency Shifter

Excellent additions.

Finally on the back of the the 1974 price list and the 1976 list are images of the three different models available and a few selling points for each. Again, all similar between the two.

The most interest difference between these two price lists is right at the bottom of the back page. On the 1974 list is written "Distributed by: NORLIN MUSIC Inc." along with some contact info. This is rather surprising considering that according to the "Bob Moog: A Timeline" page on the Moog Music Web site, Norlin Music purchased Moog Music Inc. from Bill Waytena in 1973, essentially making Moog a sub-brand.

But, by 1976, Norlin finally decided to take advantage of their ownership status and up'd the tagline on that 1976 price list to "Another Quality Product from Norlin".

And just to make it official, slapped that Norlin logo right next to it.

Strider Systems Inc. DCS II Signal Flow Chart and Dealer Price List, 1979

Strider Systems Inc. DCS II Signal Flow Chart and Dealer Price List, 1979

Here are two more Strider Systems Inc. docs to add to the company's recent appearances on the blog.

The first document is a two-sided DSC II  "Synthesizer Module Signal Flow Chart". The front is the actual flow chart along with some descriptive explanation of  the DCS II's functionality, and the back continues with more functionality information.

I really dig synthesizer signal flow charts. They are just so much easier for me to digest when trying to figure out exactly what goes on under the synthesizer's hood. Would you rather take a glance at the above flow chart, or read the made-for-a-drinking game DCS II Spec Sheet promo that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago? Okay, maybe a bad example for those that like shots. But you get what I mean.

The second document is a one-sided Dealer Price List from 5-1-1979. Either May 1, or January 5. I hate when dates are printed that way. Anyways, I always find dealer pricing fascinating - it's a glimpse into the world of my buddies who worked at music stores in the 80s. A time before the Internet messed with the whole retail pricing model. Stupid Internet.

These two docs came to me with a pile of other great brochures and reference sheets a while back, and I always wondered if they were originally distributed together or separately. But then, during my research, I came across this MATRIXSYNTH auction post from October 2012 that included this description from the auction:

"Rare 'STRIDER SYSTEMS INC.' digital polyphonic synthesizer 'DEALER PACKET' from 1979 NAMM show!!

strange synth from Norman, OK

brochure 4 pages / price list / dealer info / synth signal flow chart

in original 8.5 x 11" envelope!!"

So, it turns out that could very well have been part of a dealer packet from NAMM  that also included the 4-page brochure that I had already posted. Unfortunately, I have yet to come across the original envelope. That thing looks juicy good.

I asked James Christensen, then president and founder of Strider, if he recalled exhibiting at NAMM. He sent me a few things he remembered, and if there was one memory that would stick out in my mind too, it would be this one:

"Bob Moog came to our booth at a NAMM show at McCormick Place in
Chicago and was very encouraging. A real gentleman."

Excellent.

He also remembered an earlier NAMM show where they displayed the DCS-1.

"The first time we showed the DCS1 - solid oak case and all - was at a NAMM trade show in LA (lots of posters up on the telephone poles for this new group Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Troubador). I spent a lot of the time in the motel room in West Hollywood fixing the connections that had come loose in the airplane's baggage hold while the other guys were out in the hospitality suites. I was mentioning this to one of the other exhibitors and he remarked knowingly, 'Prisoners of our own devices.'"

Tom Petty? Who's that. I kid, I kid. Speaking of musicians, I asked Jim if he had given any of his products away to musicians as promotional items.

"I believe that Tony Presti (Anthony Prestigiacomo), a musician from Baton Rouge who became our marketing department, had one - He was the only one who could play it and demo its features convincingly."

 Those are some good memories. With the resurgence of analog and older synthesizer companies (Moog, Dave Smith, etc), I asked Jim if he ever felt the pull back into synth building.

"One thing that the Strider experience taught me was that I am a whole lot better at software than hardware. Whenever I feel the urge to build something that produces music, I do some programming with JavaSound. The only thing missing there is the ability to create sounds from scratch via additive or subtractive synthesis by patching modules together. Massive collections of sampled sounds just aren't the same. I did spend the rest of my career writing standards and building software for interconnecting software modules diagrammatically.  Maybe one of these days I'll get around to programming some "function blocks" for synthesizer functions."

Understood.

Thanks again to Jim, who currently heads up HOLOBLOC Inc., for all the great Strider history. I'll still jelis of anyone that was around and contributing to the industry during this time period. 

Moog Retail Price List, 1974

Moog retail price list including Satellite, Sonic Six, Minimoog, Model 1130 Percussion Controller, Model 1150 Ribbon Controller, Model 1125 Sample & Hold, Satellite Carrying Case (Model "Satcase"), Minimoog Carrying Case (Model 1110), Model 1120 Foot Pedal Controller and Model 1121 Glide/Decay Foot Switch, from July 1974.

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Update: Just updated the Moog and Korg interactive timelines with the latest advertisements. Great way to browse through the ads.

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This is one of those Moog retail price list docs I wrote about in my first blog post of 2012 - the Moog 1984 product catalog. If you recall in that post, I explained that Moog historically had only a few main pricing documents for public consumption, including retail price lists and product catalogs. And that I was harping on the fact Moog had made the decision not to include actual prices in that 1984 product catalog. Its even more of a crime since as little as two years earlier they were including prices.

But, a decade earlier, Moog was in fine form. And I say that both from a design perspective as well as a Moog historical document collector.

First, we have a great little 8" x 9" brochure-style folding format printed on a nice thick paper stock. The light yellow colour of the paper is an interesting, and I'll admit readible, choice. The layout is fantastically simple with lots of space. All in all, a great doc that includes many of the features that make historical documents highly... er... historical.

For one, readers of this price list always knew what company they were dealing with because that snazzy iconic Moog logo appears on all three pages - front, inside and back. But the best part is that at no point is the logo ever overbearing. It always fits the space provided perfectly.

Second, on the front cover, we have a date - July 1, 1974! I love dates for their historical value. That *and* printed prices. :)

Also on the front cover is that gentlemanly composer dude that almost becomes as imprinted in my mind as the Moog logo itself. That little pre-clip-art guy made multiple appearances in a few pieces of Moog literature, including the hypnotic/epileptic-inducing 1972 Minimoog "The INstruments of the Pros..." brochure.

Open the price list and you immediately discover Moog's big push of the day. Accessories! Or as Moog calls them - the Sound Ensemble - including the ribbon controller (model 1150), percussion controller (model 1130), sample/hold (model 1125) and foot pedal controller (model 1120). That little promo and picture takes up the whole top half of the brochure beneath the title "Only Moog puts it all together".

And below that... magic! AKA retail prices. For not only the above accessories, but also for the glide/decay foot switch (model 1121). And heck, Moog wasn't just about the accessories. They were still building some fine synthesizers - the Satellite, Sonic Six and Minimoog. They give us historical price junkies 1974 retail prices for those too. And they print the date a second time in that price list box just for me! Nice touch.

If you want to see other docs for these particular synths, I've posted and blogged the classic 1974 Sonic Six brochure and similarly-dated Satellite reference sheet. And my Minimoog label will give you a little helping of Mini-goodness in the form of that hypnotic brochure I linked to above, a reference sheet, and advertisements.

Finally, Moog obviously reserved the back of the brochure for the lawyers. But, even with all that space available, Moog had the good sense to keep that fine-print rather fine. And if you historical buffs put on your reading glasses, what do you see in that fine-print? Another date! I've think I've died and gone to heaven.

Suddenly, I have a new-found respect for lawyers.  :D