my first moog

As I mentioned in the previous post, scanning the musical instruments classifieds on Craigslist is a mindless pastime of mine; I do it habitually and not quite obsessively. I’ve found some pretty good deals there over the years; the Motif ES 7 is probably the best example. I’ve also made some impulse purchases that I’ve changed my mind about, like the Sequential Six-Trak.

Craigslist isn’t a secret anymore; it’s a pretty high-traffic channel. Which means it also has a pretty high noise floor, and aside from the occasional chuckle it can make a grown man wonder if he’s wasting his time. But I keep at it, a bit like the compulsive gambler but without the risk – because occasionally I have days like last Saturday, when I found someone in Markham listing a used Moog Etherwave theremin for sale or trade.

I borrowed a PAiA Theremax from the friend of a friend a few years back and found it kind of fun to play with, but the build quality and sound of those models is not really up to my standard. To be fair, they are sold mostly as oddities, in kit form, for hobbyists – and they’re very reasonably priced. So I knew I would get a theremin eventually, and the obvious choice would be a Moog. And I’ve been keeping an eye out for years now. It’s tricky to play, but rewarding. I’m running it through Mainstage on the MacBook Pro and latency is negligible – but you have to turn the automatic feedback sensing off, for obvious reasons. I’ll post some audio when I can produce something listenable.