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Moog Liberation: Flip or Flop?


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This is kind of an epic saga...

 

Forty years ago I purchased this Moog Liberation via a classified ad published in a trade rag. If memory serves (and at my age, it often doesn't, anymore) it had been listed, among loads of other equipment, by a fellow who was moving his studio and didn't want to take all the big, heavy stuff with him. The fellow's name was -- wait for it -- Tom Schuman (Spyro Gyra's keyboardist) who was one of my heroes, in those years. More than that, Tom's ad claimed that the previous owner had been -- wait for it, again -- Chick Corea. Although I had, of course, no way to verify these claims, I had no reason to doubt them either, and I had actually seen Tom playing a Liberation on a gig at the Roxy, in Los Angeles (although my memory tells me that that one was white, not black, so perhaps he had two, or it had been backlined.)

 

Nowadays, I'm just not nostalgic about many things, especially the notion of some instrument being "previously owned" by someone of note, and that ownership somehow making the instrument more valuable or desirable. But back then, the opportunity to collect a pretty cool-looking keytar from Spyro Gyra was practically irresistible. I don't remember what I paid for it -- I didn't have much money for such things back then -- but it was probably a few hundred dollars, at that was a lot.

 

A couple of weeks later, the Liberation arrived, freight-shipped in what we used to call an "Anvil" flight case (although it was actually a "CalZone" case, from Norwalk, CA). I was playing a little Yamaha KX-5 keytar at that time, and this rig was just a behemoth compared to that. It had a certain "gravitas", just because of its size and weight. I plugged it in to make sure it was working, made a few burps and bleeps (I had no idea how to work a real synthesizer), and put it back in the case, wondering how I could ever integrate this giant thing into my own band's performances.

 

I never did. The big ol' flight case and its vintage contents simply got moved with my belongings from apartment to apartment for a couple of years, and then it sort of just disappeared from my radar -- I had stopped thinking about it, life had moved one, and the Liberation had ended up -- somewhere.

 

Flash forward to last month: I get a call from the trombonist of my old band (who was cleaning out *his* studio), asking me if I wanted my Moog Liberation back, because he had found it, buried in a corner, under four decades of accumulated stuff -- and his wife wanted it out of there, pronto. In other words, if I don't want it, it's going into a dumpster. (Kudos to my buddy's memory for even remembering who it belonged to.) Now, full-disclosure, I really didn't want it, but I did feel a little bit responsible since I had no idea how it had come to be where it was, and frankly (did I say earlier that I wasn't nostalgic?) I kinda wanted to see it again. So I picked it up yesterday and took it home, wondering what I'd find after all these years.

 

Yah, you guessed right, it was a pretty big mess. All of the foam in the flight case had devolved into kind of a fragile, stiff dust that disintegrated when you touched it; the board was sort of buried in the stuff. The pix below were taken after I just shook off all the particles and blew off the dust. I worked on it some more to clean it up enough so that I could actually touch it without getting covered with foam dust, and decided to fire it up. Almost miraculously -- it works. All the lights come on, the keys play (including aftertouch); it makes sounds.

 

I messed with the Mixer sliders, and with the just the "Poly" up I can play melodies and chords. "Noise" is -- noise-y; "Ring Mod" is just bizarre (I told you, I don't know anything about "real" synths). The two "Osc" sliders seem to work, but no matter which key I play, I always get the same pitch; they may be working, or there may be a problem; I just don't know what to expect. :blush:

 

So now I have to decide what to do with this beast. For sure, I have no desire (nor opportunity) to actually play it. It would make a cool piece of wall art, cleaned up a little more and repainted. I could perhaps pay someone like Syntaur to nicely restore it, and then flip it as a "valuable, vintage piece, formerly owned by Tom Schuman and Chick Corea". I could donate it to a synth museum. I suppose I could even offer it for sale, as is, to someone (on KC?) who wants to fix it up, since it does work.

 

Whadda y'all think? I'm open to just about anything... :) And even if you don't have an amazing idea for its future, feel free to wax nostalgic about your own memories and experiences with the Moog Liberation. At least *that* will be fun! I've included a link at the bottom to an interview with the Liberation's design lead, and author of the user manual.

 

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Rock Wehrmann Interview

Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73

 

 

 

 

 

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Wow, I've never heard of that! I love how the guy in the pic does not, how do you say...have the "keytar look" that you normally think of :D And only keyboard players would appreciate a note to show the correct angle of playing!
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About how much does it weigh? If light enough, would be cool to control some modern synths that still have CV input.

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

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That 14 pounds is a back breaker. It could sound like God's tenor sax and that would still make it a monstrosity. Wasn't Jan Hammer playing one through an Oberheim SEM or was that after he had the custom Minimoog keyboard on a strap? Let's argue the point like two grandpas comparing Buick models on an old B&W movie. :rolleyes:

 

I vote flop for the one-two punch of awkward weight and thin sound. Some synths seemed designed to simply clear out end-of-this-particular-line parts. I also humbly submit that trickle-down models like the Roland D-10 were partly there to make you MAD enough to buy the flagship. Been there, got marketed that. :laugh:

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Nice, Dave.

 

Brad, if so inclined you could donate it to the Bob Moog Foundation for display or raffle. Otherwise I'd clean it up and hang it on the wall. Play it? Nah. It's a boat anchor.

9 Moog things, 3 Roland things, 2 Hammond things and a computer with stuff on it

 

 

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I loved mine and was sorry to let it go. If you decide to unload it to someone who will use it, reach out to Michelle Moog-Koussa at the Bob Moog Foundation, or to me. But don't turn it into wall art! It's a piece of history. I am broke but I'll find the money to buy it off you (minus the case :)

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

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It's worth quite a bit of money, even without the history.

 

If you can find a way to verify the provinence (Moog sales records, perhaps?), and it actually belonged to Chick, it's probably worth A LOT.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

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Not much love for the poor Liberation :cry:

 

I don't think wall art is the way forward; if I was going to hang up a keytar, it would have to be my KX-5 (see THIS thread...)

 

Perhaps, with a little more clean-up, it would fetch some $$ on Reverb or CL; I suppose I can give it a few hours of sweat equity. :P

Legend '70s Compact, Jupiter-Xm, Studiologic Numa X 73

 

 

 

 

 

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