Cantos Gets Liberated!

Moog Liberated that is.  I give you a new addition to the family; the Moog Liberation.  New to us that is, it’s actually from around 1981. This instrument was largely (but not solely) responsible for the “Keytar” craze of the 1980s. Most keytars are just MIDI controllers that you plug in to other gear, such as the Korg RK-100, the yamaha KX-5 and the Roland Axis. The Liberation, however, is a genuine analog synthesizer with the controls mounted so that the player can tweak them while they’re playing, with an umbilical cord-like cable that plugs into a rackmount unit containing the power supply and inputs and outputs, thus only having one cable  to trip over instead of a tangled spaghetti mess. As for the sounds, it is in many ways very similar to the MG-1 (the cheap Moog built for Radio Shack ), the Opus 3, and the Prodigy (both of which were also Moog).  Soundwise it is probably closest to the Prodigy, although it does contain a very basic polyphonic organ section like the Opus 3 and MG-1 both have.  There are 2 VCOs, and the tone is pretty decent for lead solo sounds, but falls a little short in the bass department.  Lets just say it’s no Minimoog.   It actually looks a lot heavier than it is, and no doubt was used by keyboardists who wanted to swoon the ladies while melting their faces with synthesizer solos.  Guitarists probably all had a good chuckle over it too I’m sure.  The Liberation still can be seen in live use today, because it just looks so darn cool.  (Or dorky depending on your opinion of keytars).  I’m positive I’ve seen video of one used with Gwen Stefani live, and there are also confirmed sightings of The Human League using one live as recent as 2009.  Since eghties trends seem to be coming back right now,  Roland has just introduced a next-generation keytar in August 2009 that contains a built in synthesizer.  I think I’ll stick to my good ol’ Korg RK-100 from 1984.  Yes the liberation has the added sex-appeal of being a Moog, but the RK-100 is a tank.  And because it’s made of wood, if the nice red finish gets too scuffed up, I can just re-paint it!  Maybe sunburst this time.  Hmmmmm.

Here’s a good list of common Keytars with some descriptions and pictures: http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/perfkeys.php