Think of it as the Robot plus the Moog synth guitar rolled into one. First and foremost, it's a guitarist's guitar, with three different kind of pickups—a humbucker, a single-coil and a bridge-mounted piezo acoustic—all capable of contributing their sound to an original, organic blend of totally real guitar noise.

Having anchored itself firmly in Gibson's traditions, it's also got some crazy new stuff. Like the Robot, it self-tunes (now up to 500 times on a single battery charge), and using the "Chameleon Tone Technology" it is capable of producing "every imaginable guitar sound," says Gibson.

The company is quite proud of the Master Control Knob—presumably with a bit of a Tron shoutout there—though I can only imagine that the "sophisticated full color matrix display featuring LEDs and high-tech light pipe technology" takes a little bit of a hike up the learning curve.

Those who know of Les Paul's guitar innovations will appreciate that Gibson is carrying on his tradition of complication as a necessary means for cooler guitar tech. Some of Les' personal guitars had tons of mostly unmarked switches on them, not to mention a few boxes off to the side.

Speaking of boxes, a lot of the digital mojo is facilitated by the guitar's interface, the Robot Interface Pack, which has jacks on the front for the guitar and headphones. On the rear there's a FireWire connector (hear that, new MacBook shoppers?) and a hex connector, which can be adapted for MIDI output. The good news for suckers who bought the first-gen Robot is that the upgrade will be available to them at a price close to cost. (My guess is they'll make the money on labor when you take your Robot in for the upgrade.)

Though Gibson won't promise "infinite sustain" like Moog, it does say that its body design makes "the Dark Fire one of the best-sustaining Les Pauls ever produced." Cool. [Gibson]

If you had the new Moog Guitar Paul Vo Edition you could play, go out and have a bite...in Italy, come back to the States and Waaaaaaaaa...you'd still be hearin' that one. Moog, the company best known for their line of synthesizers, has turned their innovative eye towards the guitar and emerged with an instrument that features infinite sustain. Apparently, this musical miracle is achieved using strings that have "a specific metallurgy designed to work with the Moog pickups."

The full list of modes on the Paul Vo Edition includes:

•FULL SUSTAIN MODE - like no other sustainer; infinite sustain on every string, at every fret position and at any volume. You may have heard sustain before but not with this power (we call it "Vo Power") and clarity.

•CONTROLLED SUSTAIN MODE - allows you to play sustained single or polyphonic lines without muting technique. The Moog Guitar sustains the notes you are playing while actively muting the strings you are not playing.

•MUTE MODE - removes energy from the strings, resulting in a variety of staccato articulations. The mute mode has never been heard on any other guitar; the Vo Power stops the strings with the same intensity that it sustains them. You feel the instrument transform in your hands.

•HARMONIC BLENDS – use the included foot pedal to shift the positive energy of Vo Power in Sustain mode and the subtractive force of Vo Power in Mute mode between the bridge and neck pick-ups to pull both subtle and dramatic harmonics from the strings.

•MOOG FILTER - control the frequency of the built-in, resonant Moog ladder filter using the foot pedal or a CV Input.

As you can see in the video above, the Moog guitar has the full endorsement of Lou Reed and Vernon Reid from Living Color, which in and of itself is enough to justify the $6,495 asking price. However, you will have to wait until September to get your hands on one—but pre-orders are being accepted on the product page right now. [Moog via Wired]

Somehow, I can't stop watching this video. Warp 9 Craziness. – Ad Dugdale

Nintendo Wiimote Theremin with Moog Little Phatty [YouTube via Popbitch]

Moog, the company so beloved of prog-rock (plink-plonk, strum, zzzzzzz) and funk (Wikki-wikki, shukka-shukka, Yowzah!) artists in the '70s—founder Bob Moog started building Theremins back in the '50s with his dad. As you do‐has brought out a new MoogerFooger, a studio gadget beloved by today's producers and musicians.

The MF/FM has an onboard analog radio tuner which locks into frequencies across the FM radio band, to which you can mix your own music to. Once you start twiddling the voltage-controlled oscillator, the madness begins and your mom will think that there is an alien lifeform jamming with her beloved son.

It costs $349 and is available from April 1. Given that the date is a Sunday, there is a possibility that ths could be an April Fool, but IMHO, the product is not weird enough for a company like Moog to come up with. Perhaps that is the problem, and I have been well and truly duped. – Ad Dugdale

Product Page [Moog Music]

If you've ever wondered what would happen if you took a 1967 Moog Modular Series III and rehoused all the modules in backlit plexiglass, now you know! The groovy gentleman in the photo above is Don Preston, and his plexiglass Moog was previously owned and custom-built by Pat Gleeson. The Moog was used on the synth-heavy soundtrack of Apocalypse Now in 1979.

Synths used on the soundtrack to "Apocalypse Now" [Vintage Synth Explorer, via Music Thing]

Moog's New Little Phatty: Inside Details Revealed, Pricing $1000-1500 [Create Digital Music]

A Very Moog-y Christmas: Switched on Santa Album [Create Digital Music]

Softcore synth pr0n from Eurythmics [Music Thing]

Moog PianoBar + Other Digital Acoustic Pianos [Create Digital Music]

Bob's Body Leaves Us
[Moog Music]