That Gary Numan Synth

A look at the Polymoog and how Gary Numan adopted one of the presets from one of the versions to help define his sound.

0:00 Intro
0:41 What is the Polymoog?
8:00 Vox Humana and Gary Numan
13:35 Cars Cover

The sample Instrument

[scottlarson]

Michael Boddicker told Keyboard magazine in 1980 that he needed three Polymoogs: one that's getting repaired, one that works, and a third one he would play after the working one breaks.

[paulsantamaria]

It seems rather weird to be 71 years old and to have been a Moog Mini assembler at age 22 and to have seen the creation of the Polymoog in a room adjacent to my worktable (where I met Keith Emerson, too) and to have heard Keith and Bob working on it with the door closed. It's just ...weird.

[AndyVonal]

The cover of Cars was spine-tingling! Awesome!

[jeffzeromusic]

I found this to be a fascinating peek into that early Gary Numan sound! It was so informative...and then to see you put it altogether and cover 'Cars'?!? RIGHT ON!!! Great job!!! ALL of thumbs up! :)

[DornAndGrant]

As you know Alex, I was with Mr Numan in the early days - just before replicas was released. I was in a rehearsal studio with him, Chris Payne etc, and he played the snare sound on A mini-moog (I think) through a 2k PA rig. It took all our faces off. He also had the cars riff ready to go. Quite an iconic moment for wee little 19 year old me. And great cars cover :)

[rehustler]

Gary Numan made the Polymoog relevant. I don't think any other artist captured its capabilities and unique features quite like he did. "The Pleasure Principle" made me simultaneously a Gary Numan, synth, and Moog fan at the same time. And I never lost the love for any of them.

[thebreakfastmenu]

The ending of Cars with the harmonized lead synth is what got me into Gary Numan. What a sound.

[donnienorwood]

I saw Gary Numan's "Cars" video on "On TV" which predated MTV as an eleven year old... I was speechless... He was everything my parents were not, which made him the coolest human being on the planet... Fantastic video...

[ajh]

I'm in Michigan... I was 12 and that was the very first cassette I ever bought in 79! Gary Numan is the first in my life to start my musical path. At 57 now... I'm always a true "New Waver" forever!

[colinwright]

That is THE best cover of Cars ever. Forget people bringing "something new" to a song, Getting so close and not trying to sound like Numan made that really enjoyable. You looked like you were having a great time.

[dillipphunbar]

Nary Guman must be proud of that performance, and spotlight. Well done Blex!

[nicolasbeker]

The PolyMoog is also responsible for the string and the bass sound of visage fade to grey. What an icon.

[AgsmaJustAgsma]

I'm a simple man. I see a video about The Pleasure Principle, I give an instant like before even watching the video.

[JoeyP]

You can’t get more “new wave” than this song. Eeerie yet soothing. I was more of a metal/rock fan during this time but always loved this song. My ‘73 Duster did too

[deadbymidnightband]

Amazing stuff!!! So I had the pleasure of playing keys for Gary in 2015 on the classic albums tour/ shows so I got to play all the amazing riffs and sounds night after night and get paid for it!! so for the tech heads out there the way its done now is that we used VIRUS Ti synths for the Vox Humana and Polymoog String sounds. I had a rack VIRUS linked to a midi controller plus sampled versions in MainStage and Gary used a VIRUS keyboard in the USA or another VIRUS rack when traveling. The virus is super solid and much more reliable than the polymoog and it sounded EXACTLY like it but wow the original is still amazing!!!

[andrewcasteen]

Just saw him live last weekend in Portland with Ministry and Front Line Assembly. Such a fantastic performer!!

[SevenDaysToNoon]

It’s stumbling across videos like this that makes me love YouTube so much. Excellent stuff. Especially your rendition of Cars. 👏👏👏👏👏

[Hunter-zphd]

I know Cars was the radio song, but I always loved the album Telekon. It’s good to see someone keeping that music alive with the PolyMoog.

[expandingknowledge]

Wore out two Pleasure Principle albums on my record player. There was a piano organ store where I lived in Dover New Hampshire back in the day, and tucked away in the lower level in a small section was a brand new Poly MOOG, and Micro Moogs, and other MOOG products. Would have never seen these instruments because they weren't advertised at all. This piano organ store also were taking orders for Korg MS-20 synths. This was in the year 1978 as I remember. I ordered a MS-20, and had to wait 3 months for it. That was my first synth, man those were the days!

[KometB]

Polymoog Vox Humana, the most incredible synth preset of all time! Has to be one of the most famous synth presets ever!