Awesome Google doodle honours synth pioneer

Today’s Google doodle is more kinds of awesome than we could count with the collective number of fingers and toes in the office.

The internet giant made the playable doodle in honour of Robert Moog’s 78th birthday. The electronic music pioneer is responsible for a load of music gadgets including the Minimoog Model D, Minimoog Voyager, Little Phatty, Moog Taurus Bass Pedals, and the Moog Minitaur.

Moog’s synth engine also powers the Animoog iOS app, which was brought out a few years after his death. That’s how much of a pioneer the man was.

If you’re still wondering why this guy was so important, bear in mind that his Moog synthesiser, brought out in 1964, was one of the first widely used electronic instruments and that his clients included Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman and renowned 20th Century composer John Cage.

In an official blog post, Google stresses Moog (it rhymes with ‘vogue’)’s geek credentials:

With his passion for high-tech toolmaking in the service of creativity, Bob Moog is something of a patron saint of the nerdy arts and a hero to many of us here. So for the next 24 hours on our homepage, you’ll find an interactive, playable logo inspired by the instruments with which Moog brought musical performance into the electronic age. You can use your mouse or computer keyboard to control the mini-synthesizer’s keys and knobs to make nearly limitless sounds. Keeping with the theme of 1960s music technology, we’ve patched the keyboard into a 4-track tape recorder so you can record, play back and share songs via short links or Google+.

Whether you want to make crazy sci-fi noises or indulge in some overblown prog rock, then today’s doodle is for you.