Ambient Bach
I was particularly fascinated by Bach's harmonies, how he crafted absolutely incredible harmonic lines. I wanted to find a way to really get in to them, a way for me to absorb (and hopefully learn) some of what made that music work. "Hey!", I thought, "I have a recording studio! I'll record some four-part chorales using my Micromoog synthesizer!"
Moog synthesizers play a big part in this short story. One of the events that probably set me on my life-trajectory in music was receiving Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos when I was 9 years old. Bach music played on synthesizers! How wonderful!
I decided to do a similar thing. I hooked up my Micromoog -- the smallest and only Moog synth I could afford -- got out my book of Bach 4-Voice Chorales, and set up to record the 4 tracks of a select few of them. I decided to do one thing differently from the original Switched-On Bach approach -- I thought that I could get in to the harmonies even more if I slowed the pace of the music waaaay down. I would really be able to hear those glorious chords! Thus 'Ambient Bach' was born. And of course an 'Ambient' chorale has to have loads of echo and reverb. Somewhere in my office at Columbia I think I still have a tape with the two or three pieces I recorded. They probably sound better in my memory-imagination than the real thing, though.
Back to the Moog-aspect of this tale: Moog synthesizers then (and now!) are too expensive for me, i'm afraid. However, a German company known for making very inexpensive synthesizer gear ("clones" of existing synths, the company: Behringer) produced a very affordable Minimoog copy. I bought several and revisited the 'Ambient Bach' idea, but this time using the exercise as an excuse to try out some basic AI work (see the chorAIles web site).
Behringer next developed a
Eurorack
modular system based on the original, 'classic' Moog synthesizers,
like the kind used to create Switched-On Bach. They were affordable!
I couldn't resist -- a life-long musical dream -- I have a "System 35"
now set up in my Whidbey studio, and OF COURSE I used it to produce some
more 'Ambient Bach'.
Brad Garton
January, 2026
