Moog Music Inc

A great experience with the moog factory tour, It was informative and inspiring to be there!

Wowee, Moog! Visiting the marvelous Moog headquarters was the highlight of my trip to Asheville. Although I didn’t take the official tour, just being on the hallowed grounds of this synth Mecca was enough to make me feel like a kid visiting Santa’s workshop. Even the exterior, with its massive modular window overlay, was something exciting to see. And the store! Aagh! Theremins, keyboards, and other goodies all available for hands-​on testing. Not only can you play with it all, you can take it home, too! If you’re on a musicians budget, they also have great tshirts and other super swag to show your synth support.
This place is MUST if you’re in the area. Call ahead to reserve a tour for the full experience. Or just stop by! The folks are so nice — we were treated well by Rob, who even gave us a peek into the back where all the wonderful and friendly staff waved to us from their magic-​making workbenches. Squee! Check out Moog HQ, and Enjoy!

I liked swimming through a sea of synthesizers. I liked touring the factory and seeing the happenings and real human hands making real cool machines. I didn’t like that the tour guide made of a few of his «facts» but hey you probably get bored spouting the same stuff every day. Definitely recommend stopping in if you’re interested in music, electronics, or both!

I’ll be back for a tour, but the shop itself if really fun if you’re into the Moog gear or just wanting to feel like a musician of sorts. I walked out feeling like I too could have amounted to a talented musician, what with all the gear. Synthesizers are the coolest to play around with, even when you don’t really know what you’re doing. You can play EVERY Moog instrument in production in the store, buy a souvenir or just look around the at the sleek design and modern/​industrial layout. You ARE able to peek into the production side of the factory from the shop area, but if you’re a modern music connoisseur, definitely hook up on their Free Tours [available Monday — Friday 10:30am or 3:30pm OR Contact Moog Store Manager, Paul Gaeta, to Arrange a Tour 828.239.0123 or
].

I was absolutely blown away by this store, the staff, the tour and the whole Moog story. Paul and Rob were extremely knowledgeable, welcoming and happy to answer any questions. It is rare to find a company with as much thoughtfulness, passion, history, friendliness and in-​house manufacturing going on. This is a must see in Asheville, and I would highly recommend. You’ll leave feeling completely inspired!

In my opinion, the tour of the factory — just blocks from the downtown Asheville hot zone — is a must-​do. Just so much to soak in even for the most casual of modern music fans.
The tour foreplay is diddling around with Moog gear in the showroom. Much fun. If you can’t get a satisfying woop-​woop or a wicked synth bass line going, you have zero funk, soul, life, etc. Hell, just shoot for 50s sci-​fi soundtrack sounds and be thrilled.
The tour itself will be about 45 minutes and conveys just how unique Moog is in an age of digital, mass produced everything. The synths are still analog, hand-​built, hand-​tested — with a remarkable amount of locally-​sourced parts, right down to the wood side panels. (Yep, wood. On a synth. In 2014.)
The only downside is the odd heat that wells up in the showroom and the extreme likelihood that some EDM poser douche-​bag will be part of your tour-​group. Thankfully, the Moog folks seem to be used to this threat, to the point of being willing to boot particularly noxious examples of the breed from the tour. You know, the dopes with zero-​attention spans and raccoon tails and sandals.
Ignore that and Moog on.

I believe that the funnest 8 minutes of my life may look like getting hopped up on a soy cappuccino from the coffee shop down the street and pretending to know how to play a Theremin prior to the tour of the Moog Factory.
(I’ve given up on every instrument I’ve ever picked up, by the way.)
Although not musically inclined in hardly any way, the tour was a major highlight of my trip to Asheville. It was informative, entertaining and I loved talking to my tour guide afterwards about being creative and the creative process. Yeah, I totally want a Moog now.
Oh, and I got to see Justin Timberlake’s Moog. Woooooooo! [Weeeeohh zee ooop ooh zooooop!]

Kate S of Seattle had it right, even novices will find a Moog factory tour interesting and informative. I was so impressed by our tour guide, he had an encyclopedic knowledge of both the founder and the generations of products he spawned.
Our Seattle daughter gave us the head’s up on the tour, she was tuned into the very recent Moog Fest, which I heard was tremendous. This festival also had a myriad of free concerts, sounds like the Moog enterprise is a generous enterprise.
Check it out in downtown asheville, NC. Many innovative upgrades just about to be released, check it out yourself.

Tour the Moog factory! It’s fun!
Moog changed the world of music with his synthesizers. The Moog company is 100% American and 100% in Asheville. Even if you don’t play music you’ll have a good time and learn some interesting things about the innerworkings of music and recording — like how Quincy Jones and MJ auditioned over 200 bass sounds for the track Billy Jean, winding up using two Moog synthesizers and an electric bass. Maybe you’d be more interested to know that Beyonce’s Moog is purple… or that Jay Z has left one in the Moog shop for about a year and hasn’t paid his repair bill :-(NAH!
You can play with synths and theremins (that was Bob Moog’s first product, a theremin kit) in the music store up front then take a tour at 10am or 3pm (call ahead, it’s free) and they’ll show you how they make ‘em in the factory.
A really great geek-​out and something different than paying $ 60 to see the historic Biltmore.

We were wandering aimlessly downtown, just about to turn around and walk in the opposite direction, when we noticed the sign. Just visible down the hill, we weren’t sure– could it be? Let’s go check it out.
Walking closer, we saw we were right. It was the Moog Factory, and we were standing right in front of it.
We started taking pictures and acting totally normal…
Walking inside, we spoke with a very nice guy about a tour– which unfortunately we missed. We could, however, play around with a variety of Moogs and keyboards to our heart’s delight.
Very cool place, very nice staff, and a fun experience in Asheville.

I’m not into bleep bloops. Synths. What have you. Do I like the music they make? Oh hells yes — but when it comes to the actual instruments and doodads that make the noises my interest piques most days at apathy.
That said, Moog Music is great. Tours happen twice a day and are free. Yup, that is right — FREE. Just call or email ahead of time and they will get you on the list.
You’ll start out in the store/​showroom, and have the ability to play with basically every current item they make. The theremin was my favorite — but there was plenty of knobs and dials to fiddle with and have fun, even for those who don’t care like me. From there they take you to the back where you see where they make them, test them, pack them, ship them, etc. You get a nice history of the company and the tour guides are super friendly, knowledgeable, and will answer any question you may have.
My fiancé loved every minute we were there. An easy 5 stars for him, but for someone like me? Who only really appreciates the end results? I really liked it here too. For those musically inclined, or those who love synth machinery… Moog is the place to be. For those who have to muster excitement? Know that you’ll have a great time here as well.

Tours are given twice a day (10am and 3pm); you just have to call to reserve a spot, using the number listed on their web site. We had no problem setting up a same-​day tour (FREE) and got good parking information from the person I spoke to.
We arrived a few minutes early and had time to play all the equipment set up in the showroom (with headphones, so no one will hear the terrible sounds produced by a first-​time theremin player!).
The tour itself takes about 30 minutes and leads you through the workshop where ALL of the Moog instruments are produced and serviced (Jay Z’s keyboard was in for repairs the day we were there). You also get to see some development areas where older instruments are played and newer ones are developed.
While this is not somewhere you’ll spend the day, we definitely enjoyed an hour there and had fun getting an inside look at some of the most defining musical instruments of the digital age.

I had a hard time finding info about the Moog Music «museum» on my visit to Asheville — so I am going to post the info I have here.
First, there seem to be two locations — one in downtown Asheville and one somewhere else nearby. If you are in downtown Asheville, you want the location on Broadway (this one).
It’s basically the Moog factory where instruments are assembled, along with a store that is open to the public. The store has 6 – 7 instruments you can try — all keyboards with Moog effects devices connected to them. The highlight for me was the theramin that was on display, which is set up for people to play with. There are also Moog branded t-​shirts, notebooks, mugs, chocolate bars, etc.
The assembly space was not open to the public when I was there. I didn’t ask for a tour. The shop space takes about 5 minutes to see (it’s just one room) unless you want to spend more time playing with the instruments.
I couldn’t find any info on the Moog websites about tours or a museum, and when I called the phone number listed, it was disconnected.
Hope that helps future visitors. Perhaps someone from Moog will see this and update their website with more detailed information.

Free tours are given twice a day. It was an excellent time even for a non-​musician like myself.