Moogfest was a music and technology festival held in Durham, North Carolina, that honored engineer Robert Moog and his inventions. It was first held in New York City, and after a hiatus took place in Asheville, North Carolina, for five years before moving to Durham.

The multi-day event features performances by artists who use Moog instruments as well as others whose work is influenced by Bob Moog. It also includes interactive experiences, visual art exhibitions, installations, film screenings, panel discussions, and workshops..

[Robert Moog] brought electronic music to the masses and changed the way we hear music.

His invention is ubiquitous and has had as much if not more impact than the invention of the piano. He's probably one of the most important musical instrument makers in history. With the Minimoog, he took the synthesizer out of the studio and put it into the concert hall.

For the first time you could go on [stage] and give the guitarist a run for his money ... a guitarist would say, 'Oh shoot, he's got a Minimoog', so they're looking for eleven on their volume control — it's the only way they can compete. [It] absolutely changed the face of music.

The sound defined progressive music as we know it.

Robert Moog, born on May 23, 1934, in New York City and died on August 21, 2005, in Asheville, North Carolina, developed his first commercial voltage-controlled analog synthesizer with American composer, inventor, and educator Herbert Deutsch in 1964. At the time, other synthesizers were already on the market, but Moog synthesizer began to gain wider attention in the music industry after it was demonstrated at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. The Beatles, Mick Jagger and Sun Ra were among the first customers, but the commercial breakthrough of a Moog recording was made by Wendy Carlos in the 1968 record Switched-On Bach, which became one of the highest-selling classical music recordings of its era. Keith Emerson first discovered the Moog when he heard Switched-On Bach, and one year later in 1970, he wanted to take it on the road with him. Robert Moog replied that there was no chance because the machine was too fragile and required extensive training to operate properly, but Emerson finally convinced Moog and the Minimoog was released.

Keith Emerson was the first musician to tour with a Minimoog during Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Pictures at an Exhibition shows. The Minimoog became the most popular monophonic synthesizer of the 1970s, and it was quickly taken up by leading rock and electronic music groups such as Yes, Tangerine Dream, Parliament-Funkadelic, Pink Floyd, Devo, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Gary Numan, and Rush, and musicians such as Pete Townshend, George Harrison, Ray Manzarek, Stevie Wonder, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Isao Tomita, and Herbie Hancock. In 1974 the German electronic group Kraftwerk further popularized the sound of the synthesizer with their landmark album Autobahn, which used several types of synthesizer including a Minimoog. Italian producer and composer Giorgio Moroder helped to shape the development of disco music. The Minimoog was highly popular in the 1970s and 1980s, and has been used by many artists. The Moog also became synonymous with funk and West Coast hip hop, techno, sci-fi sounds, and the instrument figured in the most classic of classic rock albums such as Abbey Road and Who's Next.