Electronic musical instrument

An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that creates sound using electronic circuitry. Instead of using strings or wind, these instruments generate sound through electrical, electronic, or digital signals. These signals are sent to a power amplifier, which makes the sound loud enough through a loudspeaker for both the player and the audience to hear.

Many electronic instruments have a user interface that lets the player change how the sound sounds. This is often done by adjusting the pitch, frequency, or how long each note lasts. A common example is the musical keyboard, which works like a regular piano but connects to a synth module, computer, or other electronic sound maker instead of strings. Some instruments separate the part you press or move from the part that makes the sound, talking to each other using special languages like MIDI or Open Sound Control.

Today, electronic musical instruments are used in almost every kind of music. In styles like electronic dance music, most sounds come from electronic instruments such as a bass synth, synthesizer, or drum machine. Creating new electronic instruments is still a growing area of study, with special meetings for musicians and inventors to share their latest ideas and creations.

Classification

In music, electronic musical instruments are called electrophones. They are the fifth group of instruments in the Hornbostel-Sachs system. These instruments make sound using electricity, different from acoustic instruments like pipe organs or electric guitars that are made louder with electricity.

The idea of electrophones was added to the Hornbostel-Sachs system in 1940. It was split into three types: instruments that help acoustic instruments make sound, instruments that make acoustic instruments louder, and instruments that create sound mostly through electrical circuits. The last group includes instruments like theremins and synthesizers.

Early examples

See also: Electronic music

In the 1700s, musicians began using electricity to change how instruments sounded. One early example was the Denis d'or keyboard from 1753. It had many strings and used electricity to make the sound better. Another was the clavecin électrique from 1761, which used electric picks to play notes. Neither of these used electricity to create the sound itself.

The first electric synthesizer was made in 1876 by Elisha Gray. He found he could control sound using electricity while working on telephone technology. This led to a device called the Musical Telegraph, which could make sounds using steel parts that vibrated with electricity.

A big invention in 1906 was the audion, the first vacuum tube. This helped create and strengthen electrical signals, which was important for radio and later electronic music. Other early electronic instruments included the Telharmonium in 1897, the Theremin in 1919, and the ondes Martenot in 1928.

Main article: Telharmonium

In 1897, Thaddeus Cahill created the Telharmonium. It used spinning parts to make musical sounds as electrical signals. It could play any combination of notes and was very large, even needing trains to move it. Interest in it faded by 1912.

Main article: Ondes Martenot

The ondes Martenot was invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. Players could use a keyboard or move a ring along a wire to create wavering sounds. It was used in famous music and movies, especially in science fiction and horror films.

Main article: Trautonium

The Trautonium was invented in 1928. It could make sounds like bells or gongs and was used in some famous music performances.

Main articles: Hammond organ and Novachord

In 1929, Laurens Hammond started making electronic instruments. The Hammond organ used spinning metal parts to create sounds, picked up by magnets and sent to speakers. It was first made for church music but became popular in blues and jazz. The Novachord, made from 1938 to 1942, was the first synthesizer sold to the public. It used many vacuum tubes and could play many notes at once.

Analogue synthesis 1950–1980

Main articles: Analog synthesizer and Synthesizer

Synthesizers are popular electronic instruments that create sounds using different methods. Early synthesizers used analog circuits, like special amplifiers and filters, to make music. One important early synthesizer was the Clavivox, invented in 1956 by Raymond Scott.

Modular synthesizers

Main article: Modular synthesizer

In the 1950s, companies like RCA made experimental machines to create music and voices. The Mark II Music Synthesizer was a large system of connected parts that made music by using paper tape to control sounds, similar to an old player piano. These early synthesizers were big and mostly used in studios.

In the 1960s, synthesizers were often modular, meaning their parts were connected with cords. People like Harald Bode and Don Buchla built these instruments. Robert Moog created the Moog synthesizer in 1964, which was smaller and easier to use than earlier models. It became popular in music studios and set standards for how synthesizers could be controlled.

Integrated synthesizers

In 1970, Moog made the Minimoog, a smaller synthesizer with a built-in keyboard. This design made synthesizers easier to carry and use. The Minimoog sold thousands of units and influenced later synthesizers with its keyboard and control wheels.

Polyphony

Main article: Polyphony (instrument) § Synthesizer

Early synthesizers could usually only play one note at a time. Some, like the Moog Sonic Six, could play two notes together. True polyphony, where many notes could sound at once for chords, came later with electronic organs.

By 1976, more affordable synthesizers that could play many notes together became available, such as the Yamaha CS-80 and the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. The Prophet-5 was the first to let musicians save and recall sounds easily using a small computer inside. This made polyphonic synthesizers more practical and popular.

Tape recording

Main articles: Magnetophon, Musique concrète, Multitrack recording, Chamberlin, and Mellotron

In 1935, a big step happened in Germany. A company showed the first magnetic tape recorder called the Magnetophon. This new way of recording sound was lighter and could capture music very clearly, making older, heavier recorders less popular.

Soon, tape recorders became very important for making electronic music. They let composers record sounds and arrange them into songs. Tape also helped create early keyboards that could play back recorded sounds, like the Chamberlin and later the Mellotron, made in England in the 1960s.

Sound sequencer

Main article: Music sequencer

In the 1940s to 1960s, an American composer named Raymond Scott created different kinds of music sequencers for his electronic music. These step sequencers used a grid of 16 buttons to play set patterns of notes, with each button representing a small part of a musical measure. These patterns could be linked together to make longer songs. Since the 1950s, software sequencers have also been used for creating music on computers.

Digital era 1980–2000

Digital synthesis

Main article: Digital synthesizer

The first digital synthesizers were experiments using computers to create sounds. In 1983, Yamaha introduced the DX-7, the first stand-alone digital synthesizer. It used a method called frequency modulation synthesis to create complex sounds. The DX-7 was small, affordable, and became very popular, selling over 200,000 units in just three years.

Sampling

Main articles: Sampler (musical instrument) and Sampling (music)

The Fairlight CMI was the first digital sampler, allowing musicians to modify and edit sounds in new ways. Another system, the Synclavier, worked similarly. The Kurzweil K250 was another successful digital synthesizer that could play multiple instruments at once.

Computer music

Main articles: Computer music and Software synthesizer

Computers began to be used to compose music. Iannis Xenakis used mathematical methods to create pieces, while Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Issacson created the first computer-assisted composition. Max Mathews developed early programs to generate sounds, and later tools made it easier for composers to create music with computers.

MIDI

Main article: Musical Instrument Digital Interface

In 1980, musicians created a standard called MIDI to let instruments communicate with each other and computers. This made it easier to control many devices at once, allowing studios to create complex music with more affordable tools. MIDI helped bring real instrument sounds back into recordings through sampling.

Modern electronic musical instruments

The growing power and falling cost of electronic devices, along with standard ways to control music like MIDI and Open Sound Control, have made it easier to separate musical tools into two parts: controllers and synthesizers.

The most common controller is a musical keyboard. Others include the radiodrum, wind instruments like EWI and WX, and guitar-like tools such as the SynthAxe. There are also special devices like the Reactable, a round table where you can create music by moving blocks on it.

The Reactable is a round, glowing table where you can control music by moving special blocks on its surface.

AudioCubes are small, wireless cubes you can control with your hands to make music and sound effects.

The Kaossilator is a small device where you slide your finger to change pitch and tone, letting you create loops of music easily.

The Eigenharp looks like a large wind instrument and uses buttons, a drum sequencer, and a mouthpiece to make music.

The AlphaSphere (instrument) is a round device with many sensitive pads that respond to touch and pressure, giving musicians more ways to express themselves while playing.

Chip music

Main article: Chiptune

See also: Video game music

Chiptune, also called chipmusic or chip music, is music created using the sounds made by a computer or video game console sound chip. These sounds are made in real time, often mixing created sounds with short pieces of recorded audio. Many chip music tools combine these sounds with simple synthesizers.

DIY culture

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, people could find plans for making their own electronic musical instruments in hobby magazines. Companies sold kits to help people build these instruments.

Circuit bending

Main article: Circuit bending

In 1966, someone named Reed Ghazala started teaching a fun way to change electronic devices called "circuit bending." This means making small changes to the inside of devices like toys or small music machines to create new sounds. This idea was inspired by a composer named John Cage.

Today, circuit bending is a way for musicians to make their own unique sounds by changing the parts inside electronic devices. They often use old toys, small music boxes, or other simple electronics to make new instruments. This lets musicians explore new and surprising sounds in their music.

Modular synthesizers

Main article: Modular synthesizer

A modular synthesizer is made from separate parts that can be connected in different ways. These parts are also sold as kits for people who like to build things themselves. Many designers share their plans and parts with other hobbyists who enjoy building these instruments.