Electronic musical instrument

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)
Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer

An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a

power amplifier which drives a loudspeaker
, creating the sound heard by the performer and listener.

An electronic instrument might include a

music synthesizer, respectively, with the two devices communicating through a musical performance description language such as MIDI or Open Sound Control
. The solid state nature of electronic keyboards also offers differing "feel" and "response", offering a novel experience in playing relative to operating a mechanically linked piano keyboard.

All electronic musical instruments can be viewed as a subset of audio signal processing applications. Simple electronic musical instruments are sometimes called sound effects; the border between sound effects and actual musical instruments is often unclear.

In the 21st century, electronic musical instruments are now widely used in most styles of music. In popular music styles such as

bass synth, synthesizer, drum machine). Development of new electronic musical instruments, controllers, and synthesizers continues to be a highly active and interdisciplinary field of research. Specialized conferences, such as the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression
, have organized to report cutting-edge work, as well as to provide a showcase for artists who perform or create music with new electronic music instruments, controllers, and synthesizers.

Classification

In musicology, electronic musical instruments are known as electrophones. Electrophones are the fifth category of musical instrument under the Hornbostel-Sachs system. Musicologists typically only classify music as electrophones if the sound is initially produced by electricity, excluding electronically controlled acoustic instruments such as pipe organs and amplified instruments such as electric guitars.

The category was added to the

Hornbostel-Sachs musical instrument classification system by Sachs in 1940, in his 1940 book The History of Musical Instruments;[1]
the original 1914 version of the system did not include it. Sachs divided electrophones into three subcategories:

The last category included instruments such as theremins or synthesizers, which he called radioelectric instruments.

Francis William Galpin provided such a group in his own classification system, which is closer to Mahillon than Sachs-Hornbostel. For example, in Galpin's 1937 book A Textbook of European Musical Instruments, he lists electrophones with three second-level divisions for sound generation ("by oscillation", "electro-magnetic", and "electro-static"), as well as third-level and fourth-level categories based on the control method.[2]

Present-day

chordophones
category, and so on.

Early examples

Diagram of the clavecin électrique

In the 18th-century, musicians and composers adapted a number of acoustic instruments to exploit the novelty of electricity. Thus, in the broadest sense, the first electrified musical instrument was the Denis d'or keyboard, dating from 1753, followed shortly by the clavecin électrique by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste de Laborde in 1761. The Denis d'or consisted of a keyboard instrument of over 700 strings, electrified temporarily to enhance sonic qualities. The clavecin électrique was a keyboard instrument with plectra (picks) activated electrically. However, neither instrument used electricity as a sound source.

The first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray.[5][6] The "Musical Telegraph" was a chance by-product of his telephone technology when Gray discovered that he could control sound from a self-vibrating electromagnetic circuit and so invented a basic oscillator. The Musical Telegraph used steel reeds oscillated by electromagnets and transmitted over a telephone line. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device into later models, which consisted of a diaphragm vibrating in a magnetic field.

A significant invention, which later had a profound effect on electronic music, was the

Evgeny Murzin from 1937 to 1958. Only two models of this latter were built and the only surviving example is currently stored at the Lomonosov University in Moscow. It has been used in many Russian movies—like Solaris—to produce unusual, "cosmic" sounds.[7][8]

Hugh Le Caine, John Hanert, Raymond Scott, composer Percy Grainger (with Burnett Cross), and others built a variety of automated electronic-music controllers during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1959 Daphne Oram produced a novel method of synthesis, her "Oramics" technique, driven by drawings on a 35 mm film strip; it was used for a number of years at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.[9] This workshop was also responsible for the theme to the TV series Doctor Who a piece, largely created by Delia Derbyshire, that more than any other ensured the popularity of electronic music in the UK.

Telharmonium

Telharmonium console
by Thaddeus Cahill 1897

In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill patented an instrument called the Telharmonium (or Teleharmonium, also known as the Dynamaphone). Using tonewheels to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by additive synthesis, it was capable of producing any combination of notes and overtones, at any dynamic level. This technology was later used to design the Hammond organ. Between 1901 and 1910 Cahill had three progressively larger and more complex versions made, the first weighing seven tons, the last in excess of 200 tons. Portability was managed only by rail and with the use of thirty boxcars. By 1912, public interest had waned, and Cahill's enterprise was bankrupt.[10]

Theremin

Theremin (1924)
Fingerboard Theremin

Another development, which aroused the interest of many composers, occurred in 1919–1920. In Leningrad, Leon Theremin built and demonstrated his Etherophone, which was later renamed the Theremin. This led to the first compositions for electronic instruments, as opposed to noisemakers and re-purposed machines. The Theremin was notable for being the first musical instrument played without touching it. In 1929, Joseph Schillinger composed First Airphonic Suite for Theremin and Orchestra, premièred with the Cleveland Orchestra with Leon Theremin as soloist. The next year Henry Cowell commissioned Theremin to create the first electronic rhythm machine, called the Rhythmicon. Cowell wrote some compositions for it, which he and Schillinger premiered in 1932.

Ondes Martenot

Ondes Martenot (c. 1974,
7th generation model)

The ondes Martenot is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin.[11] It was invented in 1928 by the French cellist Maurice Martenot, who was inspired by the accidental overlaps of tones between military radio oscillators, and wanted to create an instrument with the expressiveness of the cello.[11][12]

The French composer Olivier Messiaen used the ondes Martenot in pieces such as his 1949 symphony Turangalîla-Symphonie, and his sister-in-law Jeanne Loriod was a celebrated player.[13] It appears in numerous film and television soundtracks, particularly science fiction and horror films.[14] Contemporary users of the ondes Martenot include Tom Waits, Daft Punk and the Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood.[15]

Trautonium

Volks Trautonium (1933, Telefunken Ela T 42)

The Trautonium was invented in 1928. It was based on the

subharmonic scale, and the resulting sounds were often used to emulate bell or gong sounds, as in the 1950s Bayreuth productions of Parsifal
. In 1942, Richard Strauss used it for the bell- and gong-part in the Dresden première of his Japanese Festival Music. This new class of instruments, microtonal by nature, was only adopted slowly by composers at first, but by the early 1930s there was a burst of new works incorporating these and other electronic instruments.

Hammond organ and Novachord

Hammond Novachord (1939)

In 1929

magnetic pickup similar in design to the pickups in an electric guitar is used to transmit the pitches in the tonewheels to an amplifier and speaker enclosure. While the Hammond organ was designed to be a lower-cost alternative to a pipe organ for church music, musicians soon discovered that the Hammond was an excellent instrument for blues and jazz; indeed, an entire genre of music developed built around this instrument, known as the organ trio
(typically Hammond organ, drums, and a third instrument, either saxophone or guitar).

The first commercially manufactured synthesizer was the

envelope control and resonant low-pass filters
. The instrument featured 163 vacuum tubes and weighed 500 pounds. The instrument's use of envelope control is significant, since this is perhaps the most significant distinction between the modern synthesizer and other electronic instruments.

Analogue synthesis 1950–1980

Siemens Synthesizer at Siemens Studio For Electronic Music (ca.1959)
The RCA Mark II (ca.1957)

The most commonly used electronic instruments are

Brussels World Fair
in 1958.

Modular synthesizers

paper tape sequencer punched with holes to control pitch sources and filters, similar to a mechanical player piano but capable of generating a wide variety of sounds. The vacuum tube
system had to be patched to create timbres.

Robert Moog

In the 1960s synthesizers were still usually confined to studios due to their size. They were usually modular in design, their stand-alone signal sources and processors connected with patch cords or by other means and controlled by a common controlling device.

EMS
.

Minimoog (1970, R.A.Moog)

Integrated synthesizers

In 1970, Moog designed the Minimoog, a non-modular synthesizer with a built-in keyboard. The analogue circuits were interconnected with switches in a simplified arrangement called "normalization." Though less flexible than a modular design, normalization made the instrument more portable and easier to use. The Minimoog sold 12,000 units.[19] Further standardized the design of subsequent synthesizers with its integrated keyboard, pitch and modulation wheels and VCO->VCF->VCA signal flow. It has become celebrated for its "fat" sound—and its tuning problems. Miniaturized solid-state components allowed synthesizers to become self-contained, portable instruments that soon appeared in live performance and quickly became widely used in popular music and electronic art music.[20]

Yamaha GX-1 (ca.1973)
Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (1977)

Polyphony

Many early analog synthesizers were monophonic, producing only one tone at a time. Popular monophonic synthesizers include the Moog

Polyphony (multiple simultaneous tones, which enables chords
) was only obtainable with electronic organ designs at first. Popular electronic keyboards combining organ circuits with synthesizer processing included the ARP Omni and Moog's Polymoog and Opus 3.

By 1976 affordable polyphonic synthesizers began to appear, such as the Yamaha CS-50, CS-60 and

Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 introduced in late 1977.[21]
For the first time, musicians had a practical polyphonic synthesizer that could save all knob settings in computer memory and recall them at the touch of a button. The Prophet-5's design paradigm became a new standard, slowly pushing out more complex and recondite modular designs.

Tape recording

Phonogene (1953)
for musique concrète
Mellotron MkVI[22][23][24]

In 1935, another significant development was made in Germany. Allgemeine Elektricitäts Gesellschaft (AEG) demonstrated the first commercially produced

Audio tape
, which had the advantage of being fairly light as well as having good audio fidelity, ultimately replaced the bulkier wire recorders.

The term "electronic music" (which first came into use during the 1930s) came to include the tape recorder as an essential element: "electronically produced sounds recorded on tape and arranged by the composer to form a musical composition".[25] It was also indispensable to Musique concrète.

Tape also gave rise to the first, analogue, sample-playback keyboards, the Chamberlin and its more famous successor the Mellotron, an electro-mechanical, polyphonic keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s.

Sound sequencer

One of the earliest digital sequencers, EMS Synthi Sequencer 256 (1971)

During the 1940s–1960s,

sound synthesis
).

Digital era 1980–2000

Digital synthesis

Synclavier I (1977)
Synclavier PSMT (1984)
Yamaha GS-1 (1980)
Yamaha DX7 (1983) and Yamaha VL-1 (1994)

The first

DX-7. It used frequency modulation synthesis (FM synthesis), first developed by John Chowning at Stanford University during the late sixties.[26] Chowning exclusively licensed his FM synthesis patent to Yamaha in 1975.[27] Yamaha subsequently released their first FM synthesizers, the GS-1 and GS-2, which were costly and heavy. There followed a pair of smaller, preset versions, the CE20 and CE25 Combo Ensembles, targeted primarily at the home organ market and featuring four-octave keyboards.[28] Yamaha's third generation of digital synthesizers was a commercial success; it consisted of the DX7 and DX9 (1983). Both models were compact, reasonably priced, and dependent on custom digital integrated circuits to produce FM tonalities. The DX7 was the first mass market all-digital synthesizer.[29] It became indispensable to many music artists of the 1980s, and demand soon exceeded supply.[30] The DX7 sold over 200,000 units within three years.[31]

The DX series was not easy to program but offered a detailed, percussive sound that led to the demise of the electro-mechanical Rhodes piano, which was heavier and larger than a DX synth. Following the success of FM synthesis Yamaha signed a contract with Stanford University in 1989 to develop digital waveguide synthesis, leading to the first commercial physical modeling synthesizer, Yamaha's VL-1, in 1994.[32] The DX-7 was affordable enough for amateurs and young bands to buy, unlike the costly synthesizers of previous generations, which were mainly used by top professionals.

Sampling

A Fairlight CMI keyboard (1979)
Kurzweil K250 (1984)

The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument), the first polyphonic digital sampler, was the harbinger of sample-based synthesizers.[33] Designed in 1978 by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie and based on a dual microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia, the Fairlight CMI gave musicians the ability to modify volume, attack, decay, and use special effects like vibrato. Sample waveforms could be displayed on-screen and modified using a light pen.[34] The Synclavier from New England Digital was a similar system.[35] Jon Appleton (with Jones and Alonso) invented the Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer, later to become the New England Digital Corp's Synclavier. The Kurzweil K250, first produced in 1983, was also a successful polyphonic digital music synthesizer,[36] noted for its ability to reproduce several instruments synchronously and having a velocity-sensitive keyboard.[37]

Computer music

Max Mathews (1970s) playing realtime software instrument.
ISPW, a successor of 4X, was a DSP platform based on i860 and NeXT, by IRCAM.

An important new development was the advent of computers for the purpose of composing music, as opposed to manipulating or creating sounds.

stochastic music, which is a method of composing that employs mathematical probability systems. Different probability algorithms were used to create a piece under a set of parameters. Xenakis used graph paper and a ruler to aid in calculating the velocity trajectories of glissando
for his orchestral composition Metastasis (1953–54), but later turned to the use of computers to compose pieces like ST/4 for string quartet and ST/48 for orchestra (both 1962).

The impact of computers continued in 1956.

Leonard Issacson composed Illiac Suite for string quartet, the first complete work of computer-assisted composition using algorithmic composition.[38]

In 1957,

Bell Lab wrote MUSIC-N series, a first computer program family for generating digital audio waveforms through direct synthesis. Then Barry Vercoe wrote MUSIC 11 based on MUSIC IV-BF, a next-generation music synthesis program (later evolving into csound
, which is still widely used).

In mid 80s,

Macintosh (with Dave Zicarelli extending it for Opcode[39]) for real-time MIDI
control, bringing algorithmic composition availability to most composers with modest computer programming background.

MIDI

MIDI enables connections between digital musical instruments

In 1980, a group of musicians and music merchants met to standardize an interface by which new instruments could communicate control instructions with other instruments and the prevalent microcomputer. This standard was dubbed MIDI (

Sequential Circuits and proposed to the Audio Engineering Society
in 1981. Then, in August 1983, the MIDI Specification 1.0 was finalized.

The advent of MIDI technology allows a single keystroke, control wheel motion, pedal movement, or command from a microcomputer to activate every device in the studio remotely and in synchrony, with each device responding according to conditions predetermined by the composer.

MIDI instruments and software made powerful control of sophisticated instruments easily affordable by many studios and individuals. Acoustic sounds became reintegrated into studios via sampling and sampled-ROM-based instruments.

Modern electronic musical instruments

Wind synthesizer
SynthAxe

The increasing power and decreasing cost of sound-generating electronics (and especially of the personal computer), combined with the standardization of the MIDI and Open Sound Control musical performance description languages, has facilitated the separation of musical instruments into music controllers and music synthesizers.

By far the most common musical controller is the

Kaossilator Pro, and kits like I-CubeX
.

Reactable

Reactable

The Reactable is a round translucent table with a

is operated, creating music or sound effects.

Percussa AudioCubes

Audiocubes

AudioCubes are autonomous wireless cubes powered by an internal computer system and rechargeable battery. They have internal RGB lighting, and are capable of detecting each other's location, orientation and distance. The cubes can also detect distances to the user's hands and fingers. Through interaction with the cubes, a variety of music and sound software can be operated. AudioCubes have applications in sound design, music production, DJing and live performance.

Kaossilator

Korg Kaossilator

The Kaossilator and Kaossilator Pro are compact instruments where the position of a finger on the touch pad controls two note-characteristics; usually the pitch is changed with a left-right motion and the tonal property, filter or other parameter changes with an up-down motion. The touch pad can be set to different musical scales and keys. The instrument can record a repeating loop of adjustable length, set to any tempo, and new loops of sound can be layered on top of existing ones. This lends itself to electronic dance-music but is more limited for controlled sequences of notes, as the pad on a regular Kaossilator is featureless.

Eigenharp

The Eigenharp is a large instrument resembling a bassoon, which can be interacted with through big buttons, a drum sequencer and a mouthpiece. The sound processing is done on a separate computer.

AlphaSphere

The AlphaSphere is a spherical instrument that consists of 48 tactile pads that respond to pressure as well as touch. Custom software allows the pads to be indefinitely programmed individually or by groups in terms of function, note, and pressure parameter among many other settings. The primary concept of the AlphaSphere is to increase the level of expression available to electronic musicians, by allowing for the playing style of a musical instrument.

Chip music

Chiptune, chipmusic, or chip music is music written in sound formats where many of the sound textures are synthesized or sequenced in real time by a computer or video game console sound chip, sometimes including sample-based synthesis and low bit sample playback. Many chip music devices featured synthesizers in tandem with low rate sample playback.

DIY culture

During the late 1970s and early 1980s,

do-it-yourself designs were published in hobby electronics magazines (such the Formant modular synth, a DIY clone of the Moog system, published by Elektor
) and kits were supplied by companies such as Paia in the US, and Maplin Electronics in the UK.

Circuit bending

Probing for "good bends" using a jeweler's screwdriver and alligator clips

In 1966, Reed Ghazala discovered and began to teach math "circuit bending"—the application of the creative short circuit, a process of chance short-circuiting, creating experimental electronic instruments, exploring sonic elements mainly of timbre and with less regard to pitch or rhythm, and influenced by John Cage’s aleatoric music concept.[41]

Much of this manipulation of circuits directly, especially to the point of destruction, was pioneered by

Louis and Bebe Barron in the early 1950s, such as their work with John Cage on the Williams Mix and especially in the soundtrack to Forbidden Planet
.

Modern

Atari Punk Console or the Dub Siren as well as simple modifications for children toys such as the Speak & Spell
that are often modified by circuit benders.

Modular synthesizers

The modular synthesizer is a type of synthesizer consisting of separate interchangeable modules. These are also available as kits for hobbyist DIY constructors. Many hobbyist designers also make available bare PCB boards and front panels for sale to other hobbyists.

See also

Instrument families

Individual instruments (historical)

Individual instruments (modern)

In Indian and Asian traditional music

References

  1. ^ Galpin, Francis William (1940), The History of Musical Instruments
  2. ^ Galpin, Francis William (1937), A Textbook of European Musical Instruments
  3. ^ Kartomi, Margaret (1990), On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments
  4. ^ Ellingson, Terry (1979), PhD dissertation
  5. ^ Electronic Musical Instrument 1870 - 1990, 2005, archived from the original on 2007-05-02, retrieved 2007-04-09
  6. ^ a b Chadabe, Joel (February 2000), The Electronic Century Part I: Beginnings, Electronic Musician, pp. 74–89, archived from the original on 2011-04-07, retrieved 2011-03-02
  7. Keyboard Magazine
    , p. 120
  8. ^ All the preceding instruments except those of Darreg and Murzin described in P. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music, 10th Ed. OUP, p.322
  9. .
  10. ^ a b McNamee, David (12 October 2009). "Hey, What's That Sound: Ondes Martenot". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  11. ^ Jean Laurendeau: Maurice Martenot: Luthier de l'Electronique (Dervy Livres, 1996)
  12. New York Times
    . Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  13. ^ Loriod 1987, vol. I p. VIBattaglia, Andy (6 March 2014). "Ondes Martenot: An Introduction". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  14. ^ Battaglia, Andy (6 March 2014). "Ondes Martenot: An Introduction". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  15. ^ Russcol 1972, 70.
  16. Keyboard Magazine
    , p. 108
  17. ^ 1970 Robert Moog Moog Music Minimoog Synthesizer, Mix Magazine, September 1, 2006, archived from the original on 27 July 2018
  18. ^ Montanaro, Larisa Katherine (May 2004). "A Singer's Guide to Performing Works for Voice and Electronics, PhD thesis Doctor of Musical Arts" (PDF). The University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-06-28. In 1969, a portable version of the studio Moog, called the Minimoog, became the most widely used synthesizer in both popular music and electronic art music
  19. ^ "Mellotron Mark VI (1999-) Images". Mellotron (Canada). — Note: It has a speed selector switch on the red logo.
  20. ^ "Streetly Mellotron M4000". Sound on Sound (October 2007). Mellotron M4000's control panel identical to the M400's, aside from the addition of four buttons and an LED display to operate the cycling mechanism.
  21. ^ "Digital Mellotron M4000D". Mellotron (Canada). The front panel user interface has 2 TFT-displays of high quality and are capable of showing pictures of the actual instruments.
  22. ^ "Definition of electronic music | Dictionary.com". www.dictionary.com. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
  23. ^ Chowning, John M. (September 1973). "The Synthesis of Complex Audio Spectra by Means of Frequency Modulation" (PDF). Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. 21 (7): 526–534.
  24. PC Magazine
    . p. 232.
  25. ^ "Yamaha GS1 & DX1". Sound on Sound. June 2001. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  26. ^ Three Yamaha Products That Reshaped the Industry Mark 20th Anniversary, Music Trades, February 2004, pp. 70–74, archived from the original on 2008-10-19
  27. Keyboard Magazine
    , p. 104
  28. ^ Scott, David (May 1984), Music computer - you draw sounds you want to hear, Popular Science, p. 154
  29. ^ 1979 Fairlight CMI, Mix Magazine, September 1, 2006, archived from the original on May 3, 2008, retrieved 2008-05-30
  30. . pp. 42–43.
  31. .
  32. ^ Ozab, David (2000). "Beyond the Barline". ATPM.
  33. ^ "The BodySynth". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
  34. ^ Yabsley, Alex (2007-08-08). "Back to the 8 bit: A Study of Electronic Music Counter-culture". Game Music 4 All. This element of embracing errors is at the centre of Circuit Bending, it is about creating sounds that are not supposed to happen and not supposed to be heard (Gard, 2004). In terms of musicality, as with electronic art music, it is primarily concerned with timbre and takes little regard of pitch and rhythm in a classical sense. ... . In a similar vein to Cage's aleatoric music, the art of Bending is dependent on chance, when a person prepares to bend they have no idea of the final outcome.

Works cited

  • Loriod, Jeanne (1987). Technique de l'onde electronique type martenot. Paris: Alphonse Leduc.
    ISMN
     979-0-04-626275-3.

External links

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