Music- History and Development of Electronic Instruments

Electronic instruments are defined as instruments that use electricity to produce sound. This is different from electric guitar which uses electricity to amplify or modify sound. Although there were experiments before the 20th century, electronic instruments that still exist today started in the 20th century.

Theremin

The first major electronic instrument was the Theremin. It was invented around 1920. It has two antennae on opposite ends. Without touching the instrument, the player uses their hands to manipulate the current between the antennae. One hand controls the pitch--how high or low the sound is while the other hand controls the dynamics--how loud or quiet the sound is. It is incredible to watch a Theremin player as they never actually touch the instrument. The theremin has been used in many science fiction soundtracks, think of Bernard Herrmann’s score for The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951).

Ondes Martenot

The Ondes Martenot was invented in 1928. This instrument is played with a keyboard, making it very accessible to keyboard players and able to easily play with music ensembles that rely on specific scales and key signatures. It has been used in pop music as well as film scores and classical music. The player can also manipulate the sound of the instrument using a metal ring on a curved wire.

The next innovation in electronic instruments would be synthesizers.

Early Synthesizers

The first synthesizers were developed in the 1950s. The components of these instruments allowed players to creatively manipulate the sound. Like the Ondes Martenot, a keyboard controlled the pitch of the instrument, while other aspects of the sound could be controlled by other buttons and knobs. Similar to early computers, the first synthesizers were so large that they were not portable and only could be used in the recording studio. If you look at liner notes from the 70s and 80s, there are often several technicians listed under Synthesizer Programming.

In the 1970s, synthesizers became more compact. The Minimoog named after creator Robert Moog became very popular. These portable synthesizers were monophonic, meaning they could only play one note at a time. This made the synthesizers good for solos or to add a layer on top of other instruments but they could not function as a harmony instrument like guitar or piano. Monophonic sounds limiting, but wind instruments like flutes, saxophones, and trumpets are also monophonic.

By the mid-1970s polyphonic synthesizers were developed. These newer instruments could play more than one note at a time, meaning they could play chords. Once we get to the 1980s, synthesizers became common in many styles of music, sometimes even replacing the dominance of the electric guitar in pop music.

Digital Synthesis and MIDI

Also in the 1980s, synthesizers became digital, meaning that the instruments could communicate with computers. The technology that allows computers and instruments to communicate is called MIDI- Musical Instrument Digital Interface and it has remained relatively unchanged for 40 years.

When recording with MIDI, every aspect of the sound played becomes information-- the length of each note, how loud it was played, the key on the keyboard, etc. This also means that notes played into the computer can be manipulated after recording.

Unlike when recording in audio, you can record a section of MIDI and completely mess up while recording, but you do not have to delete it and try another take because you can move any note to the correct pitch and drag notes to the correct parts of the beat.

Beyond keyboard-style MIDI controllers, there are controllers that resemble wind instruments, guitars, and simple boards with pads on them. It is important to note that some MIDI controllers do not produce any sound on their own, they simply send data--information to a computer and the sound comes from software inside the computer.

This also means that the MIDI controller can create musical information for sounds outside of the keyboard family. A MIDI controller can be used to play synthesized or sampled sounds of hundreds of different instruments. Synthesized means it is an approximation of an instrument sound. This is what is found in most affordable electric keyboards.

Sampled instruments are created from the recorded sounds or samples of actual instruments. Instruments are recorded playing every note in their range at different dynamics and articulations. Then, software programmers allow the instrument to be played using a MIDI controller. Based on the information played into the computer, the results can be very realistic.
It is interesting how the history of electronic instruments has gone from musicians seeking alternatives to traditional instrument sounds that could not be created without electricity to trying to reproduce the exact sounds of these traditional instruments.
Did I leave out an electronic instrument that you like? Please let me know!