Intuitive Music

General term used to name the music in which the use of electronic technology takes an important part of the creative process. The electronic music goes by the hand with the development of the electronic technology in the last 200 years of the 20th century.

Ada Byron, the daughter of the famous romantic poet Lord Byron, made the first designs for a computer generated machine called Analytical Engine in 1834, with the collaboration of mathematicians Charles Babbage and Louis Menebrea.

In 1867, Hipps invented the Electromechanical Piano in Neuchatel (Switzerland), being possibly the first instrument related with an electronic technology. About 10 years later Elisha Gray invents the Electroharmonic (an instrument that transmitted musical tones over wires). She was also the inventer of the telephone along with A. Graham Bell. At the same time, Koenig invented the Tonametric: and instrument divided four octaves into 670 equal parts made use of micro-tuning. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the Phonograph, the father of the modern turntables and record players, and three years later Alexander Graham Bell invenstigated and patented several ways for transmiting and recording sound in his laboratory in Washington, D.C. along with Charles S. Tainter. Later in 1898 Valdemar Poulson patented the Telegraphone -the first magnetic recording machine.

In 1893, Eric Satie composes “Vexations” the first loop compositions for piano. Two years later, Julian Carillo started the construction of a serie of instruments to reproduce divisions as small as a sixteenth tone, including the Octavina for eighth tones and an Arpa Citera for sixteenth tones based in his theories of microtones, 96 tone scale. At the same time, E.S. Votey invents the Pianola, an instrument that used a pre-punched, perforated paper roll moved over a capillary bridge, which became very popular.

The Telharmonium -a device that produces music by an alternating current running dynamos- was invented by Thaddeus Cahill in 1906, meaning this the first additive synthesis device. The Telharmonium was formerly known as the Dynamophone. Four years later the first radio is broadcasted in NYC and supossed a real revolution in the culture of the 20th Century.

In 1912, Luigi Russolo founded the Italian Futurist movement and wrote the manifesto Musica Futurista along with poet Filippo Marinetti, stating that the current musical of instrumental music was dead. Two years later they performed the first concert of Futurist music “Art of Noises” concert in Milan, Italy. At the same time the Dadaist movement was being born in Zurich.

The father of all synthesizers was invented by physisist Leon Theremin in the USSR in 1917 while experimenting with radio vacuum tubes for the design of security alarms. The is a device with two antennas that control the pitch and the volume of the sound created by two high radio frequency sound waves of similar but varying frequency combining. This means that this controls are controled in the air, with no physical contact with the instrument. The was extensively used for classical music performances between the 20’s and 30’s, the most reputed players being Clara Rockmore and Samuel Hoffman and it was later the inspiration to Robert Moog for the invention of the first synthesizer.

Later, during the 40’s and 50’s, the sound of the became popular by being used in sci-fi and mystery films. The was also used in the 60’s and 70’s by pop and rock artists such as The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, and Pink Floyd. Other electronic artists who has used the Theremin are Coil, Gary Numan, Skinny Puppy, Goldfrapp, Meat Beat Manifesto, Nine Inch Nails, Jean Michel Jarre, and Scanner.

The most important instrument in the history of 20th Century electronic music was without a doubt the synthesizer, a musical instrument that generates sound electronically by a process called synthesis. One of the main characteristic of the synthesizers is the capability of creating, programming or modifying sounds. The principles of synthesis were created by Leon Theremin in 1917 with the invention of the , which was developed during the 60’s by Robert Moog and John Bucla.

Some of the first prototypes of synthesizers before being comercially produced by Moog were Lee De Forest’s Audion Piano (1915), Hugo Gernsbak’s Pianorad (1926), Maurice Martenot’s Ondes-Martenot (1928), The Free Music Machine (1948), Dr Kent’s Electronic Music Box (1951), Osmond Kendall’s Composer-Tron (1953), RCA Synthesiser (1956), and the Siemens Synthesiser (1959).

In 1922, Darius Milhaud experimented with vocal transformation by phonograph speed changes. A few years later, by 1926, Jorg Mager build the Spharophon in Germany, and George Antheil composed Ballet Mechanique featuring an airplane propeller. Laurens Hammond built in USA (1929) another essential instrument in the history of electronic music: the Hammond Organ. Hammond built the instrument using 91 rotary electromagnetic disk generators driven by a synchronous motor with associated gears and tone wheels, and additive synthesis. The sound of the Hammond organ, specially the B3 and B4 models, was essential for the development of music genres such as jazz-definition”>jazz, blues, jazz-definition”>acid jazz, reggae, progressive rock, and electronic music in general.

A predecessor of the modern synthesizer was the ondes martenot, invented by Maurice Martenot in 1928. Martenot, who was a Cellist and radio Telegraphist, got the inspiration after a meeting with Leon Theremin and his invention the theremin. The ondes martenot was the first succesfull monophonic electronic instrument and is still used by orchestras today. It consisted of two table mounted units controlled by a performer who could manipulate it with a string attached to a ring for the finger. A keyboard was added in later versions and -based in the priciples of the theremin- it used the vacuum tube oscillator as a sound source. Also a version of the instrument in 1938 featured microtonal tuning after the specifications of the Hindu poet Rabindranath Tagore and the musician Alain Danielou.

Maurice Martenot became a professor at the Paris Conservatoire teaching lessons in the ondes martenot during the 40’s. Some of the composers who wrote for the instrument were Edgar Varesse, Olivier Messian “Turangalila ” synphony, Darius Milhaud , Maurice Jarre (the father of ), Jolivet and Koechlin. It has been also used by pop artists such as Radiohead, and Roxy Music.

In 1928, Friedrich Trautwein (Germany) build the Trautonium and composers such as Hindemith, Richard Strauss, and Edgar Varese wrote for the instrument in the forthcomming years. Three years later, Henry Cowell (USA) built the Rhythmicon with the collaboration of Leon Theremin, which was a predecesor of the drum machines. Four years later Allegemeine Elektrizitats Gesellschaft built in Germany the first tape recorder, named Magnetophon. Nine years later the plastic audio tape would be developed in the United States.

John Cage started in 1939 a series of experiments with indeterminacy and composes “Imaginary Landscape No. 1″ where performers use multiple record players changing the variable speed settings.

The same year the first vocoder was produced by Homer Dudley in 1939 in New Jersey and it was called “Parallel Bandpass” vocoder“. The vocoder was also a very popular instrument in electronic music. The vocoder is an audio processor that imparts analogous spectral characteristics to another device analyzing the spectrum of it’s frequency. This instrument is mainly used to create harmonic vocals or the famous robot efect. The vocoder became an essential tool in the sci-fi movies during the 40’s and later decades, and also was an inspiration for the German “Electronische Musik” movement. In the 70’s, the vocoder became a trademark for electro-pop artists such as Kraftwerk. Other artists who used the vocoder are Stevie Wonder, Laurie Anderson, The Buggles, Daft Punk, to name a few. Other popular models of vocoder were Korg VC-10, Roland VP-330, and Moog vocoder.

In 1944, Percy Grainger and Burnett Cross invented in the United States a mechanical invention for composing “Free Music” -a machine that “freed” music using 8 oscillators and synchronizing equipment in conjunction with photo-sensitive graph paper so the projected notation is converted into sound. A year later Harry Chamberlin invents the chamberlin, a keyboard predecesor of The Mellotron that works with pre-recorded sample tapes.

Pierre Schaeffer produced in 1948 several works of musique concrete, including “Symphonie pour un Homme Seul” along with Pierre Henry and Jacques Poullin. This year Schaeffer also invented the Phonogene: a keyboard that could transpose a loop in 12 distinct steps, recording it in his composition “Concert for Locomotives” where he executed samples of trains. The next keyboard that would execute bits of sound samples was the chamberlin, invented in 1948, which was continued in 1965 with the Mellotron. Some of the first artists to use samples from other sources in ther works were Karlheinz Stockhausen, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Faust, and Can.The same year Olivier Messiaen composed his “Mode de Valeurs et d’Intensities” -a piano composition that established scales of duration, loudness, and attack.

In November 1949, one of the world’s earliest stored program electronic digital computers known as the CSIR MK1 and developed in Sydney, Australia, ran it’s first program and by the initiative of mathematic Geoff Hill was used to play popular music. By 1951 the CSIR MK1 publicly played the tune “Colonel Bogey”. the next year, Luciano Berio (Italy) established the Milan Studio for investigation of electronic music. At the same time the Groupe de musique concrete was established in Paris, including Georges Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and George Barraque, opening the RTF studio. Also John Cage presented “Music of Changes” -a work of indeterminacy based on the the Chinese book of Oracles “I Ching”, and Eimert and Beyer produce the first compositions using electronically-generated pitches. Two year later Eimert extablished The Cologne station of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk and was soon joined by Stockhausen to create Elektronische Musik, where Robert Beyer, Werner Meyer-Eppler and Eismert started experimenting with electronically-generated sounds.

Clara Rockmore started performing on the theremin worldwide in 1951. The first portable keyboard synthesizer was the Clavivox, invented by Raymond Scott in 1952 by using Robert Moog’s theremin circuitry.

Harry Olson and Belar (USA) invented the Electronic Music synthesizer in 1955 -called the Olson-Belar Sound synthesizer-. The device was a primitive synthesizer that used sawtooth waves and filters for the very first time.

In 1953, electronic music reached the films for the vert first time when Louis and Bebe Baron started producing soundtracks for sci-fi films like “Forbidden Planet” using electronic sounds. The same year Karlheinz Stockhausen composed “Studie I” and “Studie II” using complex synthesized sounds from simple pure frequencies.

1956 was an important year in the history of electronic music for the establishment of The Columbia-Princeton Studio dedicated to the investigation of electronic music. Three years later, in 1959, they built the RCA Mark II synthesizer containing oscillators and noise generators, and a conventional equal-tempered 12-note scale. That same year, Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson composed the “Illiac String Quartet”, being this the first piece of computer-generated music, using a Univac computer at the University of Illinois.

Karlheinz Stockhausen composed “Gesang der Junglinge” using samples of boys’ voices and synthesized sounds, composed for four loudspeakers. Three years later he also composed “Kontakte” for four-channel tape. Also, Martin Klein and Douglas Bolitho (USA) used a Datatron computer called Push-Button Bertha to compose popular tunes derived from random numerical data.

In 1958, Edgar Varese composed “Poeme Electronique” for the World’s Fair in Brussels and it was performed on 425 loudspeakers, being one of the first large-scale multimedia productions. Iannis Xenakis composed “Concret PH” using as a single sound source an amplified burning charcoal. Mauricio Kagel (Argentina) composed “Transicion II” in 1959, being this the first piece using a tape recorder as part of the live performance. That same year, Max Mathews started experimenting with computer programs to create sound material at Bell Labsand write “MUSIC4″, the first wide-spread computer sound synthesis program.

Another important device in the development of electronic music was the sequencer, a device which memorizes settings and parameters, programes sequences of notes and arpegios, and reproduces them using the sound source from an electronic instrument. The first circuitry concept for the automatic sequential performance of musical pitches -known as a sequencer- was invented by Raymond Scott in 1953. Nicknamed by Scott as “Wall of Sound”, it was 6 feet high and covered 30 feet of wall space. It consisted of hundreds of switches controlling stepping relays, timing solenoids, tone circuits and 16 individual oscillators. By 1959, Scott designed and built a more compact electronic sequencer called the Circle Machine.

One of the essential instruments in the development of the electronic music was the the drum machine, a device that features a bank of percusive sounds and a sequencer to program and play rhytms. The original drum machines would be just rhythm machines which only played pre-programed rhythms such as mambo, tango, etc. The first drum machine was the Wurlitzer Sideman in 1959, which was originally designed as an accesory to their famous organs, and it featured rhtythm presets such as Tango, Fox Trot, and Waltz.

In 1960, Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, and Ramon Sender established the San Francisco Tape Music Center. At the same time John Cage composed “Cartridge Music” for several performers playing gramophone cartridges and amplifying different objects.

In 1961 the first electronic music concerts at the Columbia-Princeton Studio were held, including Edgar Varese’s work “Deserts”. Robert Moog and Herbert Deutsch created a voltage-controlled synthesizer and Gottfried Michael Koenig used PR-1, a computer program to provide data to calculate structure in musical composition. Also Milton Babbitt composed “Ensembles for synthesizer” at the Columbia-Princeton Studio.

Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker composed in 1963 the “Computer Cantata” . Raymond Scott released “Soothing Sound for Baby” being a pioneering work of Ambient electronica. The music instruments mark Korg introduced to the market the Donca Matic DA-20 (Disc Rotary Electric Auto Rhythm machine).

The 60’s and 70’s were also witness of the development of the modular synthesis. Modular is a system of numerous and independent synthesis devices -such as filters, and controllers- that Can be interconnected through a patching system with the capability of controling and producing synthesized sounds in an unlimited number of combinations. This patching system makes the devices look like an old telephone switchboard.

The first modular synthesizer was made in 1964 by Robert Moog in collaboration with Walter Carlos, who was the first musician who recorded the Moog synthesizer in his legendary album “Switched On Bach”.
The same year also Don Buchla produced the 100 Modular Electronic System.

Some important users of the modular systems were Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Tomita, John Cage, Vince Clarke, Dick Hyman, Stevie Wonder, Popol Vuh, Vangelis, Richard Pinhas, and of course Keith Emerson from Emerson Lake and Palmer, for whom Robert Moog built the most acomplished modular system ever. Other companies who produced modular systems during the 70’s where Roland, ARP, Buchla,and Emu.

In 1964, Karlheinz Stockhausen composed “Mikrophonie I” using microphones moving around the instruments to pick up different timbres and electronic processing. A year later Steve Reich composed the pioneering work of minimalism “It’s Gonna Rain”. That same year, the Mellotron, another essential electronic instrument during the early pop music decades, was produced by Bradley Bros. The Mellotron is a keyboard whose keys play loops of tapes of sound samples (such as strings, winds or choirs). It was the first instrument which could allow the playing of orchestral or choral sounds in a polyphonic keyboard with the exception of the chamberlin -which was invented by Harry chamberlin in 1946-, and the Orchestra Machine -patented by Raymond Scott also in 1946. Another predecessor of the Mellotron was the Phonogene: a keyboard that could transpose a loop in 12 distinct steps invented by Concrete Music composer Pierre Schaeffer in 1948.

The Mellotron was the continuation of the chamberlin, and it became one of the most popular instruments in the 70’s. The most popular models of Mellotron where the Mark II (featuring two keyboards) and the Model 400. The Mellotron was in a certain way the first sampler, in the sense of an instrument that Can play sound samples, and by the 70’s a huge bank of sound tapes was abailable for the musicians -from ambient sounds to all sort of instruments-.

The Mellotron was first used in pop music by artists like The Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever”, The Moody Blues, and The Beach Boys, and became a dinsctintive sound for many artits during the 70’s such as Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd , Rick Wakeman, Genesis, Led Zeppelin and King Crimson. In the 90’s The Mellotron was recovered by numerous pop and electronic bands, and today it’s handicap of detuning of the sound during the start of the tapes has become a trademark and a sound appreciated by many artists. In 2002 GMedia released a VST replica of the Mellotron, called M-Tron.

1966 was the year of that the electronic music defenitively reached pop music. The Beach Boys released “Pet Sounds”, an album that featured electronic manipulation, samples. The song “I Just Wasn’t Made For This Times”, and soon later the single “Good Vibrations”, featured a prototype of Theremin for the very first time in the history of pop music. In the UK The Beatles, influenced by Karlheinz Stockhausen, used tape manipulation methods in the album “Revolver”. At the same time the psychedelic secene started in San Francisco. The jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock writo the score to Michelangelo Antonioni’s film “Blow Up” which became one of the pioneer classic albums of acid jazz.

Also in 1966, Jean Jacques Perrey recorded his first solo album “The In Sound from Way Out!” and started his famous series of recordings based in the use of the Moog synthesizer, making it’s sound extremely popular. In 1967, Walter Carlos recorded “Switched on Bach” using a custom made Moog modular synthesizer. The album, which is an interpretation of the legendary composer’s pieces on the Moog synthesizer, popularized instrument and demostrated to a new generation of musicians it’s posibilities. “Switched on Bach” became the first classical record to be certified platinum by the RIAA and earned three Grammy Awards and the very first hit in the history of electronic music. That same year, Iannis Xenakis wrote “Musiques Formelles” which is the first studio of granular synthesis. Morton Subotnick recorded “Silver Apples of the Moon”, using the Buchla modular synthesizer and helping in the development of the instrument. 1967 was also the year that the hippy culture blossomed in San Francisco during the famous “Summer of Love”. At the same, time The Beatles released their masterwork “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” featuring electronic manipulation and samples. The album was also the first conceptual pop album in the history of pop music and the beginning of progressive rock.

In 1968, Bruce Haack released “The Way Out Record for Children”, which was a precedent to the work of synth pop from the late 70’s. The Californian pshychedelic band The Grateful Dead recorded “Anthem of the Sun” featuring electronic manipulation, and also in the West Coast Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention recorded “Uncle Meat” using different ways of electronic manipulation. In that same year, reggae scene started in Jamaica. The first “toasting” was born as a precedent of the rap music. At the same time first dub was done by producers like Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Clement Dodd, and Bunny Lee.

In 1969, Terry Riley writes “Rainbow” for the rock band Curved Air . Francis Lee and Chuck Bagnaschi created AmeriCan Data Sciences (later Lexicon) to develop digital audio devices such digital audio delays and reverberation and effects processors to recording studios. Also an unknown Francis Grasso started inventing the first DJing techniques at the Sanctuary club in New York.

Francis Lee and Chuck Bagnaschi created American Data Sciences (later Lexicon) to develop digital audio devices such digital audio delays and reverberation and effects processors to recording studios. 1969 was the start of the digital era, based in use of microprocessors to store and alter information in a digital language (numbers), which allows the memorization of the information, and the quantifying of the information in measured steps.

In 1969, the British band King Crimson releases “In the Court of the Crimson King”, an album that features a fusion of sound experimentation and rock, influencing the next generation of progressive rock and avant-garde artists.

During the 70’s, the industry of drum machines became wider with the production of numerous models such as CONN Min-O-Matic (1970) , Roland TR-33 (1972), Roland TR-55 (1972). Electro Harmonix DRM-16 (1978), Boss Dr.Rhythm DR-55 (1979), and the popular Linn LM-1 (1979). Roland CR-78 was the first programable drum macine which would let the musician program his own rhythms. In 1970, the first comercial portable synthesizer, the Minimoog, was produced in Buffalo, NY by Robert Moog. This changed completely the shape of popular music which was entering in a new electronic era. Some of the most frequent users of the Minimoog during the 70’s where Kraftwerk, Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, and Chick Corea. Today the Minimoog is still one of the most used instrument in all kinds of electronic music, and several modern versions of the instruments have been produced, such as the Midimoog by RMS, the Midmini module and the new midified Minimoog by Studio Electronics, and the Minimoog Voyager by Moog Music. Also there are available at least two different VST clonic versions of the Minimoog by different marks of software. Also in 1970, the krautrock band Kluster was formed, releasing the debut album “Klopfzeichen”, a pioneer work of space rock. Also in Germany Tangerine Dream released “Electronic Meditation”, one of the most advanced experimental works of electronic music.

In London, the glam scene started by the hand of artists like David Bowie, and Roxy Music. In 1971, the krautrock band Can released “Tago Mago” becoming one of the most influential bands for the future generation of electronic, experimental, and punk generations, and being pioneers in the use of the drum machine. German composer Conrad Schnitzler started a trilogy of albums (“Schwartz”, “Blau”, and “Rot”) that meant the first ultra-minimalism works in electronic music. Also the German band Kraftwerk released “Kraftwerk 2″ featuring drum machines.

By 1971, IBM introduced the first 8-inch flexible plastic “memory disk” to transfer programs and data. Don Buchla produced his model 500 hybrid analog synthesizer digitally controled. Kraftwerk were the first artists to introduce the use of the drum machine in pop music in 1971 when, at the loss of a drummer, they used a primitive drum machine, changing the basic sounds with tape echo units and filtering. The track ‘Klingklang’ from “Kraftwerk 2″ shares with Sly And The Family Stone’s “Family Affair” the distinction of featuring the 1st recorded drum machine in pop. The use of Kraftwerk of drum machines in their discography inflenced the future generations of musicians making it’s use extensive and helping to give birth to a new fan of music genres like synth pop and electro. Other key artists from the early drum machine history were George Clinton, Gary Numan, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Afrika Bambaataa.

In 1972, the German band Neu! released the debut album “Neu!”, an innovative work experimental rock featuring some of the most pioneering punk and minimalist music from the 20th Century. At the same time in the U.S., Soul artists Stevie Wonder released “Talking Book”, one of the most influential funk albums in the decade.

In Paris, the Greek keyboardist and composer Vangelis started a solo career after quiting the rock band Aphrodita’s Child, becoming one of the first European keyboardists to experiment and compose with electronic devices such as synthesizers and sequencers. In 1973, King Crimson’s guitarist Robert Fripp and Roxy Music keyboardist Brian Eno released “No Poosyfooting”, a pioneer work of ambient and loop electronica. The British multi-instrumentist Mike Oldfield released his famous instrumental work “Tubular Bells”, a pioneer work of ambient music. Pink Floyd released “The Dark Side of the Moon” combining techniques of loops, sequencial synthesis, sampling, and drew a creative bridge between rock and ambient experimental and avant-garde music. In Germany, Rolf-Urich Kaiser established the Cosmic Couriers collective of Kosmiche Music. Tangerine Dream released “Phaedra” starting a series of records that drew the guidelines of the electronic space music.

The keyboardist from the progressive rock band Yes, Rick Wakeman, released “The Six Wives of Henry VIII”, featuring numerous electronic instruments and keyboards becoming the first electronic solo artist in the history of pop music to reach the status of super-star. The album was a hit. Also this year Keith Emerson, from the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, was the first artist to perform live playing a modular system. Herbie Hancock released “Head Hunters”, one of the finests works funk music and introduce the use of synthersizers and modular systems in jazz.

The COUM Transmissions collective was formed in London with members from Throbbing Gristle, starting a series of extreme performances and pioneer the industrial scene.

In 1974, the underground punk rock scene started in New York and London, under the influence of the krautrock generation. Also the Japanese keyboardist Tomita released his debut album “Snowflakes are Dancing” reaching the top 50’s of the pop charts and receiving 4 nominations for Grammy awards. That same year, RMI introduced the first digital synthesizer to the market: the Harmonic Synthesizer. A year later RMI also produced the first popular digital synthesizer: the Synclavier.

Robert Moog, keeping a loyal secrecy about Scott’s sequencer by request of the inventor, developed an own simple version in his Moog 960 sequencer. Some important artists using sequencers during the 70’s were Pink Floyd, Steve Hillage, Stevie Wonder, and Soft Machine. On the other hand Kraftwerk started using sequencers and drum machines creating mechanical and industrial like rhythms and influencing the forthcoming synth pop generation.

In 1975, Kraftwerk released the synth pop pioneering album “Radio-Activity”, becoming one of the most influencial albums for the future generations of electronic music. The disco era started in New York’s clubs by the hand of producers like Giorgio Moroder and Tom Moulton, who invented the 12″ single and the “Disco-Mix”. Furthermore, the underground hip hop scene emerged in New Yok’s Bronx and Brooklyn neighborhoods. The next year, Grandmaster Flash released his first album “Super Rappin’” with his new band The Furious Five, being one of the first commercial hip hop albums.

In France, Jean Michel Jarre released his debut album “Oxygene” becaming a hit in the top charts and one of the most important commercial success in the history of electronic music. In 1977, David Bowie started a series of 3 albums in Berlin produced by Brian Eno that would influence the whole synth pop and new wave generations. A year later, Eno coined the term “Ambient Music” for his album “Music for Films”. Also in Germany, Kraftwerk released “Trans-europe Express “, another influencial album in electronic music.

In the UK, Throbbing Gristle released the debut album “Second Annual Report”, a pioneer work of industrial electronic music. In 1979, Gary Numan released “Replicas”, an influencial work of the electro pop genre. At the same time the industrial scene started in the UK by the hand of Industrial Records and a number of artists from Sheffield, such as Clock DVA, and Cabaret Voltaire which released “Mix Up” using tape loops and sampled “noise” being pioneers of the industrial, synth pop, and techno genres.

The 80’s started with the birth of the first digital sampler-keyboard, the Fairlight CMI. Sugarhill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight”, taking the hip hop culture to the mainstream audiences. The 80’s supposed the comming of the MIDI technology. MIDI stands for “Musical Instrument Digital Interface”. It is a specification for digital information protocols that allows transmition of information between different digital devices, such as synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, computers, and drum machines. This information features numerous nuances, like volume, pitch, length, etc…

The first fully MIDI synthesizer -Yamaha DX7- was in the market in 1983, and since then MIDI systems took over the whole electronic music map: sound modules, synthesizers, samplers, etc… One of the most interesting advantages of MIDI is that musicians could play any digital sound through any MIDI instrument, like drums on a synth, sax on a MIDI guitar, or choirs on a midi drum kit. The other big advantage of MIDI was the capability of having a huge amount of sounds available to be played with just one instrument, which reduced the enormous quantity of gear that the keyboardists used to carry on stage during the 70’s.

Roland’s TB-303 was the bass line machine that has most influenced the early acid house scene in the late 80’s since the realease of the compilation “Acid Tracks” on Phuture label written by Herbert J, DJ Pierre and Spanky, and produced by Marshall Jefferson. In fact the recording was created by accident during a test sesion using the now legendary machine. The most characteristic features of this bass machine are the sequencer and the filter, and it’s filtered bass sequences are one of the footprints of acid house. Also, the most popular drum machines during the 80’s techno and acid house scene where TR-808 (1981) and Roland TR-909 (1984).

If the first digital sampler was the keyboard Fairlight CMI produced in 1980, the first affordable one was the E-MU Emulator, produced a year later. During the 80’s, the use of sequencers was everywhere, becoming one of the main techniques of the techno and electronic music in general, and computer software has replaced in the studios the hardware sequencers, though some notable digital sequencers can be found, like Yamaha QX-5, and Doepfer Schaltwerk sequencer. 1981 confirmed the comming of a new generation of artists married with the electronic technologies. Cabaret Voltaire released “Red Mecca”, one of the most influencial elctronic albums of the decade. The Human League released “Dare” becoming one of the most famous bands from the new Wave and new romantic scene in the UK. Also Soft Cell released the single “Tainted Love” becoming the best selling British single of the year and one of the most representative synth pop bands from the 80’s.

In the Detroit, Juan Atkins , Kevin Saunderson , and Derrick May founded the Deep Space Soundworks collective and later the Detroit’s Music Institute, which was one of the most important underground foundations for the Detroit techno scene.

Morton Subotnick wrote “Ascent Into Air ” in a 4C computer, using techniques of spatially location sounds in a quadraphonic field and modulating sound timbres, being a precedent of the the MIDI technology. Also in 198, the first affordable digital sampler. E-MU’s Emulator, was produced.

In 1982, the house scene started in Chicago by the hand of Frankie Knuckles at the Warehouse club, who had been been resident since 1977. In Europe, the gothic rock scene emerged under the influence of bands like Skinny Puppy and Throbbing Gristle. Japanese composer Masami Akita -aka Merzbow- established the very first noise label: Lowest Music & Arts. Also in London, Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft found the independent label Touch: one of the UK essential labels for experimental music.

In 1983, Yamaha launched the first fully MIDI synthesizer -Yamaha DX7-, which was one of the classic digital synthesizers from the 80’s.

In Chicago, Jesse Saunders released the first house record ever : “On & On”. Front 242 invented the EBM with the release of the 12″ “Endless Riddance”, and Depeche Mode released the album “Construction Time Again”, becoming one of the most influencial synth pop bands of the decade.

In 1984, the writer Willian Gibson published “Neuromancer” , which originated the cyberpunk culture. The novel is based in the control of the human by the power of technology and microbionics in a futuristic culture and the creation of artifical intelligence. In the book Gibson coined himself the term of “cyberspace”.
Cyberpunk culture influenced literature, comics, and films during the 90’s, and also electronic music and the art and visual world that surround it.

In 1986, Afrika Bambaataa released “Planet Rock”, a classic hip hop album which established the bases of techno and electro genres. Also, the garage scene started in New York in the “Paradise Garage” club, whose resident DJ was Larry Levan. Next year, the acid house scene started in Chicago by the hand of Herbert J, DJ Pierre and Spanky. Acid house scene soon reached Manchester and, at the same time, European clubs such as Ministry of Sound and Cream arrived to the Spanish island of Ibiza to spread the trance scene. Later, dj Paul Oakenfold imported the balearic scene from Ibiza to London.

The independent music label Warp was founded in Sheffield by Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell, becoming one of the most significant European electronic labels of the decade. In 1988, the electronic band 808 State released the debut album “Newbuild”, a classic from the UK’s acid house scene. In London, the rave scene started with the legendary “Summer of Love”. Also in the UK Gilles Peterson founded the Acid Jazz label. Next year, the first Loveparade is celebrated in Berlin featuring just 150 people. In Bristol, the trip hop scene emerged by the hand of the the Wild Bunch collective, becoming one of the most important genres of the last decades.

The 90’s represented the revolution of the computer culture, software programs suplied the electronic technology with the use of clon mixing and recording devices, as well as VST instruments. During the early 00’s, already a big percentage of the electronic artists were permorming live using solely a laptop. In the late 90’s also drum machines where widely suplied by programming computer software. The most influencial of all music devices from the 90’s was probably the sampler, a device that can digitally record, play, and process fragments of sound. This is generally used to get sounds from different sources (sound banks, instruments, recordings, ambient sounds, movies, records, etc) and process parameters like their length or pitch, to be played from a midi instrument (synthesizer, sampler, master keyboard,etc) or sequenced though a sequencer or computer software.

In 1990, the electronic duo LFO released the debut single “LFO” reaching no. 10 in the national charts and starting the techno bleep sound. Underground Resistance is formed by Jeff Mills, Mike Banks, Robert Hood, and Alan Oldman, becoming the most influential techno band in the decade. Next year, Massive Attack released the debut album “Blue Lines” making popular the Bristol trip hop scene. At the same time, the trance scene starts in Frankfurt by the hand ofs artists like Sven Vath , Paul Van Dyke and Laurent Garnier.

In 1992, Frankie Bones started organizing parties atracting an audience of 5,000 people, and spreading the rave scene in the U.S. The goa trance scene started taking shape in the Western island of Goa. In London, the jungle scene started at the “Jungle” club where artists like DJ Hype mixed house music and hip hop at 45 rpm. Next year, UK artist Aphex Twin released “Selected Ambient Works 85-92″, compliling some of the most influencial ambient works from the electronic music era. The icelandic singer Bjork, ex-Sugarcubes, released her “Debut” album fusioning pop music with different styles of electronic music and other genres. Richie Hawtin -aka Plastikman- released his debut album “Sheet One”, one of the main minimal techno albums from the decade.

In 1994, drum ‘n’ bass scene breaks up in London, by the hand of several artists from the Metalheadz collective who were spinning at the Blue Note club. That same year, Future Sound of London were the first band to record live using ISDN transmissions via telephone right from their studio to radio stations in the recording of the “ISDN” album. Also the Bristol artist Tricky quit Massive Attack to release his debut album “Maxinquaye”, which became one of the most influencial works of the 90’s, featuring a very personal fusion of trip hop, and other music genres. In Vienna, Ramon Bauer, Peter Meininger and Andreas Pieper founded the label Mego, an important referenfe in electronic music during the 90’s.

In 1995, Goldie released the debut album “Timeless”, one of the most important works of early drum ‘n’ bass. The British duo Chemical Brothers released “Exit Planet Dust ” making the big beat sound extremely popular and taking electronic music to the mainstream. The Finnish band Pansonic released the debut album “Vakio” -one of the most influencial experimental electronic works of the decade. In the U.S., DJ Spooky released the debut album “Songs of a Dead Dreamer”, a pioneer ambient work.

In 1996, electro was recovered by artists like Anthony Rother and DJ Assault. In the UK Hallucinogen’s first release “Twisted” became one of the pioneer records of psychedelic trance. Also, the elctronic band 808 State released the debut album “Newbuild”, which became a classic from UK’s acid house scene. Nex year, Roni Size’s Reprazent released the debut album “New Forms”, becoming one of the most reputed drum ‘n’ bass works of the decade. At the same time, the glitch aesthetic was born by the hand of digital artists like Pan Sonic, Carsten Nicolai, Taylor Deupree and Kim Cascone. 1998 was also the year of the birth of the Raster Noton label, becoming one of the most important experimental and minimal platforms.

Other important scene from the 90’s was post rock, a fusion between pop-rock, sound experimentalism, and other styles like jazz and psychedelia, which was born in Chicago by the hand of bands like Tortoise, U.S.Maple and Rex.

In 2000, Mille Plateaux label released the “Clicks and Cuts” compilation featuring the most relevant artists of the clicks and cuts. Next year, the 1st Electroclash festival was celebrated in New York as a reflection of a growing scene in USA and other European cities. During the early 00’s electro had a resurrection, becoming one of the most popular electronic styles at the clubs.

The 00’s also saw the comming of a new miriad of artists fusioning electronic music with all shorts of styles, including rock, pop, punk rock, jazz, progressive rock , and especially folk music.