For centuries, musical instruments were largely frozen in time, except for a few major technical evolutions, such as the transition from the fortepiano to the traditional piano (simply known as the piano), to cite just one example.

A purist might remind you that there were significant changes in the design, shape, and mechanics of wood, strings, and brass instruments, as well as keyboards and percussions, between the Renaissance (17th Century) and the early 20th Century.

They would, of course, be correct, but these changes pale in comparison to the upheaval created by electricity in the musical world. The term “electricity” is somewhat of a generalization here – it encompasses the multiple more specific revolutions of electromechanics, electronics, computers, and so on.

The second half of the 20th Century was packed with musical innovations: the popularization of tape recorders, the invention of the first oscillators and the first sound effects (reverb, echo, filters, etc.), the introduction of transistors and later integrated circuits, the analog-to-digital revolution, the advent of computers, the first-ever synthesizers, and so on and so forth.

Uncountably many technological devices – some highly sophisticated, others less so – quickly became indispensable in studios, both for composers and performers.

As for the creative aspects of musical compositions, new styles of music were unleashed upon the planet as musicians did not hesitate to take advantage of their new means of expression and creation.

Tape recorders were one of the key catalysts of the style of musique concrète, alongside electroacoustic, acousmatic, and experimental music¹. They were also an essential factor in the formation of new genres of popular music² that shook the deeply entrenched norms of music to their very core. Techno, hip-hop, new wave, dance, house, ambient, acid jazz, electro, and much more: new anthems for the electronic music generation. In just a few decades, so many new styles were born, and it has become difficult to keep track of them. But the steamroller of technological progress continued full speed ahead nonetheless, unearthing inventive and creative treasures to seed the next generations of musical craftsmen in turn.

The appearance of electronics and the first synthesizers at around the same time supplied a vast new palette of sounds to work with. Traditional instrument-making was forced to accept and merge with electronics; this fruitful union produced new ways of writing music. New professions with nebulous-seeming titles emerged to reinforce the newfound technicity: sound designers, disk jockeys, ghost producers, sound creators, digital communication experts, etc.

Over time, the concept of a “home studio” began to take shape, empowering new generations of musicians to work without relying on the classical infrastructure of traditional sound creation. The lion’s share of composing music could now be done at home, working independently. For the first time ever, composers could dispense with third parties (recording studios, mastering, engineers, technicians, producers, classical musicians and instruments, etc.) until the final stages of the creative process.

By the turn of the 21st Century, home studios were everywhere. Today, the same phenomenon has intensified further; not only do modern musicians have the means to design their own music, but they can also distribute and even promote it, subverting the musical production infrastructure that had previously reigned supreme for decades. Online music, Web 2.0 and social networks, crowdsourcing³, the cloud, shared networks, and so on have disrupted the musical economy. The major industry players have their work cut out for them; they must adapt and offer new services, or they will not survive. Their monopoly has crumbled; the modern digital economy is driven by individuals, copyright is under threat, and legislation has lost its sharp focus.

Modern technology plays a primordial role in the great shipyard of contemporary music. New ideas and concepts appear and disappear every day at the whim of engineers, inventors, designers, manufacturers, or even marketing trends.

This book attempts to paint a simple picture of the machines scattered throughout the modern electronic music community. Standing proud against their constantly changing environments, these devices, tools, and equipment have become the pillars of the musical world. They have become inescapable for composers, persistent markers that are immutable and indispensable for any serious musical endeavors. Whether on the radio, on TV, at the movies, at a concert, in a studio, or at home, sound engineers, artists, and composers are now both the primary consumers and the primary contributors.

Synthesizers, digital recorders, electronic sound effects, drum machines, groove machines, vocoders, samplers, sequencers, control surfaces, tablets, and computers are the foundational components of modern electronic instrument-making, invading every inch of the contemporary musical space.

In this book, I have deliberately chosen to focus primarily on peripherals, largely avoiding the topic of synthesizers, since these instruments have been discussed at great length in many other books, as well as the topic of sound effects hardware, which is explored in my previous book, Musical Sound Effects, also published by ISTE.

My hope is that these chapters will leave you with a broader and more refined knowledge of the electronic instruments that have enchanted the modern musical community, to the delight of anyone as passionate as myself about the magical and sometimes mysterious universe of electronic music.