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Electronic musical instrument

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An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry . Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into a power amplifier which drives a loudspeaker , creating the sound heard by the performer and listener.

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111-406: An electronic instrument might include a user interface for controlling its sound, often by adjusting the pitch , frequency , or duration of each note . A common user interface is the musical keyboard , which functions similarly to the keyboard on an acoustic piano where the keys are each linked mechanically to swinging string hammers - whereas with an electronic keyboard, the keyboard interface

222-411: A human–machine interface ( HMI ) that typically interfaces machines with physical input hardware (such as keyboards, mice, or game pads) and output hardware (such as computer monitors , speakers, and printers ). A device that implements an HMI is called a human interface device (HID). User interfaces that dispense with the physical movement of body parts as an intermediary step between the brain and

333-470: A 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. 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

444-890: 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 Novachord , built by the Hammond Organ Company from 1938 to 1942, which offered 72-note polyphony using 12 oscillators driving monostable -based divide-down circuits, basic envelope control and resonant low-pass filters . The instrument featured 163 vacuum tubes and weighed 500 pounds. The instrument's use of envelope control

555-572: A common controlling device. Harald Bode , Don Buchla , Hugh Le Caine , Raymond Scott and Paul Ketoff were among the first to build such instruments, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Buchla later produced a commercial modular synthesizer, the Buchla Music Easel . Robert Moog , who had been a student of Peter Mauzey and one of the RCA Mark II engineers, created a synthesizer that could reasonably be used by musicians, designing

666-436: 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. 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. The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument), the first polyphonic digital sampler ,

777-482: A decade. Solenoid valve A solenoid valve is an electromechanically operated valve . Solenoid valves differ in the characteristics of the electric current they use, the strength of the magnetic field they generate, the mechanism they use to regulate the fluid , and the type and characteristics of fluid they control. The mechanism varies from linear action , plunger-type actuators to pivoted-armature actuators and rocker actuators. The valve can use

888-626: 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, Miller Puckette at IRCAM developed graphic signal-processing software for 4X called Max (after Max Mathews), and later ported it to Macintosh (with Dave Zicarelli extending it for Opcode ) for real-time MIDI control, bringing algorithmic composition availability to most composers with modest computer programming background. In 1980,

999-562: 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. Present-day ethnomusicologists , such as Margaret Kartomi and Terry Ellingson, suggest that, in keeping with

1110-536: 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 ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface ). A paper was authored by Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits and proposed to the Audio Engineering Society in 1981. Then, in August 1983,

1221-420: A history going back to 1902 and had already become well-established in newsrooms and elsewhere by 1920. In reusing them, economy was certainly a consideration, but psychology and the rule of least surprise mattered as well; teleprinters provided a point of interface with the system that was familiar to many engineers and users. The widespread adoption of video-display terminals (VDTs) in the mid-1970s ushered in

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1332-408: A job to a batch machine involved first preparing a deck of punched cards that described a program and its dataset. The program cards were not punched on the computer itself but on keypunches , specialized, typewriter-like machines that were notoriously bulky, unforgiving, and prone to mechanical failure. The software interface was similarly unforgiving, with very strict syntaxes designed to be parsed by

1443-457: 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 . The "Musical Telegraph" was a chance by-product of his telephone technology when Gray discovered that he could control sound from

1554-547: A limited force. An approximate relationship between the required solenoid force F s , the fluid pressure P , and the orifice area A for a direct acting solenoid valve is: Where d is the orifice diameter. A typical solenoid force might be 15 N (3.4 lb f ). An application might be a low pressure (e.g., 10 psi (69 kPa)) gas with a small orifice diameter (e.g., 3 ⁄ 8  in (9.5 mm) for an orifice area of 0.11 in (7.1 × 10  m ) and approximate force of 1.1 lbf (4.9 N)). If

1665-459: A low magnetic path resistance. The valve body must be compatible with the fluid; common materials are brass, stainless steel, aluminum, and plastic. The seals must be compatible with the fluid. To simplify the sealing issues, the plugnut, core, springs, shading ring, and other components are often exposed to the fluid, so they must be compatible as well. The requirements present some special problems. The core tube needs to be non-magnetic to pass

1776-509: A microprocessor as a controller, was the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 introduced in late 1977. 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. In 1935, another significant development

1887-421: A momentary inrush of 7.2 VA, and a holding power requirement of 4.6 VA. Comparatively, an industrial 1 ⁄ 2 -inch 10,000 psi valve, intended for 12, 24, or 120 VAC systems in high-pressure fluid and cryogenic applications, has an inrush of 300 VA and a holding power of 22 VA. Neither valve lists a minimum pressure required to remain closed in the unpowered state. While there are multiple design variants,

1998-466: A mouthpiece. The sound processing is done on a separate computer. 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

2109-590: A non-standard scale, Bertrand's Dynaphone could produce octaves and perfect fifths, while the Emicon was an American, keyboard-controlled instrument constructed in 1930 and the German Hellertion combined four instruments to produce chords. Three Russian instruments also appeared, Oubouhof's Croix Sonore (1934), Ivor Darreg 's microtonal 'Electronic Keyboard Oboe' (1937) and the ANS synthesizer , constructed by

2220-524: 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 electronic dance music , almost all of

2331-438: A pilot-operated solenoid valve can be conceptualized as two valves working together: a direct-acting solenoid valve which functions as the "brain" to direct the "muscle" of a much more powerful main valve which gets actuated pneumatically or hydraulically . This is why pilot-operated valves will not work without a sufficient pressure differential between input and output, the "muscle" needs to be strong enough to push back against

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2442-443: 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. User interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction , a user interface ( UI ) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction

2553-438: A relatively heavy mnemonic load on the user, requiring a serious investment of effort and learning time to master. The earliest command-line systems combined teleprinters with computers, adapting a mature technology that had proven effective for mediating the transfer of information over wires between human beings. Teleprinters had originally been invented as devices for automatic telegraph transmission and reception; they had

2664-403: 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. The Eigenharp is a large instrument resembling a bassoon , which can be interacted with through big buttons, a drum sequencer and

2775-573: A result on magnetic tape or generate some data cards to be used in a later computation. The turnaround time for a single job often spanned entire days. If one was very lucky, it might be hours; there was no real-time response. But there were worse fates than the card queue; some computers required an even more tedious and error-prone process of toggling in programs in binary code using console switches. The very earliest machines had to be partly rewired to incorporate program logic into themselves, using devices known as plugboards . Early batch systems gave

2886-423: 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 audion in 1906. This

2997-543: A separate triggering signal. This standardization allowed synthesizers from different manufacturers to operate simultaneously. Pitch control was usually performed either with an organ-style keyboard or a music sequencer producing a timed series of control voltages. During the late 1960s hundreds of popular recordings used Moog synthesizers. Other early commercial synthesizer manufacturers included ARP , who also started with modular synthesizers before producing all-in-one instruments, and British firm EMS . In 1970, Moog designed

3108-620: A showcase for artists who perform or create music with new electronic music instruments, controllers, and synthesizers. 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

3219-549: A time. Popular monophonic synthesizers include the Moog Minimoog . A few, such as the Moog Sonic Six, ARP Odyssey and EML 101, could produce two different pitches at a time when two keys were pressed. 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

3330-467: A two-port design to regulate a flow or use a three or more port design to switch flows between ports. Multiple solenoid valves can be placed together on a manifold . Solenoid valves are the most frequently used control elements in fluidics . Their tasks are to shut off, release, dose, distribute or mix fluids. They are found in many application areas. Solenoids offer fast and safe switching, high-reliability, long service life, good medium compatibility of

3441-450: Is a graphical user interface (GUI), which is composed of a tactile UI and a visual UI capable of displaying graphics . When sound is added to a GUI, it becomes a multimedia user interface (MUI). There are three broad categories of CUI: standard , virtual and augmented . Standard CUI use standard human interface devices like keyboards, mice, and computer monitors. When the CUI blocks out

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3552-418: Is a general principle in the design of all kinds of interfaces. It is based on the idea that human beings can only pay full attention to one thing at one time, leading to the conclusion that novelty should be minimized. If an interface is used persistently, the user will unavoidably develop habits for using the interface. The designer's role can thus be characterized as ensuring the user forms good habits. If

3663-485: Is an elastic diaphragm and above it is a spring pushing it down. The diaphragm has a pinhole through its center which allows a very small amount of water to flow through. This water fills cavity C so that pressure is roughly equal on both sides of the diaphragm. However, the pressurized water in cavity C acts across a much greater area of the diaphragm than the water in inlet A . From the equation F = P ∗ A {\displaystyle F=P*A} ,

3774-406: Is an electromechanical instrument, as it used both mechanical elements and electronic parts. A Hammond organ used spinning metal tonewheels to produce different sounds. A 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

3885-400: Is better described as a direct neural interface . However, this latter usage is seeing increasing application in the real-life use of (medical) prostheses —the artificial extension that replaces a missing body part (e.g., cochlear implants ). In some circumstances, computers might observe the user and react according to their actions without specific commands. A means of tracking parts of

3996-521: Is linked to a synth module , computer or other electronic or digital sound generator, which then creates a sound. However, it is increasingly common to separate user interface and sound-generating functions into a music controller ( input device ) and 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

4107-422: Is shut off. Direct-acting valves are useful for their simplicity, although they do require a large amount of power relative to other types of solenoid valves. If fluid pressures are high and orifice diameter is large, a solenoid may not generate enough force on its own to actuate the valve. To solve this, a Pilot-Operated solenoid valve design can be used. Such a design uses the pressurized fluid itself to apply

4218-467: Is significant, since this is perhaps the most significant distinction between the modern synthesizer and other electronic instruments. The most commonly used electronic instruments are synthesizers , so-called because they artificially generate sound using a variety of techniques. All early circuit-based synthesis involved the use of analogue circuitry, particularly voltage controlled amplifiers, oscillators and filters. An important technological development

4329-449: Is the number of senses interfaced with. For example, a Smell-O-Vision is a 3-sense (3S) Standard CUI with visual display, sound and smells; when virtual reality interfaces interface with smells and touch it is said to be a 4-sense (4S) virtual reality interface; and when augmented reality interfaces interface with smells and touch it is said to be a 4-sense (4S) augmented reality interface. The user interface or human–machine interface

4440-502: Is the part of the machine that handles the human–machine interaction. Membrane switches, rubber keypads and touchscreens are examples of the physical part of the Human Machine Interface which we can see and touch. In complex systems, the human–machine interface is typically computerized. The term human–computer interface refers to this kind of system. In the context of computing, the term typically extends as well to

4551-534: Is to allow effective operation and control of the machine from the human end, while the machine simultaneously feeds back information that aids the operators' decision-making process. Examples of this broad concept of user interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems , hand tools , heavy machinery operator controls and process controls. The design considerations applicable when creating user interfaces are related to, or involve such disciplines as, ergonomics and psychology . Generally,

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4662-618: 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. 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

4773-899: 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. 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. Many early analog synthesizers were monophonic, producing only one tone at

4884-535: The Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood . 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,

4995-569: The electric guitar remain in the chordophones category, and so on. 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

5106-406: The 1950s in the context of computer music , including computer- played music (software sequencer), computer- composed music ( music synthesis ), and computer sound generation ( sound synthesis ). The first digital synthesizers were academic experiments in sound synthesis using digital computers. FM synthesis was developed for this purpose; as a way of generating complex sounds digitally with

5217-591: The 1950s. The Mark II Music Synthesizer , housed at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City . Designed by Herbert Belar and Harry Olson at RCA, with contributions from Vladimir Ussachevsky and Peter Mauzey , it was installed at Columbia University in 1957. Consisting of a room-sized array of interconnected sound synthesis components, it was only capable of producing music by programming, using

5328-682: 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 CS-80 , the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and the Oberheim Four-Voice. These remained complex, heavy and relatively costly. The recording of settings in digital memory allowed storage and recall of sounds. The first practical polyphonic synth, and the first to use

5439-715: 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. The increasing power and decreasing cost of sound-generating electronics (and especially of

5550-636: The Russian scientist 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. Hugh Le Caine , John Hanert, Raymond Scott , composer Percy Grainger (with Burnett Cross), and others built a variety of automated electronic-music controllers during

5661-693: The UK. 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,

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5772-464: The body is required, and sensors noting the position of the head, direction of gaze and so on have been used experimentally. This is particularly relevant to immersive interfaces . The history of user interfaces can be divided into the following phases according to the dominant type of user interface: In the batch era, computing power was extremely scarce and expensive. User interfaces were rudimentary. Users had to accommodate computers rather than

5883-416: The circuits while he was at Columbia-Princeton. The Moog synthesizer was first displayed at the Audio Engineering Society convention in 1964. It required experience to set up sounds but was smaller and more intuitive than what had come before, less like a machine and more like a musical instrument. Moog established standards for control interfacing, using a logarithmic 1-volt-per-octave for pitch control and

5994-402: The computer pioneers of the 1940s. Just as importantly, the existence of an accessible screen—a two-dimensional display of text that could be rapidly and reversibly modified—made it economical for software designers to deploy interfaces that could be described as visual rather than textual. The pioneering applications of this kind were computer games and text editors; close descendants of some of

6105-453: The core tube is not closed but rather an open tube that slips over one end of the plugnut. To retain the plugnut, the tube might be crimped to the plugnut. An O-ring seal between the tube and the plugnut will prevent the fluid from escaping. The solenoid coil consists of many turns of copper wire that surround the core tube and induce the movement of the core. The coil is often encapsulated in epoxy. The coil also has an iron frame that provides

6216-528: The cubes, a variety of music and sound software can be operated. AudioCubes have applications in sound design, music production, DJing and live performance. 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

6327-423: The currently running job the entire computer; program decks and tapes had to include what we would now think of as operating system code to talk to I/O devices and do whatever other housekeeping was needed. Midway through the batch period, after 1957, various groups began to experiment with so-called " load-and-go " systems. These used a monitor program which was always resident on the computer. Programs could call

6438-523: The designer is experienced with other interfaces, they will similarly develop habits, and often make unconscious assumptions regarding how the user will interact with the interface. Peter Morville of Google designed the User Experience Honeycomb framework in 2004 when leading operations in user interface design. The framework was created to guide user interface design. It would act as a guideline for many web development students for

6549-444: The diaphragm and open it. Should the pressure at the output rise above that of the input, the valve would open regardless of the state of the solenoid and pilot valve. Solenoid valve designs have many variations and challenges. Common components of a solenoid valve: The core or plunger is the magnetic component that moves when the solenoid is energized. The core is coaxial with the solenoid. The core's movement will make or break

6660-525: The diaphragm once the downward force exerted is great enough. This process is the opposite for a normally open pilot-operated valve. In that case, the pin is naturally held open by a spring, passage D is open, and cavity C is never able to fill up enough, pushing open diaphragm B and allowing unobstructed flow. Supplying an electric current to the solenoid pushes the pin into a closed position, blocking passage D , allowing water to accumulate in cavity C , and ultimately closing diaphragm B . In this way,

6771-615: The earliest specimens, such as rogue (6), and vi (1), are still a live part of Unix tradition. In 1985, with the beginning of Microsoft Windows and other graphical user interfaces , IBM created what is called the Systems Application Architecture (SAA) standard which include the Common User Access (CUA) derivative. CUA successfully created what we know and use today in Windows, and most of

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6882-445: The early 1960s. During the 1940s–1960s, Raymond Scott , an American composer of electronic music, invented various kind of music sequencers for his electric compositions. Step sequencers played rigid patterns of notes using a grid of (usually) 16 buttons, or steps, each step being 1/16 of a measure . These patterns of notes were then chained together to form longer compositions. Software sequencers were continuously utilized since

6993-401: The expression graphical user interface for human–machine interface on computers, as nearly all of them are now using graphics. Multimodal interfaces allow users to interact using more than one modality of user input. There is a difference between a user interface and an operator interface or a human–machine interface (HMI). In science fiction , HMI is sometimes used to refer to what

7104-410: The expressiveness of the cello . 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. It appears in numerous film and television soundtracks, particularly science fiction and horror films . Contemporary users of the ondes Martenot include Tom Waits , Daft Punk and

7215-407: The field lines. In some designs, the core tube is an enclosed metal shell produced by deep drawing . Such a design simplifies the sealing problems because the fluid cannot escape from the enclosure, but the design also increases the magnetic path resistance because the magnetic path must traverse the thickness of the core tube twice: once near the plugnut and once near the core. In some other designs,

7326-491: 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

7437-583: The first electronic rhythm machine, called the Rhythmicon . Cowell wrote some compositions for it, which he and Schillinger premiered in 1932. The ondes Martenot is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin . 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

7548-478: 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. 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

7659-509: The fluid has solid impurities. A direct-acting solenoid valve typically operates in 5 to 10 milliseconds. Pilot-operated valves are slightly slower; depending on their size, typical values range from 15 to 150 milliseconds. Power consumption and supply requirements of the solenoid vary with application, being primarily determined by fluid pressure and orifice diameter. For example, a popular 3 ⁄ 4 -inch 150 psi sprinkler valve, intended for 24 VAC (50–60 Hz) residential systems, has

7770-404: The following is a detailed breakdown of a typical pilot-operated solenoid valve. They may use metal seals or rubber seals, and may also have electrical interfaces to allow for easy control. The diagram to the right shows the design of a basic valve, controlling the flow of water in this example. The top half shows the valve in its closed state. An inlet stream of pressurized water enters at A . B

7881-448: The force from cavity C pushing downward is greater than the force from inlet A pushing upward, and the diaphragm remains closed. Diaphragm B will stay closed as long as small drain passage D remains blocked by a pin, which is controlled by solenoid E . In a normally closed valve, supplying an electric current to the solenoid will raise the pin via magnetic force, and the water in cavity C drains out through passage D faster than

7992-409: The force required is low enough, the solenoid is able to directly actuate the main valve. These are simply called Direct-Acting solenoid valves. When electricity is supplied, electrical energy is converted to mechanical energy, physically moving a barrier to either obstruct flow (if it is N.O.) or allow flow (if it is N.C.). A spring is often used to return the valve to its resting position once power

8103-436: The forces required to actuate the valve, with the solenoid as a "pilot" directing the fluid (see subsection below). These valves are used in dishwashers, irrigation systems, and other applications where large pressures and/or volumes are desired. Pilot-operated solenoids tend to consume less energy than direct-action, although they will not work at all without sufficient fluid pressure and are more susceptible to getting clogged if

8214-453: The goal of user interface design is to produce a user interface that makes it easy, efficient, and enjoyable (user-friendly) to operate a machine in the way which produces the desired result (i.e. maximum usability ). This generally means that the operator needs to provide minimal input to achieve the desired output, and also that the machine minimizes undesired outputs to the user. User interfaces are composed of one or more layers, including

8325-709: The guitar-like SynthAxe , the BodySynth, the Buchla Thunder , the Continuum Fingerboard , the Roland Octapad , various isomorphic keyboards including the Thummer, and Kaossilator Pro , and kits like I-CubeX . The Reactable is a round translucent table with a backlit interactive display. By placing and manipulating blocks called tangibles on the table surface, while interacting with

8436-523: The instrument sounds used in recordings are electronic instruments (e.g., 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

8547-482: The interface design include prototyping and simulation. Typical human–machine interface design consists of the following stages: interaction specification, interface software specification and prototyping: In broad terms, interfaces generally regarded as user friendly, efficient, intuitive, etc. are typified by one or more particular qualities. For the purpose of example, a non-exhaustive list of such characteristics follows: The principle of least astonishment (POLA)

8658-552: 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 . 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

8769-633: 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. In 1966, Reed Ghazala discovered and began to teach math " circuit bending "—the application of the creative short circuit,

8880-487: The level of expression available to electronic musicians, by allowing for the playing style of a musical instrument. 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. During

8991-639: The machine use no input or output devices except electrodes alone; they are called brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) or brain–machine interfaces (BMIs). Other terms for human–machine interfaces are man–machine interface ( MMI ) and, when the machine in question is a computer, human–computer interface . Additional UI layers may interact with one or more human senses, including: tactile UI ( touch ), visual UI ( sight ), auditory UI ( sound ), olfactory UI ( smell ), equilibria UI ( balance ), and gustatory UI ( taste ). Composite user interfaces ( CUIs ) are UIs that interact with two or more senses. The most common CUI

9102-494: The machine. They are also often used in paintball gun triggers to actuate the CO 2 hammer valve. Solenoid valves are usually referred to simply as "solenoids." Solenoid valves can be used for a wide array of industrial applications, including general on-off control, calibration and test stands, pilot plant control loops, process control systems, and various original equipment manufacturer applications. In 1910, ASCO Numatics became

9213-401: The materials used, low control power and compact design. There are many valve design variations. Ordinary valves can have many ports and fluid paths. A 2-way valve, for example, has 2 ports; if the valve is open , then the two ports are connected and fluid may flow between the ports; if the valve is closed , then ports are isolated. If the valve is open when the solenoid is not energized, then

9324-441: The monitor for services. Another function of the monitor was to do better error checking on submitted jobs, catching errors earlier and more intelligently and generating more useful feedback to the users. Thus, monitors represented the first step towards both operating systems and explicitly designed user interfaces. Command-line interfaces ( CLIs ) evolved from batch monitors connected to the system console. Their interaction model

9435-545: The more recent DOS or Windows Console Applications will use that standard as well. This defined that a pulldown menu system should be at the top of the screen, status bar at the bottom, shortcut keys should stay the same for all common functionality (F2 to Open for example would work in all applications that followed the SAA standard). This greatly helped the speed at which users could learn an application so it caught on quick and became an industry standard. Primary methods used in

9546-497: The other way around; user interfaces were considered overhead, and software was designed to keep the processor at maximum utilization with as little overhead as possible. The input side of the user interfaces for batch machines was mainly punched cards or equivalent media like paper tape . The output side added line printers to these media. With the limited exception of the system operator's console , human beings did not interact with batch machines in real time at all. Submitting

9657-453: 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 musical keyboard . Other controllers include the radiodrum , Akai's EWI and Yamaha's WX wind controllers,

9768-438: The pinhole can refill it. Less water in cavity C means the pressure on that side of the diaphragm drops, proportionately dropping the force too. With the downward force of cavity C now less than the upward force of inlet A , the diaphragm is pushed upward, thus opening the valve. Water now flows freely from A to F . When the solenoid is deactivated and passage D is closed, water once again accumulates in cavity C , closing

9879-521: The real world to create a virtual reality , the CUI is virtual and uses a virtual reality interface . When the CUI does not block out the real world and creates augmented reality , the CUI is augmented and uses an augmented reality interface . When a UI interacts with all human senses, it is called a qualia interface, named after the theory of qualia . CUI may also be classified by how many senses they interact with as either an X-sense virtual reality interface or X-sense augmented reality interface, where X

9990-408: The seals that control the movement of the fluid. When the coil is not energized, springs will hold the core in its normal position. The plugnut is also coaxial. The core tube contains and guides the core. It also retains the plugnut and may seal the fluid. To optimize the movement of the core, the core tube needs to be nonmagnetic. If the core tube were magnetic, then it would offer a shunt path for

10101-447: The second phase of command-line systems. These cut latency further, because characters could be thrown on the phosphor dots of a screen more quickly than a printer head or carriage can move. They helped quell conservative resistance to interactive programming by cutting ink and paper consumables out of the cost picture, and were to the first TV generation of the late 1950s and 60s even more iconic and comfortable than teleprinters had been to

10212-471: The smallest number of computational operations per sound sample. In 1983 Yamaha introduced the first stand-alone digital synthesizer, the DX-7 . It used frequency modulation synthesis (FM synthesis), first developed by John Chowning at Stanford University during the late sixties. Chowning exclusively licensed his FM synthesis patent to Yamaha in 1975. Yamaha subsequently released their first FM synthesizers,

10323-404: The smallest possible compilers and interpreters. Once the cards were punched, one would drop them in a job queue and wait. Eventually, operators would feed the deck to the computer, perhaps mounting magnetic tapes to supply another dataset or helper software. The job would generate a printout, containing final results or an abort notice with an attached error log. Successful runs might also write

10434-557: The software dedicated to control the physical elements used for human–computer interaction . The engineering of human–machine interfaces is enhanced by considering ergonomics ( human factors ). The corresponding disciplines are human factors engineering (HFE) and usability engineering (UE) which is part of systems engineering . Tools used for incorporating human factors in the interface design are developed based on knowledge of computer science , such as computer graphics , operating systems , programming languages . Nowadays, we use

10545-402: The solenoid's field through to the plugnut and the core. The plugnut and core need a material with good magnetic properties such as iron, but iron is prone to corrosion. Stainless steels can be used because they come in both magnetic and non-magnetic varieties. For example, a solenoid valve might use 304 stainless steel for the body, 305 stainless steel for the core tube, 302 stainless steel for

10656-417: The spirit of the original Hornbostel Sachs classification scheme, if one categorizes instruments by what first produces the initial sound in the instrument, that only subcategory 53 should remain in the electrophones category. Thus, it has been more recently proposed, for example, that the pipe organ (even if it uses electric key action to control solenoid valves ) remain in the aerophones category, and that

10767-524: The springs, and 430 F stainless steel (a magnetic stainless steel ) for the core and plugnut. Many variations are possible on the basic, one-way, one-solenoid valve described above: Solenoid valves are used in fluid power pneumatic and hydraulic systems, to control cylinders, fluid power motors or larger industrial valves. Automatic irrigation sprinkler systems also use solenoid valves with an automatic controller . Domestic washing machines and dishwashers use solenoid valves to control water entry into

10878-611: The tape recorder as an essential element: "electronically produced sounds recorded on tape and arranged by the composer to form a musical composition". 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

10989-437: The valve is termed normally open (N.O.). Similarly, if the valve is closed when the solenoid is not energized, then the valve is termed normally closed (N.C.). There are also 3-way and more complicated designs. A 3-way valve has 3 ports; it connects one port to either of the two other ports (typically a supply port and an exhaust port). Solenoid valves are also characterized by how they operate. A small solenoid can generate

11100-516: 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. Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Issacson composed Illiac Suite for string quartet , the first complete work of computer-assisted composition using algorithmic composition. In 1957, Max Mathews at Bell Lab wrote MUSIC-N series,

11211-432: The visual display via finger gestures, a virtual modular synthesizer is operated, creating music or sound effects. 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

11322-496: Was a series of request-response transactions, with requests expressed as textual commands in a specialized vocabulary. Latency was far lower than for batch systems, dropping from days or hours to seconds. Accordingly, command-line systems allowed the user to change their mind about later stages of the transaction in response to real-time or near-real-time feedback on earlier results. Software could be exploratory and interactive in ways not possible before. But these interfaces still placed

11433-571: Was a similar system. 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, noted for its ability to reproduce several instruments synchronously and having a velocity-sensitive keyboard. An important new development

11544-431: Was added to the Hornbostel-Sachs musical instrument classification system by Sachs in 1940, in his 1940 book The History of Musical Instruments ; 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

11655-517: Was made in Germany. Allgemeine Elektricitäts Gesellschaft (AEG) demonstrated the first commercially produced magnetic tape recorder , called the Magnetophon . 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

11766-498: 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. In 1929 Laurens Hammond established his company for the manufacture of electronic instruments. He went on to produce the Hammond organ , which was based on the principles of the Telharmonium , along with other developments including early reverberation units. The Hammond organ

11877-422: Was the advent of computers for the purpose of composing music, as opposed to manipulating or creating sounds. Iannis Xenakis began what is called musique stochastique, or 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

11988-439: Was the first mass market all-digital synthesizer. It became indispensable to many music artists of the 1980s, and demand soon exceeded supply. The DX7 sold over 200,000 units within three years. 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

12099-490: Was the first thermionic valve, or vacuum tube and which led to the generation and amplification of electrical signals, radio broadcasting, and electronic computation, among other things. Other early synthesizers included the Telharmonium (1897), the Theremin (1919), Jörg Mager's Spharophon (1924) and Partiturophone, Taubmann's similar Electronde (1933), Maurice Martenot 's ondes Martenot ("Martenot waves", 1928), Trautwein's Trautonium (1930). The Mellertion (1933) used

12210-545: Was the harbinger of sample-based synthesizers. 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 . The Synclavier from New England Digital

12321-598: Was the invention of the Clavivox synthesizer in 1956 by Raymond Scott with subassembly by Robert Moog . French composer and engineer Edgard Varèse created a variety of compositions using electronic horns , whistles, and tape. Most notably, he wrote Poème électronique for the Philips pavilion at the Brussels World Fair in 1958. RCA produced experimental devices to synthesize voice and music in

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