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95-530: In the early 1950s Shot installed string pullers with pedals on Fender , Rickenbacker , and other steel guitars. Shot approached steel guitarist Bud Isaacs to start the Sho-Bud company together, using the terms "Sho" named after Shot Jackson and "Bud" after Bud Isaacs. Bud Isaacs was an early partner in the endeavor, and was involved in designing the guitars but later left, after which Shot approached steel guitarist Buddy Emmons. In 1955 Buddy Emmons joined Shot and

190-436: A brushed aluminum face plate with blue or red labels (depending the model) for the guitar and bass amplifiers became standard features, starting in late 1968. These first "silverface" amps added an aluminium trim detail around the speaker baffle until 1970. Other cosmetic changes included a new "tailless" Fender amp decal and a sparkling orange grillcloth on certain amplifiers in the mid-1970s. Regarding guitars, in mid-1971,

285-571: A light pen . The Synclavier from New England Digital 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

380-470: 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

475-643: 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 the UK. In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill patented an instrument called the Telharmonium (or Teleharmonium, also known as

570-623: A campaign initiated by then CBS Musical Instruments division president William Schultz (1926–2006), the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company employees purchased the company from CBS and renamed it "Fender Musical Instruments Corporation" (FMIC). The sale did not include the old Fullerton factory; FMIC had to build a new facility in nearby Corona. The vast majority of Fender guitars sold in 1985 were made in Japan. In 1987 Fender established

665-573: 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

760-511: A greater propensity toward mechanical failure of the guitars. During the CBS era, the company did introduce some new instrument and amplifier designs. The Fender Starcaster was particularly unusual because of its shallow, yet semi-hollow body design that still retained the traditional Fender bolt-on neck, albeit with a completely different headstock. The Starcaster also incorporated a new Humbucking pickup designed by Seth Lover , which became known as

855-536: 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,

950-520: A highly active and interdisciplinary field of research. Specialized conferences, such as the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression , have organized to report cutting-edge work, as well as to provide a showcase for artists who perform or create music with new electronic music instruments, controllers, and synthesizers. In musicology, electronic musical instruments are known as electrophones. Electrophones are

1045-407: A large inventory of Fender parts and unassembled guitars. However, the sale also led to a reduction of the quality of Fender's guitars while under the management of "cost-cutting" CBS. Several cosmetic changes occurred after 1965/1966, such as a larger headstock shape on certain guitars. Bound necks with block shaped position markers were introduced in 1966. A bolder black headstock logo, as well as

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1140-510: 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

1235-466: 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

1330-635: A number of instrument brands and firms, including the Guild Guitar Company , the Sunn Amplifier Company, and SWR Sound Corporation . In early 2003, FMIC reached an agreement with the Gretsch family and began manufacturing and distributing new Gretsch guitars. Fender also owns Jackson , Olympia, Orpheum, Tacoma Guitars , Squier , and Brand X amps. On October 28, 2007, Fender acquired Kaman Music Corporation , which owned

1425-584: A partnership with Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman , and they formed the K & F Manufacturing Corp to design, manufacture, and market electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars like the "Champion" (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers, sold as sets. By the end of the year, Fender became convinced that manufacturing was more profitable than repair, and decided to concentrate on that business instead. Kauffman remained unconvinced, and he and Fender amicably parted ways by early 1946. At that point, Fender renamed

1520-403: 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

1615-543: 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

1710-443: A set of parameters. Xenakis used graph paper and a ruler to aid in calculating the velocity trajectories of glissando for his orchestral composition Metastasis (1953–54), but later turned to the use of computers to compose pieces like ST/4 for string quartet and ST/48 for orchestra (both 1962). The impact of computers continued in 1956. Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Issacson composed Illiac Suite for string quartet ,

1805-445: 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 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

1900-506: A small manufacturing facility in Ensenada, Baja California , Mexico and in 1990 Fender and their Japanese partners FujiGen started guitar manufacturing in the city. Mexican Fenders appeared in the catalog from January 1991. The plant was rebuilt in 1994 after a fire. Player, Vintera and Acoustisonic models are now made there. In 1991, FMIC moved its corporate headquarters from its Corona location to Scottsdale, Arizona. In January 2020,

1995-421: 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 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

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2090-549: 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

2185-405: A velocity-sensitive keyboard. An important new development 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

2280-664: Is an American manufacturer and marketer of musical instruments and amplifiers . Fender produces acoustic guitars , bass amplifiers and public address equipment; however, it is best known for its solid-body electric guitars and bass guitars , particularly the Stratocaster , Telecaster , Jaguar , Jazzmaster , Precision Bass , and the Jazz Bass . The company was founded in Fullerton, California , by Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender in 1946. Andy Mooney has served as

2375-562: 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 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

2470-403: Is plugged into a power amplifier which drives a loudspeaker , creating the sound heard by the performer and listener. 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

2565-467: 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

2660-536: The Denis d'or keyboard, dating from 1753, followed shortly by the clavecin électrique by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste de Laborde in 1761. The Denis d'or consisted of a keyboard instrument of over 700 strings, electrified temporarily to enhance sonic qualities. The clavecin électrique was a keyboard instrument with plectra (picks) activated electrically. However, neither instrument used electricity as

2755-613: The Fender Rhodes electric piano (until 1983). In addition, Fender produces effects pedals and picks . According to American guitar expert George Gruhn, the Fender Telecaster, Precision Bass, and Stratocaster are "three of the most important models in the history of the electric guitar", and were all introduced between 1950 and 1957. In 1953, Fender also introduced the Stringmaster, a double-pickup model which

2850-619: 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

2945-901: 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

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3040-707: The Ovation Guitar Company , Latin Percussion and Toca hand percussion products, Gibraltar Hardware , Genz Benz Amplification, Charvel , Hamer Guitars , and is the exclusive U.S. sales representative for Sabian Cymbals and exclusive worldwide distributor of Takamine Guitars and Gretsch Drums . In 2011, Volkswagen partnered with Fender to manufacture premium sound systems for its vehicles in North America . Volkswagen vehicles in North America that offer optional Fender Premium Sound are

3135-658: The Precision Bass (P-Bass). In August 1954 Fender unveiled the Stratocaster ("Strat") guitar. With the Telecaster and Precision Bass having been on the market for some time, Leo Fender was able to incorporate input from working musicians into the Stratocaster's design. Following the Stratocaster's release, the Precision Bass received a major makeover, aligning it more with the Stratocaster as opposed to

3230-474: The Stratocaster became more popular. Squier guitars have been manufactured in the United States , Japan , Korea , Indonesia and China . Electric instrument 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

3325-608: 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 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

3420-614: The Volkswagen Golf , Volkswagen Beetle , Volkswagen Jetta Sedan, Volkswagen Passat , and Volkswagen Tiguan . In February 2015, KMC was sold to Jam Industries by FMIC. In January 2019, Fender purchased the Bigsby Electric Guitar Company from its partner Gretsch.The subsidiary operates independently, and produces the popular Bigsby vibrato tailpiece as well as several Paul Bigsby -designed electric guitars. In November 2021, Fender purchased

3515-729: The Wide Range pickup. This pickup also gave rise to 3 new incarnations of the classic Telecaster: the Telecaster Custom , the Telecaster Deluxe and the Telecaster Thinline . Though more recent use by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has raised the Starcaster's profile, CBS-era instruments are generally much less coveted or collectable than the "pre-CBS" models created by Leo Fender prior to selling

3610-464: The chief executive officer (CEO) since June 2015. In January 2020, Servco Pacific became the majority owner after acquiring the shares of TPG Growth. The company began as "Fender's Radio Service" in late 1938, in Fullerton, California . As a qualified electronics technician, Fender had repaired radios, phonographs, home audio amplifiers, public address systems and musical instrument amplifiers , all designs based on research developed and released to

3705-625: 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

3800-486: The 1950s Bayreuth productions of Parsifal . In 1942, Richard Strauss used it for the bell- and gong-part in the Dresden première of his Japanese Festival Music . This new class of instruments, microtonal by nature, was only adopted slowly by composers at first, but by the early 1930s there was a burst of new works incorporating these and other electronic instruments. In 1929 Laurens Hammond established his company for

3895-406: 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

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3990-592: 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

4085-682: 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

4180-543: The Dynamaphone). Using tonewheels to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by additive synthesis , it was capable of producing any combination of notes and overtones, at any dynamic level. This technology was later used to design the Hammond organ . Between 1901 and 1910 Cahill had three progressively larger and more complex versions made, the first weighing seven tons, the last in excess of 200 tons. Portability

4275-477: The Fender companies to CBS in 1965. In 1966 Fender opened a much a larger facility at 1300 S. Valencia Drive adjacent to the existing factory at 500 South Raymond Avenue. Guitar and amplifier production, which had already increased 30% in CBS's first year, soon increased another 45%. In 1981, CBS brought in new management: three executives, John McLaren, William "Bill" Schultz and Dan Smith. They were experienced in

4370-571: 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 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

4465-666: The Jazz community, the guitar found a home in the growing surf rock music scene, one that would go on to influence the Jazzmaster's successor, the Jaguar in 1962. The Fender Jazz Bass was released in 1960, a year after the Jazzmaster. In January 1965, Leo Fender sold his companies to the Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ) for $ 13 million ($ 126 million in 2023 adjusted for inflation). CBS entered

4560-565: 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 the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1959 Daphne Oram produced a novel method of synthesis, her " Oramics " technique, driven by drawings on

4655-631: The Louisiana-based PreSonus Audio Electronics , a manufacturer of professional audio equipment and software. In June 2023, it announced a partnership with Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine (band) . Fender published the Fender Frontline magazine as a source of product, artist and technical data for the company's customers. The first half featured interviews and articles about the guitars and

4750-715: 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

4845-535: The Swinger (also known as Musiclander) and Custom (also known as Maverick) were perceived by some musicians as little more than attempts to squeeze profits out of factory stock. The so-called "pre-CBS cult" refers to the popularity of Fenders made before the sale. After selling the Fender company, Leo Fender founded Music Man in 1975, and G&L Musical Instruments in 1979, both of which manufacture electric guitars and basses based on his later designs. In 1985, in

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4940-584: The Telecaster. In 1959, Fender released the Jazzmaster guitar. Like the Stratocaster before it, the Jazzmaster was a radical departure from previous guitar designs. The offset body, vibrato system and innovative electronics were designed to capture the Jazz guitar market which until then was dominated by acoustic guitars. Fender even promoted the Jazzmaster as a premium successor to the Stratocaster , an accolade it never fully achieved. Despite being shunned by

5035-470: 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 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

5130-417: 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

5225-495: The company the "Fender Electric Instrument Company". The service shop remained open until 1951, although Leo Fender did not personally supervise it after 1947. Leo Fender's lap steel guitar made in 1946 for Noel Boggs was probably the first product of the new company, bearing an early presentation of the cursive "big F" Fender logo. In the late 1940s, Fender began to experiment with more conventional guitar designs. Early Broadcasters were plagued with issues; while Fender boasted

5320-490: The company's UK arm, Fender Europe, was fined £4.5 million after admitting resale price maintenance (a form of price-fixing ) between 2013, and 2018, in breach of the United Kingdom's Competition Act 1998 . The Fender "spaghetti logo" was used by Fender from 1954 to the mid-1960s. By 1965 Fender used a transition logo which was a thicker gold-and-black logo (this logo is associated with CBS). FMIC has purchased

5415-424: The company. David Shot was involved in designing the first "all pull" mechanics of the company's steel pedal guitars, which allowed for more musical flexibility. Later in 1963, Buddy Emmons left Sho-Bud to start his Emmons Guitar Company with Ron Lashley. In the 1970s they also expanded their line and offered acoustic guitars. They also made a line of dobro-style resonator guitars in conjunction with Gretsch under

5510-424: The control method. Present-day ethnomusicologists , such as Margaret Kartomi and Terry Ellingson, suggest that, in keeping with 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

5605-568: The copycat guitars were coming from, even working with those companies. On March 11, 1982, Fender Japan Ltd. was founded. In 1983, the Fender Stratocaster received a short-lived redesign including a single ("master") tone control, a bare-bones pickguard-mounted output jack, redesigned single-coil pickups, active electronics, and three push buttons for pickup selection (on the Elite Series). Additionally, previous models such as

5700-528: 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

5795-445: 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

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5890-557: The fifth category of musical instrument under the Hornbostel-Sachs system. Musicologists typically only classify music as electrophones if the sound is initially produced by electricity, excluding electronically controlled acoustic instruments such as pipe organs and amplified instruments such as electric guitars . The category was added to the Hornbostel-Sachs musical instrument classification system by Sachs in 1940, in his 1940 book The History of Musical Instruments ;

5985-781: The first complete work of computer-assisted composition using algorithmic composition. In 1957, Max Mathews at Bell Lab wrote MUSIC-N series, a first computer program family for generating digital audio waveforms through direct synthesis. Then Barry Vercoe wrote MUSIC 11 based on MUSIC IV-BF , a next-generation music synthesis program (later evolving into csound , which is still widely used). In mid 80s, 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,

6080-528: The first polyphonic digital sampler , 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

6175-710: 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

6270-545: The instrument's body and neck to be milled and finished separately, and for the final assembling to be done quickly and cheaply by unskilled workers. In 1950, Fender introduced the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar , the Telecaster ("Tele") (originally named the Broadcaster for two-pickup models and Esquire for single-pickup). Following its success, Fender created the first mass-produced electric bass ,

6365-583: The interviews and features section, and Frontline became an annual illustrated price list until 2006, when it was replaced with a product guide. Fender's core product are electric guitars, namely the Jaguar , Jazzmaster , Mustang , Telecaster , Stratocaster , Duo-Sonic , Meteora, and Jag-Stang . This is alongside bass guitars in the Mustang , Jaguar , Jazz , Precision and Meteora models. Fender also manufactures acoustic guitars, lap steel guitars , banjos , electric violins , guitar/bass amplifiers and

6460-426: The keys are each linked mechanically to swinging string hammers - whereas with an electronic keyboard, the keyboard interface 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

6555-633: 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,

6650-487: 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

6745-439: 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 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

6840-475: The music industry, having previously worked for Yamaha Musical Instruments. They needed to deal with quality control issues, so the Fender Fullerton plant was virtually shut down in order to revamp manufacturing. Fender was also struggling to fight against lower cost copycat guitars on the market. They needed to manufacture the guitars somewhere else, so decided to move production to Japan, where some of

6935-567: The musical instruments field by acquiring the Fender companies (Fender Sales, Inc., Fender Electric Instrument Company, Inc., Fender Acoustic Instrument Company, Inc., Fender-Rhodes, Inc., Terrafen, Inc., Clef-Tronix, Inc., Randall Publishing Co., Inc., and V.C. Squier Company ), as well as Electro-Music Inc. ( Leslie speakers ), Rogers drums , Steinway pianos, Gemeinhardt flutes, Lyon & Healy harps, Rodgers (institutional) organs, and Gulbransen home organs. The sale enabled CBS to bring in money and personnel who assembled and put to market

7030-615: The name Sho-Bro, a play on the word " dobro ". The name is currently owned by Gretsch, which purchased the company in 1979, and there are no models in production. Models produced include the Permanent, Fingertip, Crossover, Maverick, Professional, Pro I, Pro II, Pro III, Super Pro and LDG (Lloyd Green). Fender Musical Instruments Corporation 33°38′46″N 111°53′57″W  /  33.6460322°N 111.899058°W  / 33.6460322; -111.899058 The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation ( FMIC , or simply Fender )

7125-708: The original 1914 version of the system did not include it. Sachs divided electrophones into three subcategories: The last category included instruments such as theremins or synthesizers , which he called radioelectric instruments. Francis William Galpin provided such a group in his own classification system, which is closer to Mahillon than Sachs-Hornbostel. For example, in Galpin's 1937 book A Textbook of European Musical Instruments , he lists electrophones with three second-level divisions for sound generation ("by oscillation", "electro-magnetic", and "electro-static"), as well as third-level and fourth-level categories based on

7220-453: 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,

7315-460: The pickups in an electric guitar is used to transmit the pitches in the tonewheels to an amplifier and speaker enclosure. While the Hammond organ was designed to be a lower-cost alternative to a pipe organ for church music, musicians soon discovered that the Hammond was an excellent instrument for blues and jazz ; indeed, an entire genre of music developed built around this instrument, known as

7410-402: The pipe organ (even if it uses electric key action to control solenoid valves ) remain in the aerophones category, and that 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

7505-414: The public domain by Western Electric in the 1930s, using vacuum tubes for amplification. The business also sidelined in carrying records for sale and the rental of company-designed PA systems. Leo became intrigued by design flaws in contemporary musical instrument amplifiers and began building amplifiers based on his own designs or modifications to designs. By the early 1940s, Leo Fender had entered into

7600-473: 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,

7695-532: The stars who played them, and the second half was a catalog section. Fender published 27 issues of the magazine from 1990 through 2000. Notable interviewees included Kurt Cobain in Fall 1994, in what was his last interview. Fender had designed a hybrid guitar for Cobain, known as a Jag Stang. Other notable interviews featured Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour , Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple , and King Crimson 's Adrian Belew . In 2001, Fender eliminated

7790-415: The strength of the instrument's one-piece maple neck, early adopters lamented its tendency to bow in humid weather. Fender's reluctant addition of a metal truss rod into the necks of his guitars allowed for the much needed ability to fine-tune the instrument to the musician's specific needs. With the design of the Telecaster finalized, mass production began in 1950. The Telecaster's bolted-on neck allowed for

7885-439: The success of FM synthesis Yamaha signed a contract with Stanford University in 1989 to develop digital waveguide synthesis , leading to the first commercial physical modeling synthesizer , Yamaha's VL-1, in 1994. 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),

7980-612: 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

8075-480: The two continued the endeavor to create the brand and company. The brand was founded in a small garage in 1955 in Madison , Tennessee by Shot Jackson and Buddy Emmons , both active steel players in the 1950s. The company later relocated to Nashville , Tennessee in 1963. In 1963 Emmons left the company, and Shot's sons, David and Harry, accompanied Shot in building Sho-Bud Steel Guitars. Duane Marrs then joined

8170-493: The two devices communicating through a musical performance description language such as MIDI or Open Sound Control . The solid state nature of electronic keyboards also offers differing "feel" and "response", offering a novel experience in playing relative to operating a mechanically linked piano keyboard. All electronic musical instruments can be viewed as a subset of audio signal processing applications. Simple electronic musical instruments are sometimes called sound effects ;

8265-432: The usual four-bolt neck joint was changed to one using only three bolts, and a second string tree for the two middle (G and D) strings was added in late 1972. These changes were said to have been made to save money: while it suited the new 'improved' micro-tilt adjustment of the neck (previously requiring neck removal and shimming), the "Bullet" truss rod system, and a 5-way pickup selector on most models, it also resulted in

8360-432: 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

8455-472: 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 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

8550-517: 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

8645-466: 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 the first compositions for electronic instruments, as opposed to noisemakers and re-purposed machines. The Theremin

8740-599: Was notable for being the first musical instrument played without touching it. In 1929, Joseph Schillinger composed First Airphonic Suite for Theremin and Orchestra , premièred with the Cleveland Orchestra with Leon Theremin as soloist. The next year Henry Cowell commissioned Theremin to create the first electronic rhythm machine, called the Rhythmicon . Cowell wrote some compositions for it, which he and Schillinger premiered in 1932. The ondes Martenot

8835-564: Was popular with western swing steel-guitar players. Fender manufactures and distributes all musical instruments sold under the EVH brand, including Custom Shop models and replicas of the Frankenstrat . Squier was a string manufacturer that Fender acquired. Fender has used the Squier brand since 1982 to market inexpensive variants of Fender guitars to compete with Stratocaster copies, as

8930-400: 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

9025-598: 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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