Digital music technology encompasses digital instruments, computers, electronic effects units, software, or digital audio equipment by a performer, composer, sound engineer, DJ, or record producer to produce, perform or record music. The term refers to electronic devices, instruments, computer hardware, and software used in performance, playback, recording, composition, mixing, analysis, and editing of music.
A groovebox is a self-contained electronic or digital musical instrument for the production of live, loop-based electronic music with a high degree of user control facilitating improvisation. The term "Groovebox" was originally used by Roland Corporation to refer to its MC-303, released in 1996. The term has since entered general use, and the concept dates back to the Movement Computer Systems Drum Computer in 1981.
The Roland SH-1000, introduced in 1973, was the first compact synthesizer produced in Japan, and the first synthesizer produced by Roland. It resembles a home organ more than a commercial synth, with coloured tabs labelled with descriptions of its presets and of the "footage" of the divide-down oscillator system used in its manually editable synthesizer section. It produced electronic sounds that many professional musicians sought after whilst being easier to obtain and transport than its Western equivalents.
Keytar is a keyboard instrument similar to a synthesizer or MIDI controller that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is held.
Ensoniq ESQ-1 is a 61-key, velocity sensitive, eight-note polyphonic and multitimbral synthesizer released by Ensoniq in 1985. It was marketed as a "digital wave synthesizer" but was an early Music Workstation. Although its voice generation is typically subtractive in much the same fashion as most analog synthesizers that preceded it, its oscillators are neither voltage nor "digitally controlled", but true digital oscillators, provided by a custom Ensoniq wavetable chip. The signal path includes analog resonant low-pass filters and an analog amplifier.
The Korg Prophecy is considered one of the earliest (mid-nineties) virtual analog synthesizers, although its synthesis capabilities went beyond many of its VA contemporaries.
The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time.
The Moog Source is a monophonic Z80 microprocessor-controlled analog synthesizer manufactured by Moog Music from 1981 to 1985. The Source was Moog's first synthesizer to offer patch memory storage. The design was also the first Moog synthesizer to feature a flat-panel membrane keyboard to replace the standard buttons, knobs and sliders, along with multihued panel graphics that were very different from anything Moog offered at the time. Sound wise it is considered to sound more like the original Moog Minimoog than any other synthesizer made by Moog and was introduced as its replacement.
Ace Electronic Industries Inc., or Ace Tone was a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, including electronic organs, analogue drum machines, and electronic drums, as well as amplifiers and effects pedals. Founded in 1960 by Ikutaro Kakehashi with an investment by Sakata Shokai, Ace Tone can be considered an early incarnation of the Roland Corporation, which was also founded by Kakehashi. Ace Tone began manufacturing amplifiers in 1963.
The ARP Quadra was a 61-key analog synthesizer produced by ARP Instruments, Inc. from 1978 to 1981. The machine combined pre-existing products: the Omni, Odyssey, a Solina-esque string synthesizer unit, a phaser and a divide-down organ with ADSR envelope, and a 4075 24 db low pass filter into one box. It has four sections. Bass is on the bottom two octaves, has two unison bass circuits, with AR and a single pole low pass filter and a related AD envelope for cutoff. A string section is similar to the ARP Omni. Poly Synth, and a two voice Lead Synth similar to the Odyssey and a five way mixer with four unit outputs, a stereo pair, a line mono and an XLR out.
The Roland GR-500 is a guitar synthesizer. Manufactured by the Roland Corporation and FujiGen in 1977, it was one of the first guitar synthesizers.
The Evolver is an analog-digital hybrid synthesizer designed by Dave Smith and manufactured by Dave Smith Instruments. It was first released as a desktop version in 2002, then later a 37-key keyboard bearing the same synth engine as the Evolver desktop was also released. A polyphonic version of the Evolver, dubbed the Poly Evolver, was released in 2004 as a rackmount version, then a 61-key keyboard version of the Poly Evolver was released in 2005. The Evolvers were replaced by new high end models, the Prophet 12 and the Pro 2.
Casio's SDSynthesizers were a late-1980s line of analog synthesizers featuring a resonant filter. SD synthesis was traditional DCO-analog synthesis, with the main difference being that some of the SD waveforms' harmonic spectrums changed temporally, or dynamically in relation to the amplitude envelope.
The AX80 is a polyphonic analogue keyboard synthesizer manufactured by Akai Professional in 1984. It was Akai's first venture into the professional electronic musical instrument market. The AX80 used digitally controlled oscillators (DCO) and filter circuitry based on the Curtis Electronics CEM 3372 integrated circuit. It was marketed as part of a line of project studio equipment called the Akai Music Studio System, which included the S612 digital sampler the MR16 drum machine, the MS08 sequencer, and the MG1212 multitrack tape recorder, at a price of $1,695 US.
Source Audio is a guitar effects pedal company based near Boston, Massachusetts. They produce modular effects pedals for electric guitar and bass, such as the Nemesis Delay, Ventris Dual Reverb, and Collider Delay+Reverb, as well as the C4 Synth, a modular rack synthesizer in pedal format, the Aftershock Bass Distortion, and the EQ2, a 10-band parametric equalizer with a plug-in style desktop interface. They are also the creators of the Hot Hand Wireless Effects Controller, a device worn around the finger that uses an accelerometer to send expression signal to an effect like an envelope filter. Source Audio mainly uses DSP to create their effects, and are known to program their own processor chips.
The timeline of music technology provides the major dates in the history of electric music technologies inventions from the 1800s to the early 1900s and electronic and digital music technologies from 1874 and electric music technologies to the 2010s.
The Roland RS-202 was a polyphonic string synthesizer, introduced by Roland in 1976. It was the successor to the Roland RS-101, released in 1975.
The Korg Collection 4 is the one of the largest collections of VST instruments from Korg and was released in 2004 with updates and more Synths added over time. The original 2004 release consists of the Korg MS-20, Korg Polysix and Korg Wavestation, and LegacyCell, a VST which layers combinations of any of the past 3 synths mentioned. In 2006, they added the Korg Mono/Poly, Korg M1, and Korg MDE-X Multi FX processor. On December 21, 2017, the ARP Odyssey was made into a VST and added to the collection, and the Korg Triton was added on for Christmas 2019. All of these synths were revamped in the spring of 2020 and renamed, collectively, the Korg Collection 2. With the addition of the Korg Triton Extreme, MiniKORG 700s and Korg Prophecy, it was renamed the Korg Collection 3.
