1961- Max Mathews and his coworkers at Bell Lab first described the direct syntheses of sound by a computer.
1967-68- Music V, developed at Bell Laboratories, which consists of computer models of oscillator and amplifier modules, plus procedures for establishing interactions among the modules.
1973- John Chowing of Stanford University describes FM synthesis, which produces a wide variety of complex timbres by rapidly varying the frequency of one waveform in proportion to the amplitude of another waveform.
1975-79- First commercial sampling instrument introduced. Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument (CMI), developed in Sydney, Australia.
1980- Roger Linn introduced the Linn Drum, an instrument containing digitized percussion sounds that could be played in patterns determined by the musician.
1983-The DX-7 (Yamaha) introduced. Based on Chowning's research in FM Synthesis. The DX-7 was polyphonic, had a five-octave touch-sensitive keyboard, and offered a wide choice of timbres, which the player could adjust or change to suit his or her requirements.
1983- Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) was introduced. Several commercial instrument manufacturers agreed on a way of interconnection instruments so they could work together or in conjunction with a personal computer.
1984- Raymond Kurzweil introduced the Kurzweil 250, a keyboard-controlled instrument containing digitally encoded representations of grand
piano, strings, and many other orchestral timbres.
Copyright: 1986-2010