Electronic music making has been around for a long time. However, with the progress of technology, it’s now easier than ever before to make music all by yourself. In this article, I will look at the progress music technology has made and how it makes music making much easier.
The Early Days of Musical Computers
Although computers have been able to make sounds for many years, at first they were not considered a serious way of making music. However, by the late 70's and early 80's, a number of musicians and composers began using a new generation of musical computers such as the Fairlight CMI and the Synclavier. Although this was a huge leap forward in terms of musical technology, it still remained elusive to the average person, as these early musical computers were extremely expensive and so were mainly owned by very rich musicians, producers and recording studios.
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
In 1983, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (abbreviated to MIDI) was born. This is communication standard for electronic musical instruments, allowing them to control each other using simple instructions such as note on and note off, etc. Using MIDI, it’s possible to play notes on one keyboard and have them play the sounds of another keyboard.
However, one of the major uses of MIDI was for sequencing. Using a MIDI sequencer, you can program in note patterns and then let the sequencer play the synthesizer for you. You can even program in entire pieces of music, a task which was made much easier using a MIDI-compatible computer such as the Atari ST, along with MIDI sequencing software.
Musical PC’s
From the 1990's onwards, with the emergence PC's as a computing standard, computer music creation came on in leaps and bounds. With more and more affordable MIDI keyboards and synthesizers becoming available, more people could get access to great sounds. Also, with better quality music software being created, which included both MIDI sequencing as well as audio recording capabilities, it was getting to the point where it really was possible to have almost a full music studio in your bedroom.
Soft Synths
In recent years, one of the best inventions in music technology has been the software synthesizer. These programs create sound much the same as actual hardware synthesizers do, but it’s all done from within the computer, just using software. This means that you are no longer restricted by how many hardware synthesizers you are able to fit in your room.
To begin with, these soft synths were more stand-alone programs which you could play using a keyboard, or they were plug-in style programs that could be used within compatible sequencer software such as Cubase VST.
These days, software synthesizers have gone even further, and you can now get music software which consists entirely of software synthesizers integrated together with sequencers, samplers, software effects devices, into an all-round virtual synthesizer studio. This is where the future of music creation lies. When you have easy access to almost any sound possible, there's almost nothing you can't do. The rest is then down to your creativity and talent
