The past century has seen an unprecedented acceleration of music technology, fundamentally changing the way we interact with sound. 1870s: Experiments with sound recording by Thomas Edison & Emile Berliner; wax cylinder technology
1898: Telegraphone; magnetic wire recording
1906: Triode vacuum tube; Thadius Cahill's Telharmonium (New York City)
1922: Optical sound recording (mostly used with cinema)
1924: Electrical loudspeakers
1928: Formulation of the sampling (Nyquist) theorem establishes the theoretical foundation of digital sampling; Theremin
1930s: Light-Tone Organ (Berlin)
1935: Magnetophon; magnetic tape recording (Germany)
1936: Singing Keyboard, ur-sampler designed for special-effects noises (Hollywood)
1938: Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), efficient digital information coding
1950: Pierre Schaeffer formulates Musique Concrète, Phonogene, proto-sampling using analog tape techniques (Paris)
1955: Hugh LeCaine invents the Special Purpose Tape Recorder (Ottawa)
1957-58: Max Matthews does first digital synthesis with the Music I and Music II programs at Bell Labs
1959: Lejaren Hiller experiments with algorithmic composition on a computer
1960-69: Music III-V software synthesis with unit generators; algorithmic composition programs by Iannis Xenakis (Stochastic Music Program) and G. M. Koenig (Project 1); Moog and Buchla synthesizers
Early 1970s: Experimental digital audio recorders; Mellotron; early algorithmic microprocessor-controlled synthesis systems (David Behrman, Martin Bartlett); algorithmic composition program by Barry Truax (POD)
1971: Xenakis publishes Formalized Music
1977: First commercial digital audio recording system, Sony PCM-1; Synclavier sampling instrument
1979: Fairlight Computer Music Instrument
1981: E-Mu Emulator
1982: Compact Disc
1983: MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface); Yamaha DX7, digital FM synthesis
1984: Cmix by Paul Lansky at Princeton University
1986: Csound by Barry Vercoe & R. Karstens at MIT
1988: Max created by Miller Puckette at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique)
Late 1980s: High-quality digital audio work stations for personal computers
Early 1990s: Digital multitrack systems
