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Overview of Electronic Musical Instruments

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Music, Sound, and Technology
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Abstract

Techniques for producing musical sounds by purely electrical (nonacoustic) means have been known for many years. One of the earliest was the telharmonium, invented by Thaddeus Cahill during the first decade of the twentieth century. The device employed rotating toothed wheels that imparted their signals to electromagnets placed in proximity. Various tones could be combined in harmonic relationships, and complex signals could be produced and transmitted directly over telephone lines.

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References Cited

  • Blesser, B., and J. Kates. 1978. “Digital Processing in Audio Signals.” In Applications of Digital Signal Processing, ed. A. Oppenheimer. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

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Recommended Reading

  • Rossing, T. 1990. The Science of Sound. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

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  • Strong, W., and G. Plitnik. 1992. Music, Speech & Audio. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press.

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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Eargle, J.M. (1995). Overview of Electronic Musical Instruments. In: Music, Sound, and Technology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5936-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5936-5_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-5938-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-5936-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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