120 Years Of Electronic Music charts the development of electronic musical instruments from 1870 to 1990. For the purposes of this project electronic musical instruments are defined as instruments that synthesise sounds from an electronic source. This definition leaves out a whole section of hybrid electronic instruments developed at the end of the last century that used electronics to manipulate or amplify sounds and tape recorders/ Musique Concrete, it has been decided to leave in some non electronic instruments such as the Futurists “Intonarumori” due to their importance in the history of modern music.

The main focus of the site is on instruments developed from the beginning of the century until the 1960’s. The more modern and current Synthesiser companies have been included for the sake of ‘historical completeness’ but are already well documented elsewhere on the internet, a comprehensive set of links are provided.

‘120 Years Of Electronic Music’ is an ongoing project and the site will be updated on a regular basis. Most of the sections have been updated in this revision and a links page and bibliography have been added.