{"id":434241,"date":"2020-07-19T10:42:25","date_gmt":"2020-07-19T08:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/?p=434241"},"modified":"2020-07-16T18:07:55","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T16:07:55","slug":"the-inventions-that-changed-the-music-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/gear\/the-inventions-that-changed-the-music-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The inventions that changed the music world"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest technologies breakthrough products of all time were largely responsible of the evolution of music (whether it’s recording, performing or listening). Despite the eternal love for “vintage” stuff (instruments, music, bands, state of mind..!), the music world is tightly bound with the technological world and, as one advances, so does the other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ideas<\/strong> that led to technology<\/strong> development<\/strong> are the core of our whole existence, and music is no exception. One could say that every instrument<\/strong>, accessory or device could be catalogued as a “groundbreaking<\/strong>” invention, and we tend to think so: however, fitting every single music device in this list would’ve been impossible. We decided to propose you our personal<\/strong> selection<\/strong> of devices that introduced a big change in the game when they were introduced to the market.<\/p>\n

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Magnetic tape (1928)<\/h2>\n

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Nowadays magnetic<\/strong> tape<\/strong><\/a> sounds like something from “the old days”: it’s in fact a very sought-after<\/strong> recording<\/strong> tool<\/strong>, which many artists still tend to rely on, due to its “analog<\/strong>” characteristics and the special timbre it impresses on the sound that is being captured.<\/p>\n

Magnetic tape dates way back to the 18th<\/strong> century<\/strong>, when Edison<\/strong> and<\/strong> Bell<\/strong> (who else?) attempted to create wax cylinders. Results were not as exciting as people thought they’d be, and the audio quality remained on the lower spectrum of quality until Fritz Pfleumer, in 1928<\/strong>, decided to take a piece of paper and cover it with ferric<\/strong> oxide<\/strong>. This opened up to a world of possibilities.<\/p>\n

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Guitar Amplifier (1941)<\/h2>\n

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The history of the guitar amplifier<\/strong><\/a> dates back to the ’40s\/’50s: George<\/strong> Beauchamp<\/strong> and Adolph Rickenbacker<\/strong> owned a company called Electric Sting Company, which sold different electrified instruments.\u00a0The problem was… that there was no way to amplify<\/strong> them with a dedicated product!<\/p>\n

To make a long story short, they hired a guy called Van<\/strong> Nest<\/strong> to design a prototype which was then developed in a production unit amplifier. Shortly after this “noisy revolution”, Leo<\/strong> Fender<\/strong><\/a> teamed upw ith Don<\/strong> Randall<\/strong> and created the Super Amp<\/strong> in 1949. The rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n

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Mixer (1958)<\/h2>\n

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Mixing engineers and recording aficionados may know that Studer<\/strong> made some the best tape<\/strong> machines<\/strong> ever made. Not everyone knows that Studer<\/strong> also created the first mixer<\/strong><\/a> available to the public. It was a huge machine which was not easy to carry, but it changed everything: suddenly, the world of multitrack<\/strong> recording<\/strong> was available to every recording studio owner.<\/p>\n

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Multitrack recorder (1979)<\/h2>\n

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Tascam<\/strong><\/a> changed the game (and the future) of many bands and artists by releasing the Portastudio<\/strong> in 1979. The concept of this recording device<\/strong><\/a> was simple: you could record a four-track demo<\/strong> in your home studio \/ garage \/ rehearsal room. The “demotape<\/strong>” era<\/strong> began and labels started to receive dozens of demos by upcoming artists. The multitrack<\/strong> recorder<\/strong> started to become obsolete when the computer<\/strong> recording<\/strong> music<\/strong><\/a> revolution spawned, but this little device is still, to this day, a fun and original way to record a piece of music (or a full album!).<\/p>\n

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MIDI (1983)<\/h2>\n

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Can you imagine a world where your favourite synthesizers<\/strong> can’t speak to each other? That was the world before 1983<\/strong>. Due to different design approaches and trigger<\/strong> systems<\/strong>, many popular products couldn’t communicate with each other until someone invented MIDI<\/strong><\/a> (Musical Instruments Digital Interface), a universal protocol for data transmission<\/strong> and hardware interconnection<\/strong>. MIDI<\/strong> is now starting to disappear due to USB and Thunderbolt connectivities, but still many professionals rely on the many advantages of MIDI<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Mp3 (1995)<\/h2>\n

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MP3<\/strong> is subject to many quality-related memes, but in reality it was a groundbreaking<\/strong> invention – especially if we take into consideration that up to that moment people had to listen to\u00a0cassettes or CDs<\/strong>, which were bulky for portable listening (and, of course, vinyls which could only be listened to at home).<\/p>\n

MP3<\/strong> allowed people to have a tiny file with lots of quality, comparable to the WAV\/FLAC\/Lossless<\/strong> format of professionally printed CDs\/vinyl<\/strong>. Apple<\/strong>, with the iPod<\/strong>, brought the concept of portability and the practicality of MP3s<\/strong> to another level, allowing countless generations of people to listen to their favourite music, in high quality, on the go.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Soundcard (1998)<\/h2>\n

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