This document summarizes the history and development of electronic musical instruments from the 18th century to modern day. It discusses early pioneers like Václav Prokop Diviš who invented the first electronic instrument, the "Denis d'or", in the 1700s. Over time, inventors like Elisha Gray, Thaddeus Cahill, and Leon Theremin developed new electronic instruments using technologies like electricity and electromagnetism. Finally, Dr. Robert Moog revolutionized electronic music in the 1960s-70s by designing the first mass-produced and portable synthesizer, opening up electronic music production to the general public.

2.  The music industry is dependent on them.
They’re versatile, inexpensive and conserve
space. Electronic musical instruments are
easily one of the most commonly used and
heard instruments in modern music

3.  So, why is it that today we have such a wide
variety of electronic instruments that can
imitate almost any sound?Where did they
come from, and who developed them?

5.  Václav Prokop Diviš was a
Czech theologian and a
pioneer in electronic
research in Europe.He
also essentially invented
the first “electronic”
instrument, the “Denis
d’or” also known as
“Golden Dionysus”

6.  It was a; complex, hammer
auctioned, piano-style
instrument constructed of
a wooden cabinet with a
keyboard, pedal, and
approximately 700 strings.
due to the responsiveness
and combinations of stops
it allowed the player to
produce a variety of sounds
giving the instrument far
more than a hundred tonal
voices.

7.  When it came to the use of electricity this
instrument was quite unique, the iron stings
were temporarily charged with electricity to
“purify” the sound

8.  As a malice addition to this instrument. Diviš
had also installed a mechanism so he could
shock the performer as they played.
Unfortunately, after Diviš death in 1765, the
design was sold and brought toVienna where
fell out of production leaving only a fraction
of documentation that it had ever existed.

9.  Elisha Gray was an
American inventor who was
in the race against
Alexander Graham Bell to
invent the telephone. Like
other inventors in this race,
he stumbled upon an
evolvement of sound
production

10.  Gray discovered that
he could control a self
vibrating
electromagnetic
circuit creating a basic
single note oscillator.
This was known as the
“musical telegraph” or
“harmonic telegraph”

11.  Thaddeus Cahill was an
American inverter. In
1897, Cahill had invented
and patented one of the
most significant
electronic instruments in
history.The
“Telharmonium” or
“Dynomophone.”

12.  It was a collection of
approximately 140
altered dynamos
accompanied by gear
shafts and inductors that
produced alternating
currents of different
audio frequencies.The
sound was audible by
using piano sound
boards.

13.  TheTelharmonium was a
monstrosity. It weighed
over 200 tons, sat over 60
feet long and was manned
by two musicians.This
instrument cost about
$200,000 to make and
took up an entire floor in
the NewYork
Telharmonium Hall on 39th
Street and Broadway in
NewYork Cit

14.  After it was discovered that the monster
instrument was interfering with local
telephone signals it’s rumored that a business
man, annoyed by the interference, broke into
the building and destroyed it and threw
pieces of machinery into the Hudson River.

15.  LeónTheremin was born in St.
Petersburg Russia.Theremin
was an engineer and inventor.
During the early 1920s, he had
experimented with radio
vacuum tubes and developed
one of the earliest electronic
instruments, theTheremin. In
the late 1920s, he migrated to
the United States, and in 1928
he patented his invention as
the “Thereminvox”

16.  TheTheremin is
commonly a
rectangular box with
two antennas
protruding out of it,
one horizontal and
one vertical. The
horizontal antenna
controlled the volume
and the vertical
antenna controlled
the pitch.

17.  One day, LeónTheremin vanished and was
never to be heard from again until five
decades later. It was later learned that he had
been kidnapped by the Russian government
and imprisoned and was being forced to work
for the communist Russian government.

18.  One of the most resent
revolutionaries in the
development of electronic
music was Dr. Robert
Arthur Moog. He was truly
the master who brought
electric music into the
homes of millions by
producing the first
playable, portable,
modern and configurable
music synthesizer.

19.  In 1971 Dr. Moog designed
the Minimoog Model D
which was the first
portable and affordable
synthesizer accessible to
the general public. Moog
set the standard for all
manufactures on the
production of music
synthesizers.

20.  Because ofVáclav Prokop Diviš through Dr,
Robert Moog, we have the technology to
reproduce the sound of almost any instrument
or sound known to man by simply pressing a
couple of buttons and a key. Companies such as;
Moog, Korg, Roland, Casio,Yamaha and a long
list of others have made keyboards ranging for
$38.00 to $35,000.00 that are available for
people to experience music in a very unique way
by using the technologies that have been found
by these great revolutionaries