Music, Makers & Machines

A brief history of electronic music

In collaboration with

GROOVE Magazin Berlin

Museum of Youth Culture

Bob Moog Foundation / Moogseum

Western Broadcasting Corporation (North Rhine-Westphalia)

Kitsuné

Swiss Museum & Center for Electronic Music Instruments (SMEM)

and 52 more partners from 15 countries

A Sample of Electronic Music History

Play a Synth From Home in AR

What kind of music fan are you?

Pick your electronic music adventure

Tech Nerd

Learn about the machines and studios

Just Here For The Music

Explore the songs and the artists

At The Club

Dive in to the nightlife and culture

A Total Novice

Your beginner's guide to electronic music

How a Little Beep Took Over the World

From your phone's ringtone to your microwave's "ping", explore how electronic sound changed life as we know it

In 1895, the first synthesizer was invented

The Telharmonium

The Colossal History of a Magnificent Invention

Weighing 200 tonnes, 60 feet long, and consisting of 144 alternators, 672 keys, and 336 sliders

An Explosion of Technological Progress

Tracing the unlikely origins of electronic music

Music was electrified

The Pioneers of Dance Music

The movers and shakers of Dance music from Lee Scratch Perry to Juan Atkins

10 of the Most Memorable Electronic Music Tracks

Uncover the instruments and techniques behind some of the songs

Les Compilations Kitsuné

Le label parisien

It thumped in the clubs...

The Coolest Door in Techno History

See what's on the other side of first ever electronic club's door

Berghain: Club of Clubs

The world's most famous club – but why?

Reliving Nineties Berlin

Open spaces, illegal raves and a thriving sub culture in a newly united Germany

A Tour of London's Lost Clubs

Keeping the underground alive

Factory Records

Learn about Manchester's electronic music scene

... and pinged on our screens

A History of Video Game Music

From computer-generated blips and boops to fully orchestrated scores

From the Golden Era to Gigabytes

Dive into the history of film scoring

Now you can see the instruments that changed everything in 3D

Akai MPC-60

View in 3D

Roland TR-808

View in 3D

ARP Odyssey

View in 3D

Roland TR-909

View in 3D

Roland CR-78

View in 3D

Ensoniq EPS

View in 3D

Korg PS-3100

View in 3D

Rhythm ACE FR-1

View in 3D

Akai S900

View in 3D

Roland Jupiter-8

View in 3D

Casio VL-1

View in 3D

Korg MS-20

View in 3D

Oberheim OB-8

View in 3D

Fairlight CMI

View in 3D

Yamaha CS 80

View in 3D

Sequential Circuits Prophet 10

View in 3D

Roland SH-101

View in 3D

E-mu Emulator-II

View in 3D

Millioniser 2000

View in 3D

Roland Jupiter-6

View in 3D

Elka Synthex

View in 3D

Moog Memorymoog

View in 3D

Go inside the legendary studios...

Paris: INA GRM

The analogue era

Cologne: The CAN Studio

Krautrock origins at the rock'n'popmuseum

Paris: The Studio Pierre Henry

Explore it in 360°

Milan: The RAI Studio

Italy's journey to electronic music

Berlin: The Studio for Electroacoustic Music

A public platform for artistic innovation

Munich: Siemens Studio

A lab for the musical avant-garde

Cologne: The WDR Studio for Electronic Music

Entirely new sounds

... and meet the musical innovators

Ahead of The Curve

Early pioneers from Daphne Oram to Wendy Carlos

Alan R. Pearlman

The engineer who founded one of the early leading American synthesizer manufacturers

Raymond Scott

The composer who invented the polyphonic sequencer

Pierre Schaeffer

A French composer who put the new sounds together

Daphne Oram

A major music pioneer who could 'paint music'

Explore new sound and new instruments...

The instruments

7 Early Electronic Instruments That Changed Sound

From the successful to the one-of-a-kind

The Instrumental Instruments

Key creations from Leon Theremin to Bob Moog

... discover the evolution of dance culture

Berlin, the City Without Tomorrow

A place of freedom and the absence of closing time

The Club Kids

From ballroom and disco to cybergoths and psytrance

The Second Summer of Love

How the summer of 1988 kickstarted a rave revolution

Three Stacks High

Sound system culture

Club Culture

An incomplete history

How Gay Pop Music Shaped The World

A story of suppression and its opposite

After The Rave

90s club culture in the UK

... and check out thousands of flyers sorted by color

Are you a teacher or parent?

Check out the Music, Makers & Machines lesson plan!

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