From idiophone to touchpad. The technological development to the virtual musical instrument

Abstract

The history of music can be understood as the increasing digitalization of representation and processing of musical information as notes and sounds. Musical phenomena could be described as a continuous transition from the analog and simple instrument like a wood block to the digital and abstract software instrument like a virtual synthesizer on a touchpad. The development of musical instruments shows an increase in complexity and functionality of handicraft over time, and the music computer forms the last, most comprehensive and most abstract link in a chain of innumerable steps in music and musical technology, starting with the human voice and the invention of drums as a mean of sound and communication and actually marked by digital instruments and virtual sound worlds. Ten developmental stages can be identified with regard to the construction and the usage of musical instruments and multimedia performances. The digital processing of sound information extends the range of artistic presentation of musical processes to unfamiliar, albeit intriguing and expandable dimensions. The aesthetic potential of the artistic approach to musical and multimedia information in the broadest sense proves to be enormous. But it is impossible to predict whether overarching paradigms of music composing and digital culture will emerge or become apparent some day.