Awesome Electronic Music

We always thought that drum machines came along sometime in the 1970s, but it turns out that there was one model you could buy as early as 1959. Look Mum No Computer opens the doors to his personal museum for a look at the Wurlitzer Side Man to see how the ingenious way it made rhythms with electromechanical systems.

Since the late 1960s, synthesizers have become a critical component of music production – especially in genres like alternative, pop, and dance. Musician and synth enthusiast Doctor Mix walks us through the ten most famous and essential electronic music makers of all time, along with examples of the sounds they each produce.

Most techno music is made with the help of computer sequencers. But the members of Klangphonics show how to pull of the electronic sound live using a mix of basic analog instruments and a pedal-controlled synthesizer for the bass notes.

As we’ve seen and heard before, Electronicos Fantasticos! love to make music using barcodes. They recently rigged up a couple of skateboards with barcode readers and circuitry under their decks, covered floors and ramps with black-and-white patterns, then took a little ride.

Ksawery Komputery made this captivating music video for Max Cooper’s remix of the Joep Beving track Hanging D. The colorful shapes that move across your screen were inspired by an imaginary future where visitors travel back through time via “data excavation.” The parallax scrolling effect really creates the illusion of depth.

Franzoli Electronics fires up their tesla coils once more with a high-voltage performance of Coolio and L.V.’s Gangsta’s Paradise. The track sounds awesome as it buzzes through the man-made lightning, reminding us not to mess with West Coast rappers unless you’re in a Faraday cage.

Hear The Beatles as you’ve never heard them before. Ghostcar’s experimental digital EP features five classic Beatles tracks reinterpreted as modern electronica. The unconventional sounds might offend die-hard Beatles fans, but so did The White Album.

This robust input device for music production and live performance packs not one but four fully configurable and independent sequencers, with LFOs, loopers, arpeggiators, and more. Each supports up to 128 steps, with auto-harmonization capabilities. It connects via MIDI, CV, or Bluetooth.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Device Orchestra, they’re a band made up out of electronic gadgets and appliances. Here, they perform a wonderfully buzzy cover of Imagine Dragons’ Believer, with the toothbrush on leads, accompanied by a toaster, a PS2 controller, a typewriter, a steam iron, and two credit card machines.

IK Multimedia’s virtual instrument can replicate the rich and emotive sounds of tape-based samplers like the Mellotron. SampleTron 2 comes with over 400 virtual tape tracks, including choir, strings, brass, organ, piano, bass, synths, and vocoders. You can also load your own samples and run them through the tape sound engine.

We’ve previously seen how the musicians from Electronicos Fantasticos use laser barcode readers in their performance. In this clip from Maker Faire Tokyo 2020, one of their members shows how to make record scratching sounds using the same technique.

Google Arts & Culture’s online exhibition offers a fascinating look at the history of electronic music. The museum features content from cultural partners around the world and looks at the people, technology, and creativity that paved the way for modern music. You can also play with AR Synth, a virtual electronic music studio.

The Vector is one of the niftiest electronic music makers we’ve seen. Its 16-voice hybrid synthesis module can create some badass sounds. Its touchscreen lets you manipulate complex sounds visually, as shown in this in-depth video from Red Means Recording. It’s currently sold out but its makers are working on more.

If you’ve ever attended an EDM concert, you know that most of the performing is done on laptops, synthesizers, and other instruments with buttons and knobs. Norwegian comedy show Kollektivet pokes fun at the experience when a duo of DJs gets a new piece of equipment and doesn’t know what any of its buttons do.

Do you have a place in your heart for the sounds of the 1980s? Sonicware’s portable synthesizer makes FM sounds like many electronic instruments of the era, but can merge multiple sounds into one. It has a built-in 4-track sequencer, effects, filters, and more than 300 preset sounds. Their 8bit Warps synth looks nifty too.

Zone out with this soothing music video from filmmaker Kevin McGloughlin, who once again fills our rods and cones with brilliant imagery. He shot the full-spectrum infrared footage with a drone over Sligo, on the west coast of Ireland. The chill track was performed by Re: Buddha, Japanese Zen monks who create electronic music.