1872: Experiments with sound recording by Thomas Edison & Emile Berliner; wax cylinder technology
1874: Elisha Gray invents the harmonic telegraph - More
1896: Thaddeus Cahill and the Telharmonium - More
1898: Telegraphone; magnetic wire recording
1900: William Duddell and his Singing Arc - More
1920: Leon Theremin builds the first Theremin (Russia) - More
1922: Optical sound recording (mostly used with cinema)
1924: Electrical loudspeakers
1928: Formulation of the sampling (Nyquist) theorem establishes the theoretical foundation of digital sampling
1930s: Light-Tone Organ (Berlin) - More
1935: Magnetophon; magnetic tape recording (Germany)
1936: Singing Keyboard, sampler designed for special effects noises (Hollywood)
1938: Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), efficient digital information coding
1950: Pierre Schaeffer formulates Musique Concrète, Phonogene, proto-sampling using analog tape techniques (Paris)
1955: Hugh LeCaine invents the Special Purpose Tape Recorder (Ottawa)
1957-58: Max Matthews does first digital synthesis with the Music I and Music II programs at Bell Labs
1959: Lejaren Hiller experiments with algorithmic composition on a computer
1960: Music III-V software synthesis with unit generators; algorithmic composition programs by Iannis Xenakis (Stochastic Music Program) and G. M. Koenig (Project 1); Moog and Buchla synthesizers
1964: Robert Moog builds very first Moog Synthesizer prototype (USA) - More
1967: Beauchamp synthesizer - More
1970: Experimental digital audio recorders; Mellotron; early algorithmic microprocessor-controlled synthesis systems (David Behrman, Martin Bartlett); algorithmic composition program by Barry Truax (POD)
1971: Xenakis publishes Formalized Music
1977: First commercial digital audio recording system, Sony PCM-1; Synclavier sampling instrument
1979: Fairlight Computer Music Instrument
1981: E-Mu Emulator
1982: Compact Disc
1983: MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) introduced
1984: Apple Computer Inc. introduce the Macintosh (check this out); Paul Lansky creates Cmix at Princeton University - Interview
1986: Csound created by Barry Vercoe & R. Karstens at MIT
1988: Max created by Miller Puckette at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique)
1989: High-quality digital audio work stations for personal computers
1990: Digital multitrack systems
1995: electronicmusic.com founded

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