ABSTRACT
Music conceived and created using electronic instruments. Although all recorded music could now be considered “electronic” because of the extensive use of
audio processing, instrumentation, and editing techniques, the term electronic music has traditionally been used to describe an experimental branch of contemporary classical music. Using this historical perspective, there exist two firmly rooted branches of the electronic music family tree: 1. Purely electronic music created through the generation of sound-waves by electrical means. This is done without the use of traditional musical instruments or of sounds found in nature. This is the domain of computers, synthesizers, and software-generated sound environments. Purely electronic music can be made through either analog or digital synthesis. The difference between the two merely lies in the way electricity is controlled.
There are no aesthetic differences between the outcomes and the listener will probably not be able to tell the difference. 2. Electro-acoustic music uses electronics to modify sounds from the natural world. The entire spectrum of worldly sounds provides the source material for this music. This is the domain of microphones, tape recorders, and digital samplers. The term “electro-acoustic music” can be associated with live or recorded music. During live performance, natural sounds are modified in real time using electronics.
