Homemade Music - Why It’s Becoming Less Expensive & Easier
Although people have made music at home for along time, the advancements in music technology over the years have made it easier and easier to go it alone in the music creation process. This article will take a look through the progress that music technology has made over the years.
The Early Days of Musical Computers
People have been making sounds out of computers for a long time,
but for most of that time they were not considered a serious musical instrument. Once we reached the late 70’s and early 80’s though, it started to become more of a possibility to use computers as a serious music making tool. This is due to the invention of high-end computer musical instruments such as the Synclavier and the Fairlight CMI. However, despite this great jump forwards for musical technology, the high price meant it was still not an option for the average musician or composer, and remained the tool of the rich musicians, studios and producers.
The Invention of MIDI
In 1983, MIDI emerged as the major new technology in music. MIDI, which stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, is an electronic language which enables different electronic musical instruments to be linked together and control each other. For example, you could link one keyboard to another keyboard via a MIDI cable, and use it to play sounds on the other keyboard.
This also gave way to the emergence of MIDI sequencers, devices that could be programmed to play a musical sequence on any MIDI keyboard or synthesizer. This meant it was becoming easier for people to create music at home by themselves. You could even use a cheap family computer such as the Atari ST as a MIDI sequencer to create music on your MIDI keyboard.
Making Music on the PC
Once the 1990’s were well under way, the PC was becoming the overall computer standard. The great thing was, they were starting to be used for music as well. With better and better MIDI sequencing software available for PC, along with ever more spectacular synthesizers available, PC music creation was becoming very much a standard approach, especially for musicians who like to compose on their own rather than with a band. Once these music programs also began to include audio recording as well as the MIDI sequencing, computer music creation had started to become a real option even for people who couldn’t afford very expensive gear.
Soft Synths
Recently, the newest and most creatively versatile addition to music has been the invention of software synthesizers. These are software programs that create sounds in the same kind of ways as hardware synthesizers. The great thing about them though, is that you are not restricted by what hardware you can fit in your room. All the sounds are created using software, so it really expands the possibilities.
To begin with, these soft synths were more stand-alone programs which you could play using a keyboard, or they were plug-in style programs that could be used within compatible sequencer software such as Cubase VST.
However, these days software synthesizers have gone onto a new level. You can now get music software which integrates built-in software synthesizers along with a sequencer, samplers and virtual effects devices, all in the one piece of software. This is a true revolution in music creation, and really opens up the sonic possibilities
