Sound Without Instruments

Electronic music is built from sounds generated by electronic circuits and computers rather than acoustic instruments. It began in the early 20th century when inventors realized that oscillators — circuits that produce repeating waveforms — could create tones that no physical instrument could make.

The Theremin (1920) was the first widely known electronic instrument, played by moving your hands through electromagnetic fields without touching anything. The Moog synthesizer (1964) changed everything by letting musicians shape sound through voltage-controlled oscillators, filters, and amplifiers.