

Ever since a caveman first clacked two stones together, musicians have relied on instruments — Bobby McFerrin and that guy from Police Academy notwithstanding.

These music creation technologies are disrupting the normal ways in which music has been made in the past.

1. The iPhone

When I saw the first MP3 player ten years ago this month, I expected portable music players to evolve a great deal in the coming decade. But other than the ability to hold more music and an improved interface, most players released since then have been essentially retreads of those first models.

Not so the iPhone (and iPod Touch). This device’s large touch screen, tilt sensors and ability to install applications have already made it a handy device for going beyond music playback into the realm of music creation. Four Tracks ($10) replaces the hardware four track recorders of yore that used to cost hundreds of dollars. Talk about disruptive technology. Meanwhile the mood-enhancing Bloom, ZoozBeat pocket music studio, the harder-to-use Noise.io and other apps let people make music wherever they are, for a fraction of the cost of dedicated non-portable hardware.



2. Open-source audio software

One of the great disruptive forces when it comes to software is the open-source movement. Decentralized teams of programmers with varying amounts of time to commit to a project can produce stable, cheaper applications that compete with proprietary software.

Audacity, a free, open-source audio editor, has been a shining example of open-source software for years — so stable that I used it as the basis for a book of digital music tutorials, and that was over five years ago; the program has only improved since then. Now, it has competition from another open-source audio editor called Koblo Studio, which runs on new code (i.e. not Audacity), according to one of its creators, and offers more some advanced features. The program is free, but users can choose to buy virtual synthesizers, effects and other add-ons. Not too long ago, entry-level digital audio workstations cost hundreds of dollars, and many still do. Thanks to open-source developers, anyone can now record, edit and produce music for free.

3. Virtual synthesizers

Before the iPhone let us use virtual instruments on the go, the computer put them in the home studio. Computers are remarkably well-suited to pretending to be synthesizers. Because they rely on your computer for processing resources, a display and some of their input mechanisms, virtual synths are far, far cheaper than their real world counterparts while offering the same sounds and, usually, more advanced functionality.

Why buy all the hardware (keyboard, processor, etc.) again each time you want a new instrument? Virtual synths have allowed a new generation of musicians to discover yesterday’s vintage equipment and customize their own sounds to a degree not imaginable in the hardware world. And as with other disruptive technologies, virtual synths do all of this at a far lower price than their hardware ancestors.



4. Portable digital audio recorders

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I think I’m in love with my Roland-Edirol R-09HR High Resolution WAVE/MP3 Recorder, pictured to the right. Not only is it perfect for interviews, with an optional tripod that lets me record without picking up table noise, an included wireless remote for altering settings without adding clicks to the recording and a slow playback option for transcribing speech, but it has also allowed me to record live music without distortion.

In the past, I’ve had to accept a certain level of digital distortion as part of the bargain of recording live audio. But the R-09HR has two gain settings that can each be tweaked to 80 different recording levels, so no sound seems too quiet or too loud for my R-09HR to pick up. The built in stereo condenser mics are high-quality enough for my purposes, but the device also accepts an external mic- or line-level source. Other high-end portables have been able to record loud audio without distorting, but this one (among other newer models) saves recordings as WAVs or MP3s on an SD card that my computers see as a plain old disk drive.

Some portable digital audio recorders, the R-09HR included, can record 24-bit audio, which allows their use on projects requiring better-than-CD audio quality. High-end portable recorders are disruptive in two ways: by making it possible to record super clean audio without a computer and by giving more concertgoers a way to sync photos and videos to higher-quality audio taped at shows.



5. Max/MSP

When I set out to make this list, my goal was not to include decades-old technology. Cycling ’74’s Max/MSP, a programming interface for sound (video introduction), elbowed its way onto the list nonetheless, because there’s still nothing like it — well, nothing exactly like it anyway. Forget about imitating synthesizers or making them portable; Max/MSP lets you build electronic instruments inside your computer by dragging and dropping objects and connecting them with virtual patch cords.

Ever wonder how people do things like play real music using Guitar Hero controllers or turn a Nintendo Wii controller into a theremin? Their secret, nine times out of ten, is Max/MSP. It’s not the easiest program to learn, but neither are most other Jedi techniques.

Suggestions? Add a comment below; we’ll take a look before we update the list.

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Photo: Rob Cruickshank