120 Years of Electronic Music: 1870 to 1990

Obsolete.com's 120 Years of Electronic Music mini-site presents a fascinating look at electronic musical devices over the course of 120 years. Believe it or not, electronic music has roots that stretch back to the early experiments of Hermann von Helmholtz in the mid Nineteenth Century. The instrument above is a fairly modern Mattel Optigan,  developed in 1970. It used optically encoded 12-inch disks to play loops of real sound. In essence, it was the electromechanical equivalent of a modern digital sampler.

120 Years of Electronic Music touches upon early electronic experiments such as tone wheel devices before exploring the vacuum tube era, integrated circuits and digital instruments that blur the line between software and hardware. Each invention is cataloged by inventor, country and year (along with descriptions and pictures). Simply brilliant.

120 Years of Electronic Music (obsolete.com)