04 / HISTORY

History

Not a chronology. A sequence of eras.

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2013

The direction

Stephan Bodzin, “Sungam”. One track, and it became clear what kind of electronic music was worth making: long arcs, tension that builds for minutes, a set that stops being a sequence of tracks and becomes one continuous space.

2014

The studio

A studio of my own, and the project gets its name. Nobody Quits starts as melodic techno and melodic house, and as a promise the name makes to whoever carries it.

2016

Koh Phangan

The move to the island. Paradigm Studio. A new environment, a new scene, new music. Dawn over the gulf ends up in the tracks, and in the colours of this page.

2017–2021

Looking for a language

Releases, experiments, versions of versions. Utopia and Star Dance in 2020, Constellation and Eclipse in 2021, Magic Island at the end of that year. The ground under the camera right now is made of their spectrograms.

PAUSE

Pause

The project stopped. It is not hidden here. Listen: this is what it sounded like.

2025–2026

The technology caught up

Things that did not exist when Nobody Quits began: agents, generative systems, AI-assisted production, real-time decision systems, an AI sound engineer. The original intuition, a set as one living space, now has instruments.

NOW

Nobody Quits resumes.

Not a reunion and not a reissue. A system that plays, listens and changes while it plays.

Before us: the machines

The history the book tells, laid out in time. Every name links to the chapters where it appears.

17505

1757Johann Philipp Kirnberger
German composer and theorist, author of a musical dice game
ch22 interlude12
1757Musical dice game
18th-century method of composing music by dice rolls
ch22 interlude12
1784Breitkopf edition of 371 Bach chorales
Collection of harmonized chorales used as data for AI
interlude12
1784Johann Sebastian Bach
German Baroque composer
ch05 ch07 ch27 interlude12
1792Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Austrian classical composer
ch04 ch22

18003

1807Fourier series and spectrum
Decomposition of a sound into sine waves
ch04
1807Joseph Fourier
French mathematician who formulated Fourier series
ch04
1843Ada Lovelace
English mathematician, early programmer who wrote on machine-made music
ch22

18506

1863Hermann von Helmholtz
German physicist who studied acoustics and hearing
ch04
1887Hamamatsu
Japanese city, home of Yamaha, Roland and Korg
interlude11
1887Torakusu Yamaha
Japanese founder of Yamaha
interlude11
1887Yamaha
Japanese maker of musical instruments and electronics
ch14 ch15 ch16 interlude11
1897Telharmonium
Early electromechanical instrument by Thaddeus Cahill
ch01 ch04
1897Thaddeus Cahill
American inventor of the Telharmonium
ch01 ch04 interlude13

1900s2

1906Lee de Forest
American inventor of the triode vacuum tube (Audion)
ch01
1906Vacuum tube (triode)
Electronic amplifying component
ch01 ch09

1910s1

1910George Owen Squier
American army officer, inventor of Muzak
interlude13

1920s9

1920Leon Theremin
Soviet physicist, inventor of the theremin
ch01 ch07 ch10 ch20
1920Theremin
Electronic instrument played without touch
ch01 ch04 ch05 ch07
1922Moscow Kremlin
Fortified complex and seat of Russian government in Moscow
ch01 epilogue
1922Theremin demonstrates the theremin to Lenin
Demonstration of the instrument to the Soviet leader in 1922
ch01 ch32
1922Vladimir Lenin
Leader of the Russian Revolution and Soviet head of state
ch01 ch32
1928Maurice Martenot
French inventor of the ondes Martenot
ch01
1928Ondes Martenot
French electronic keyboard instrument from 1928
ch01
1929RCA
American electronics and media company
ch01 ch05
1929RCA Theremin goes on sale
RCA began selling theremins in 1929
ch01

1930s13

1930Ikutaro Kakehashi
Japanese founder of Ace Tone and Roland
ch02 ch09 ch14
1931Adolph Rickenbacker
Swiss-American co-founder of Rickenbacker
ch03
1931George Beauchamp
American co-inventor of the electric guitar pickup, Rickenbacker co-founder
ch03
1932Rickenbacker Frying Pan
First commercial electric guitar, 1932
ch03
1934Muzak
American background-music company
interlude13
1935AEG Magnetophon K1
German tape recorder developed by AEG
ch02
1935BASF
German chemical company that made magnetic tape
ch02
1935Hammond organ
Electromechanical tonewheel organ introduced in 1935
ch01 ch15 ch16 ch17
1935Laurens Hammond
American engineer, inventor of the Hammond organ
ch01
1935Magnetic tape
Recording medium for audio
ch01 ch02 ch07 ch12
1937ANS synthesizer
Soviet photoelectronic synthesizer by Murzin
ch07 ch24 ch27 interlude12
1937Eduard Artemyev
Soviet and Russian composer of electronic and film music
ch07 interlude12
1937Yevgeny Murzin
Soviet engineer, inventor of the ANS synthesizer
ch07 ch24 ch27

1940s15

1940Conlon Nancarrow
American-Mexican composer for player piano
ch08
1940Raja Ram
British-Australian musician, co-founder of TIP Records
ch11
1941Borges' "The Library of Babel"
Short story by Borges about a library of all possible books
ch33
1941Jorge Luis Borges
Argentine writer
ch33
1942French radio studio (GRM)
Paris studio where musique concrète was developed
ch02
1942Pierre Schaeffer
French engineer and composer, founder of musique concrète
ch02 ch07 ch11 ch12
1945Jack Mullin
American engineer who brought German tape recorders to the US
ch02
1948Ampex
American maker of professional tape recorders
ch02
1948Ampex tape recorder
American professional tape recorder
ch02
1948Les Paul
American guitarist and pioneer of multitrack recording
ch02
1948Les Paul records "Lover" and "How High the Moon"
Multitrack recordings by Les Paul from 1948-1951
ch02
1948Multitrack recording (sound on sound)
Recording separate tracks and layering them
ch02 ch16
1948Musique concrète
Music composed from recorded sounds
ch02 ch06
1948Schaeffer's "Concert of Noises" broadcast
1948 radio broadcast of Schaeffer's first musique concrète pieces
ch02
1949Bing Crosby
American singer and actor, early backer of tape recording
ch02

1950s22

1950Fender Telecaster
Solid-body electric guitar by Fender
ch03
1950Leo Fender
American inventor and founder of Fender
ch03
1951"Rocket 88" — distorted guitar sound
1951 record with an accidentally distorted guitar amp
ch03
1951Goa Gil (Gilbert Levey)
American DJ, pioneer of Goa trance
ch11
1951John Cage
American avant-garde composer
ch22
1951Sam Phillips
American producer, founder of Sun Records
ch02 ch03
1951Sun Studio, Memphis
Memphis recording studio of Sam Phillips
ch02
1953Colin Cherry
British cognitive scientist who named the cocktail party problem
ch24
1953Colin Cherry's cocktail party problem
1953 problem of isolating one voice among many
ch24
1953Phonogène
Tape-based instrument used in musique concrète
ch02
1954Fender Stratocaster
Electric guitar introduced by Fender in 1954
ch03
1954Graham Gold
British DJ and producer
ch08 ch11
1954Moog Music
American synthesizer maker
ch05 ch06 ch10 interlude6
1954Robert Moog
American engineer, inventor of the Moog synthesizer
ch01 ch03 ch04 interlude1
1957Illiac Suite
First score composed with a computer, 1957
ch22 ch27
1957Lejaren Hiller
American composer, author of the Illiac Suite
ch22 ch27
1957Markov chains
Probabilistic models used to generate sequences
ch22 ch27
1958Link Wray
American rock guitarist known for distorted power chords
ch03
1958Watkins Copicat
British tape echo unit
ch02
1959Echoplex
Tape delay effect unit
ch02
1959Wurlitzer
American maker of keyboards and jukeboxes
ch09 ch15
1959Wurlitzer Sideman
Early electromechanical rhythm machine
ch09 ch15

1960s64

1960Ace Tone
Japanese electronic instrument maker founded by Kakehashi
ch09
1961Georg von Békésy
Hungarian-American biophysicist, studied the cochlea
ch04
1961Marty Robbins
American country singer
ch03
1961Marty Robbins' "Don't Worry" — first fuzz
1961 record featuring an early fuzz guitar sound
ch03
1962Chamberlin
American tape-replay keyboard, predecessor of the Mellotron
ch12
1962Gibson
American guitar maker
ch03 ch14
1962Iannis Xenakis
Greek-French composer and architect
ch22
1962Jim Marshall
British founder of Marshall Amplification
ch03
1962Korg
Japanese maker of electronic instruments
ch05 ch07 ch10 ch15
1962Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone
First commercial fuzz pedal by Gibson
ch03
1962Marshall amplifier
British guitar amplifier brand
ch03
1962Teletronix LA-2A
Classic optical studio compressor
interlude8
1962Tsutomu Katoh
Japanese Yamaha engineer who worked on MIDI
ch15
1963Buchla 100 series
Modular synthesizer system by Don Buchla
ch05
1963Delia Derbyshire
British electronic music pioneer at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
ch02
1963Doctor Who theme
1963 electronic theme realized by Delia Derbyshire
ch02
1963Don Buchla
American designer of modular synthesizers
ch05 ch06 ch29
1963Herb Deutsch
American composer who collaborated with Moog
ch05
1963Korg Donca-Matic
Early Korg rhythm machine
ch15
1963Mellotron
Tape-replay keyboard instrument
ch07 ch12
1963Morton Subotnick
American composer of electronic music
ch05
1963Ron Grainer
Australian-born composer of the Doctor Who theme
ch02
1964Ace Tone Rhythm Ace
Early transistor drum machine
ch09
1964Dave Davies
Guitarist of The Kinks
ch03
1964Fairchild compressor
Classic tube studio compressor
interlude8
1964Moog modular synthesizer
Early modular synthesizer by Robert Moog
ch06 ch08 ch15 ch18
1964Moog presents first modules at the AES conference
Robert Moog's 1964 demonstration at the Audio Engineering Society
ch05
1964Voltage control (CV/gate)
Analog synthesizer control by voltage
ch05
1965"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
1965 Rolling Stones single with a fuzz guitar riff
ch03
1965Augustus Owsley Stanley III
American LSD chemist and sound engineer for the Grateful Dead
interlude4 ch26
1965Ken Kesey
American author and leader of the Merry Pranksters
ch05 interlude4
1965Ken Kesey's Acid Tests
Mid-1960s LSD-fueled parties led by Ken Kesey
ch05 interlude4
1965Pete Townshend
Guitarist and songwriter of The Who
ch03
1965Vladimir Ussachevsky
Composer and pioneer of electronic music at Columbia
ch05
1966Abbey Road (EMI Studios)
London recording studio
ch16
1966EMI
British record company
ch16
1966George Martin
British producer of The Beatles
ch16 ch21
1966Moog ladder filter
Transistor ladder low-pass filter designed by Robert Moog
ch05 ch06 interlude6 ch33
1966Recording of "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles
1966 track using tape loops and studio effects
ch16
1966The Beatles
British rock band from Liverpool
ch12 ch13 ch16 interlude8
1967FM synthesis
Sound synthesis by frequency modulation
ch15
1967Jimi Hendrix
American rock guitarist
ch03
1967John Chowning
American composer, discoverer of FM synthesis
ch15 interlude11
1967Octavia (Roger Mayer pedal)
Octave-fuzz pedal built by Roger Mayer
ch03
1967Roger Mayer
British electronics engineer who built effects pedals for Hendrix
ch03
1967UREI 1176 compressor
Classic studio limiting amplifier
interlude8
1968Album "Switched-On Bach"
1968 synthesizer album by Wendy Carlos
ch05
1968King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock)
Jamaican sound engineer, pioneer of dub
ch16
1968Malcolm Cecil
British bassist and synthesizer programmer, co-creator of TONTO
ch06
1968Moog 960 sequencer
Analog step sequencer for Moog modular systems
ch08
1968Rachel Elkind
American producer, collaborator of Wendy Carlos
ch05
1968Sequencer
Device or software that plays programmed note patterns
ch08 ch10 ch12 ch14
1968TONTO
Large multitimbral synthesizer built around Moog modules
ch06
1968Wendy Carlos
American electronic composer, author of Switched-On Bach
interlude1 ch05 ch15 interlude12
1969"Amen, Brother" break by The Winstons
1969 drum solo widely sampled in later music
ch12
1969"Popcorn" (Kingsley, Hot Butter)
Electronic instrumental by Gershon Kingsley, a hit for Hot Butter
ch05
1969ARP
American synthesizer maker and its instruments
ch05 ch06 ch07
1969Bill Hemsath
American engineer who worked with Robert Moog
ch06
1969Gershon Kingsley
German-born American composer of Popcorn
ch05
1969Goa (Anjuna)
Indian state, home of Goa trance
interlude1 ch10 ch11 interlude4
1969Gregory Coleman
American drummer of The Winstons, played the Amen break
ch12
1969Jean-Michel Jarre
French electronic music composer and performer
ch07 ch12
1969Stephan Bodzin
German techno producer
ch20
1969Woodstock
1969 US music festival
interlude4

1970s55

1970Glastonbury
English town and site of a major music festival
ch11 ch32
1970Minimoog Model D
Compact monophonic analog synthesizer by Moog
ch06 ch07 ch08 ch11
1971David Van Koevering
American promoter of the Minimoog
ch06
1971Norlin
American corporation that owned Moog and Gibson in the 1970s
ch06
1972Andrei Tarkovsky
Soviet film director
ch07
1972Roland
Japanese maker of electronic instruments
ch02 interlude1 interlude2 ch08
1972Tarkovsky's "Solaris" with music by Artemyev
1972 Soviet film scored with electronic music
ch07 interlude12
1972Technics (Matsushita)
Japanese audio brand of Matsushita
ch19
1972Technics SL-1200
Direct-drive turntable, DJ standard
ch19
1973Black Ark
Lee Perry's Jamaican recording studio
ch16
1973Kling Klang
Kraftwerk's Düsseldorf studio
ch08
1973Kraftwerk
German electronic band from Düsseldorf
ch06 ch08 ch09 ch11
1973Lee "Scratch" Perry
Jamaican producer and dub pioneer
ch12 ch16
1974"Autobahn" by Kraftwerk
1974 Kraftwerk album and single
ch08
1974"King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown"
1976 dub album
ch16
1974Augustus Pablo
Jamaican melodica player and dub producer
ch16 ch19
1974Automatic mixing and feedback suppression
Automatic control of microphones to reduce feedback
interlude6 ch26
1974Dan Dugan
American sound engineer, inventor of the automatic mic mixer
ch13 ch26
1974Grateful Dead
American rock band
ch05 interlude4 ch25 ch26
1974Grateful Dead's "Wall of Sound"
Huge custom sound system used by Grateful Dead in 1974
interlude4
1974Roland Space Echo
Tape echo effect unit by Roland
ch02 ch16
1975Brian Eno
British musician and producer, pioneer of ambient music
ch07 ch08 ch15 ch16
1975Stanford University (CCRMA)
Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics
ch15
1976Alexander Shulgin
American chemist and pharmacologist, popularized MDMA
interlude4
1977"Flash Light" by Parliament
1977 funk single built on a synth bassline
ch06
1977"I Feel Love" by Donna Summer
1977 disco single produced entirely on synthesizers
ch08
1977"Trans-Europe Express" by Kraftwerk
1977 Kraftwerk album and single
ch08 ch09
1977AIR Studios
London recording studio founded by George Martin
ch21
1977Bernie Worrell
American keyboardist of Parliament-Funkadelic
ch06
1977Brian Eno's "Music for Airports"
1978 ambient album
ch22 interlude13
1977Donna Summer
American disco singer
ch08
1977Florian Schneider
Co-founder of Kraftwerk
ch08 ch13
1977Giorgio Moroder
Italian composer and producer, pioneer of synth disco
ch08 ch32
1977Mix automation
Recording and replaying mixer settings
ch21
1977Neve
British maker of studio mixing consoles
ch16 ch21
1977Neve NECAM
Automated mixing system by Neve
ch21
1977Pete Bellotte
British producer and songwriter, Moroder's collaborator
ch08
1977Ralf Hütter
Co-founder and frontman of Kraftwerk
ch08 ch13
1977Roland MC-8 MicroComposer
Early digital sequencer by Roland
ch08
1977Studio 54
New York disco nightclub
interlude4
1977Synclavier
Early digital synthesizer and workstation
ch02
1978Hideki Matsutake
Japanese synthesizer programmer, collaborator of Yellow Magic Orchestra
ch08
1978Kim Ryrie
Australian co-inventor of the Fairlight CMI
ch12
1978Korg MS-20
Semi-modular analog synthesizer
ch15
1978Peter Vogel
Australian co-inventor of the Fairlight CMI
ch12
1978Sequential Prophet-5
First polyphonic synthesizer with patch memory
ch17
1979"Stalker"
1979 Tarkovsky film with electronic score
ch07
1979Casio VL-1
Compact Casio keyboard with digital sounds
ch09
1979Eno's lecture "The Studio as Compositional Tool"
1979 lecture by Brian Eno on recording-studio composition
ch16
1979Fairlight
Australian maker of the Fairlight CMI
ch12 ch13
1979Fairlight CMI
Early digital sampling workstation
ch12 ch13
1979Sampling
Reusing recorded sound fragments in new music
ch02 interlude1 ch07 interlude2
1979Solid State Logic
British maker of studio consoles
ch21
1979SSL SL 4000 E
Studio mixing console by Solid State Logic
ch21
1979The Kitchen
New York experimental arts venue
ch16

1980s101

1980John Lennon
English musician, co-founder of The Beatles
ch16 ch24
1980Linn Electronics
Company of Roger Linn that made the LM-1
ch09 ch12
1980Linn LM-1
Drum machine using sampled drum sounds
ch09 ch12
1980Roger Linn
American designer of the LM-1 drum machine and MPC
ch09 ch12
1980Roland TR-808
Analog drum machine by Roland
interlude2 ch09 interlude3 ch10
1980Tadao Kikumoto
Japanese Roland engineer, designer of the TB-303 and TR-909
ch09 ch10
1981"Computer World" by Kraftwerk
1981 Kraftwerk album
ch08
1981Dave Smith
American founder of Sequential, co-creator of MIDI
ch14
1981David Cope
American composer, creator of EMI
ch27 interlude12
1981E-mu Emulator
Family of digital samplers by E-mu Systems
ch02
1981EMI / Emmy (David Cope)
David Cope's program composing in the style of classical composers
ch27 interlude12
1981MIDI
Standard protocol for connecting electronic instruments
ch09 ch14 ch15 interlude5
1981Roland Jupiter-8
Polyphonic analog synthesizer by Roland
ch10
1981Roland TB-303 Bass Line
Analog bass synthesizer with sequencer
ch10 ch11 ch18
1981Sequential Circuits
American synthesizer maker founded by Dave Smith
ch14
1982Afrika Bambaataa
American DJ, pioneer of hip-hop
ch08 ch09 ch12
1982Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock"
1982 electro-hop single
ch08 ch09 interlude3 ch12
1982Arthur Baker
American producer of electro and dance music
ch09 interlude3
1982Charanjit Singh
Indian musician, author of Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat
ch10
1982Charanjit Singh's "Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat"
1982 Indian album played on Roland machines
ch10
1982Commodore 64
1982 home computer with the SID sound chip
interlude2 ch16
1982Kachkanar (Formant plant)
Russian town where the Formant plant made Polivoks synthesizers
ch07
1982Marvin Gaye
American soul singer
ch09 interlude3
1982Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" on the 808
1982 single built around the TR-808
ch09 interlude3
1982Polivoks
Soviet analog synthesizer
ch07
1982The Haçienda (Manchester)
Manchester nightclub
interlude4
1982Thomas Dolby
British musician and technology entrepreneur
ch14
1982Trio's "Da Da Da" on the Casio VL-1
1982 German new-wave single using the VL-1
ch09
1982UK Musicians' Union campaign against drum machines and synthesizers
Union action in 1982 over electronic instruments replacing players
ch09 ch30
1982Vladimir Kuzmin
Russian rock singer and songwriter
ch07
1983Clavia
Swedish maker of Nord instruments
interlude2 interlude6
1983Depeche Mode
British synth-pop band
ch02 ch05
1983First MIDI connection at NAMM
1983 demonstration linking Sequential and Roland synthesizers
ch14
1983New Composers
Russian 1990s electronic pop group
ch07
1983Nintendo NES sound chip (APU)
Sound chip of the Nintendo Entertainment System
ch04
1983Oberheim
American synthesizer maker and its instruments
interlude1 ch06
1983Roland TR-909
Hybrid drum machine by Roland
ch09 ch10 ch18 interlude6
1983Sequential Prophet 600
First synthesizer with MIDI, by Sequential
ch14
1983Van Halen's "Jump"
1984 hit driven by an Oberheim synthesizer
interlude1
1983Yamaha DX7
FM digital synthesizer from 1983
ch15 ch16 interlude11 ch17
1984Def Jam
American hip-hop record label
ch12 ch31
1984Derrick May
American Detroit techno producer
ch09
1984Frankie Knuckles
American DJ, pioneer of house music
ch09
1984Karl Steinberg
German co-founder of Steinberg, developer of Cubase
ch16
1984Power Plant (Chicago)
Chicago music venue
ch09
1984Rick Rubin
American record producer, co-founder of Def Jam
ch12 ch31 ch33
1984Roland Juno-106
Polyphonic analog synthesizer by Roland
ch10
1984Steinberg
German music software company, maker of Cubase
ch16 interlude11 ch17
1985"Super Mario Bros." theme
1985 game music by Koji Kondo
ch04
1985Atari ST
1985 home computer with built-in MIDI ports
interlude2 ch13 ch14 ch16
1985First Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan
Beach party origin of the Thai Full Moon Party
interlude4
1985Koh Phangan
Thai island known for full moon parties
ch08 ch11 interlude4
1985Koji Kondo
Japanese composer of Nintendo game music
ch04
1985Sequential Prophet 2000
Sampler by Sequential Circuits
ch07
1985Sergey Kuryokhin
Soviet and Russian pianist, composer and avant-garde musician
ch07
1985Sound Designer
Early audio editing software by Digidesign
ch16
1986Akai
Japanese electronics and sampler maker
ch10 ch12 ch13 ch19
1986Akai S900 / S950 / S1000
Series of Akai digital samplers
ch13
1986Beastie Boys
American hip-hop group
interlude3 ch12 ch13 ch31
1986Beastie Boys' "Licensed to Ill"
1986 debut album by Beastie Boys
ch12
1986Run-DMC
American hip-hop group
ch12
1986Run-DMC and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way"
1986 rap-rock collaboration
ch12 ch31
1986Slayer's "Reign in Blood"
1986 thrash metal album produced by Rick Rubin
ch31
1986The Hub
American network-music ensemble
ch23
1987"Tom's Diner" as an MP3 test
Suzanne Vega's a cappella song used to tune MP3 encoding
interlude7
1987C-Lab / Emagic
German music software companies behind Notator and Logic
ch16 ch20
1987C-Lab Creator / Notator
MIDI sequencers for Atari ST, predecessors of Logic
ch16 ch20
1987Cakewalk
Digital audio workstation for Windows
ch14
1987Clocktower
New York art venue
ch23
1987Danny Rampling
British DJ, figure of the UK acid house scene
ch10 interlude4
1987DJ Pierre
American house DJ, co-creator of Acid Tracks
ch10
1987Fraunhofer Institute
German research institute that developed MP3
interlude7
1987Gerhard Lengeling
German developer of Notator and Logic
ch16
1987Greg Hendershott
American synthesizer industry figure linked to early MIDI
ch14
1987Ibiza
Spanish island known for club culture
interlude4
1987Karlheinz Brandenburg
German engineer, father of the MP3
interlude7
1987MP3
Lossy audio compression format
ch19 interlude7 interlude9 ch27
1987Paul Oakenfold
British DJ and producer
ch07 ch11 interlude4
1987Phuture
Chicago house trio behind Acid Tracks
ch10
1987Phuture's "Acid Tracks"
1987 track that defined acid house
ch10
1987Ron Hardy
American Chicago house DJ
ch10
1987Shoom
London acid house club
ch10
1987Sound Blaster / AdLib (OPL FM chip)
PC sound cards using Yamaha OPL FM chips
ch14 ch15 interlude11
1987Suzanne Vega
American singer-songwriter, author of Tom's Diner
interlude7
1987Trax Records
Chicago house record label
ch10
1988Akai MPC
Sampler and drum pad workstation
ch12 ch19
1988Chris Adam
German co-founder of C-Lab, developer of Creator
ch16
1988Korg M1
Digital workstation synthesizer from 1988
ch15 interlude11 ch20
1988Second Summer of Love
1988-89 British acid house and rave boom
ch10
1989Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique"
1989 album built on dense sampling
ch13
1989Berlin
Capital of Germany
ch02 interlude1 interlude4 ch17
1989Cubase
Digital audio workstation by Steinberg
interlude2 ch10 ch14 ch16
1989De La Soul
American hip-hop group
ch13
1989De La Soul's "3 Feet High and Rising"
1989 debut album of De La Soul
ch13
1989Depeche Mode's "Violator"
1990 synth-pop album
ch02
1989Dr. Motte
German DJ, co-founder of Love Parade
interlude4
1989Love Parade
Berlin-born techno street parade
interlude4
1989Milli Vanilli
German-American pop duo, stripped of a Grammy over lip-syncing
ch28
1989Milli Vanilli scandal
1990 lip-syncing scandal that cost the duo a Grammy
ch28
1989Orbital (Phil and Paul Hartnoll)
British electronic duo
ch32
1989Roland W-30
Sampling workstation by Roland
ch10

1990s87

1990Bogdan Titomir
Russian pop and rap performer of the 1990s
ch07
1990Car-Men
Russian 1990s pop group
ch07
1990Dr. Alban
Nigerian-Swedish Eurodance artist
interlude2
1990Frank Farian
German producer of Boney M. and Milli Vanilli
interlude2 ch28
1990Liam Howlett
British producer, founder of The Prodigy
ch10 ch15
1990The Prodigy
British electronic group
ch10 ch13
1991Biz Markie
American rapper and DJ
ch12 ch28
1991Digidesign
American maker of Pro Tools
ch16
1991General MIDI
Standard set of instrument sounds for MIDI
ch14
1991Grand Upright v. Warner (Biz Markie case)
1991 US court ruling against unlicensed sampling
ch12 ch28
1991Peter Gotcher
American co-founder of Digidesign
ch16
1991Pro Tools
Professional digital audio workstation
ch16
1992Castlemorton rave
Large free rave in England in 1992
ch10
1992Cheiron Studios
Stockholm pop production studio
interlude2
1992Denniz Pop (Dag Volle)
Swedish producer, founder of Cheiron Studios
interlude2
1992Waves
Israeli audio plug-in company
ch17
1992Waves Q10 / L1
Early plug-ins by Waves, an equalizer and a limiter
ch17
1993Logic / Logic Pro
Digital audio workstation, now by Apple
ch16 ch20 ch25 ch29
1994Autechre
British electronic music duo
ch10
1994Autechre "Anti EP"
1994 EP released in protest at the UK rave law
ch10
1994Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
UK law that restricted raves
ch10
1994Ernst Nathorst-Böös
Swedish music industry executive
ch18
1994Johnny Cash
American country singer
ch31
1994Johnny Cash's "American Recordings"
1994 album produced by Rick Rubin
ch31
1994Orbital at Glastonbury
1994 live set at Glastonbury Festival
ch32
1994Pioneer CDJ
Line of DJ CD and media players
ch19
1994Pioneer DJ / AlphaTheta
Japanese DJ equipment maker
prologue ch19
1994Propellerhead / Reason Studios
Swedish music software company
interlude2 ch13 ch18 interlude6
1994ReCycle
Software for slicing audio loops
ch18
1994TIP Records
British psytrance record label
ch11
1994Warp Records
British electronic music label
ch10
1994Yamaha XG
Yamaha's extended General MIDI standard and sound cards
ch14 ch15 interlude11 ch29
1995"Now and Then" — the last Beatles song
2023 Beatles release completed with AI stem separation
ch24
1995Clavia Nord Lead
Virtual analog synthesizer by Clavia
interlude2 ch10 interlude6
1995Cleo Odzer
American anthropologist and author on Goa
interlude4
1995Dieter Doepfer
German founder of Doepfer, creator of the Eurorack format
ch20
1995Doepfer
German maker of modular synthesizers
ch20
1995Eurorack (Doepfer A-100)
Modular synthesizer format introduced by Doepfer
ch20 ch22
1995Generative music
Music produced by systems with rules or chance
ch22 ch31
1995Hallucinogen
Psytrance project of Simon Posford
ch11
1995Loudness war
Trend of making recordings ever louder
interlude8
1995Oasis' "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?"
1995 album noted in the loudness war debate
interlude8
1995Simon Posford
British psytrance producer (Hallucinogen, Shpongle)
ch11
1995SSEYO Koan
Early generative music software
ch22
1995Virtual analog
Digital emulation of analog synthesizers
interlude2 interlude6
1995Windows 95 startup sound
Startup chime composed by Brian Eno
ch22
1996"Generative Music 1" on floppy disk
1996 Eno release of generative music on a floppy disk
ch22
1996James McCartney
American creator of SuperCollider
ch23
1996Line 6
American maker of amp-modeling equipment
ch03
1996Native Instruments
German music software and hardware company
ch17 interlude6 ch19
1996Native Instruments Generator / Reaktor
Modular software synthesis environments
ch19
1996ReBirth RB-338
Software emulation of TB-303 and TR-808/909 by Propellerhead
ch13 ch18
1996SuperCollider
Programming language for audio synthesis
ch23
1996VST (Virtual Studio Technology)
Plug-in standard by Steinberg
ch17 ch18
1997"Bitter Sweet Symphony" dispute
Copyright dispute over a sample in a 1997 The Verve song
ch13
1997Access Music
German synthesizer maker of the Virus
ch03 ch11 interlude6
1997Access Virus
Virtual analog synthesizer by Access
ch03 ch11 interlude6
1997Andy Hildebrand
American engineer, inventor of Auto-Tune
ch30
1997Antares Audio Technologies
Maker of Auto-Tune
ch30
1997Arguru (Juan Antonio Argüelles Rius)
Spanish trance producer
ch11 interlude6
1997Auto-Tune
Pitch-correction software by Antares
ch30
1997BOOM Festival
Psytrance festival held in Portugal
ch11 interlude4
1997Dance eJay
Loop-based music creation software
ch13
1997FL Studio (FruityLoops)
Digital audio workstation by Image-Line
ch11 ch17
1997Image-Line
Belgian maker of FL Studio
ch11 ch17
1997Jeskola Buzz
Modular software tracker and music program
ch11
1997Moses Pelham
German producer and rapper
ch13
1997Peter Neubäcker
German founder of Celemony, creator of Melodyne
ch24
1997Roland JP-8000 (Supersaw)
Virtual analog synthesizer known for the Supersaw
interlude1 interlude2
1997The Verve
British rock band
ch13
1998"Music Sounds Better with You" (Stardust)
1998 French house single
ch21
1998Cher
American singer and actress
ch30
1998Cher's "Believe" and the Cher effect
1998 hit that popularized audible pitch correction
ch28 ch30
1998Elektron
Swedish maker of electronic music instruments
interlude2
1998Line 6 POD
Guitar amp-modeling device
ch03
1998ReWire
Protocol for linking audio applications
ch18
1998Thomas Bangalter
French musician, member of Daft Punk
ch08 ch21 ch31 ch32
1999"Livin' la Vida Loca" — first #1 hit mixed entirely in Pro Tools
1999 Ricky Martin hit mixed in Pro Tools
ch16
1999Ableton
Berlin-based music software company
prologue ch19 ch20 ch25
1999Chris Barton
American co-founder of Shazam
ch24
1999Darude (Ville Virtanen)
Finnish DJ and producer, author of Sandstorm
interlude2
1999Darude's "Sandstorm"
1999 Finnish trance single
interlude2
1999Elektron SidStation
Synthesizer built on the Commodore 64 SID chip
interlude2
1999Gerhard Behles
German co-founder of Ableton
ch20
1999Kraftwerk v. Pelham ("Metall auf Metall")
Long-running German sampling lawsuit over a two-second rhythm
ch13
1999Robert Henke
German electronic musician, co-creator of Ableton Live
ch20
1999Shazam
Music recognition service
ch24

2000s55

2000Celemony
German maker of Melodyne
ch24
2000PPK (Sergey Pimenov and Alexander Polyakov)
Russian trance duo
ch07
2000PPK's "ResuRection"
2000 trance single by PPK
ch07
2000Reason
Digital audio workstation by Propellerhead
ch18 ch25 ch29
2000Traktor
DJ software by Native Instruments
ch19
2000Virtual DJ / AtomixMP3
DJ software
ch19
2001Ableton Live
Digital audio workstation for live performance
prologue ch19 ch20 ch25
2001Daft Punk
French electronic duo
ch08 ch21 interlude8 ch24
2001iZotope
American audio software company
ch19 ch25
2001iZotope Ozone / Neutron
AI-assisted mixing and mastering plug-ins
ch19 ch25
2001Mark Ethier
Co-founder of iZotope
ch25
2001Melodyne
Pitch and note editing software by Celemony
ch24
2002Apple
American technology company
ch16 ch20 ch23 ch24
2002Final Scratch
Early DJ vinyl-control system
ch19
2002Kontakt
Sampler software by Native Instruments
ch19
2002Kosmicare
Psychedelic support service at BOOM Festival
interlude4
2002Minimoog Voyager
Analog synthesizer by Moog Music, 2002
ch06
2002Richie Hawtin
British-Canadian techno DJ and producer
ch19
2003Avery Wang
American engineer, creator of Shazam's audio fingerprinting
ch24
2003ChucK
Programming language for real-time audio
ch23
2003Ge Wang
Chinese-American creator of ChucK
ch23
2004Eric Prydz
Swedish DJ and producer
ch13 interlude8
2004Euclidean rhythms
Rhythms spaced by the Euclidean algorithm
ch22 ch27
2004GarageBand
Apple's consumer music creation app
ch20
2004Godfried Toussaint
Canadian computer scientist, described Euclidean rhythms
ch22
2004Live coding
Performing music by writing code in real time
ch23 ch29 ch33
2004Serato
New Zealand DJ software company
ch19
2004Serato Scratch Live
DJ vinyl-control software
ch19
2004TOPLAP manifesto
2004 manifesto of the live-coding community
ch23
2004Vocaloid
Singing voice synthesis software
interlude11 ch27
2005"Axel F" ringtone (Crazy Frog) tops the UK chart
2005 ringtone-based single reaching number one in the UK
ch05 ch14
2005Bridgeport v. Dimension Films
2005 US ruling on sampling of sound recordings
ch13
2005Teenage Engineering
Swedish electronics design company
interlude2
2006Christoph Kemper
German inventor of the Kemper Profiler
ch03 ch11
2006J Dilla
American hip-hop producer
ch12 ch29
2006J Dilla's "Donuts"
2006 instrumental hip-hop album
ch12
2006Monome
Minimalist grid controllers for music
ch20
2006Spotify
Swedish music streaming service
interlude2 interlude8 ch31 interlude13
2007Crypton Future Media
Japanese company behind Hatsune Miku
ch27
2007Hatsune Miku
Virtual singer built on Vocaloid software
interlude11 ch27
2007Native Instruments Massive
Software synthesizer by Native Instruments
ch17 ch19
2007Soulja Boy's "Crank That" made in FL Studio
2007 hit produced in FL Studio
ch17
2008Bloom (Eno's app)
Generative music app by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers
ch22
2008Hohle Fels
Cave in Germany where an ancient flute was found
ch01 epilogue
2008Hohle Fels flute
Roughly 40,000-year-old flute found in a German cave
ch01 epilogue
2008Kanye West
American rapper and producer
ch09 interlude3 ch30
2008Kanye West's "808s & Heartbreak"
2008 album built on the 808 and Auto-Tune
ch09 ch30
2008Metallica's "Death Magnetic"
2008 album noted in the loudness war debate
interlude8
2009Alex McLean
British creator of TidalCycles
ch23
2009Bitwig
Berlin-based music software company
ch20 ch21
2009Death Cab for Cutie protests Auto-Tune at the Grammys
2009 protest against Auto-Tune at the Grammy Awards
ch30
2009Maschine
Groove production hardware and software by Native Instruments
ch19
2009Max / Max for Live
Visual programming environment for music
ch20 ch22
2009rekordbox
DJ music management software by Pioneer DJ
ch19
2009TidalCycles
Live-coding language for patterns
ch23

2010s51

2011"Levels" by Avicii
2011 electronic dance single
ch17
2011Avicii (Tim Bergling)
Swedish DJ and producer
ch17
2011Kemper Profiler
Amp profiling device
ch03
2011Teenage Engineering OP-1
Portable synthesizer and sampler
interlude2
2012Burning Man
Annual festival in the Nevada desert
ch19
2012deadmau5
Canadian electronic music producer
interlude4 ch17 ch19 ch31
2012First Algorave in London
First event of live-coded dance music in London
ch23 ch29 ch33
2012LANDR (MixGenius)
Canadian AI mastering service
ch18 ch25 interlude9
2012Rack Extensions
Plug-in format of Propellerhead Reason
ch18
2012Robin Dunbar
British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist
ch32
2012Sam Aaron
British creator of Sonic Pi
ch23
2012Sonic Pi
Live-coding music environment
ch23
2013Ableton Push
Hardware controller for Ableton Live
ch20
2013Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook)
British DJ and big beat producer
ch13
2014Bitwig Studio
Digital audio workstation by Bitwig
ch20 ch21
2014KKR
American investment firm
ch19
2014Moog Sub 37
Analog synthesizer by Moog Music
interlude6 ch20
2014Roland TR-08 / TR-8
Modern Roland recreations of classic drum machines
interlude3
2014Ryan Maguire
Person mentioned in the book in the context of music and copyright
interlude7
2014Steve Duda
American producer and sound designer, deadmau5 collaborator
ch17 ch31
2014Warner Music
Major record label
ch24 ch28
2014Wavetable synthesis
Synthesis by scanning stored waveforms
ch17
2014Xfer Records
Maker of the Serum synthesizer
ch17
2014Xfer Serum
Wavetable software synthesizer
ch17 ch31
2015Dennis DeSantis
American author and Ableton staff member
ch20
2015Jonathan Basile
American creator of the online Library of Babel
ch33
2015Splice
Sample library and music creation platform
ch13
2016Ableton Link
Technology for syncing tempo across devices
ch19 ch20
2016DeepBach
Neural network that generates Bach-style chorales
interlude12
2016Google / DeepMind
American technology company and its AI lab
ch27 interlude12 ch29
2016Google Magenta
Google research project on machine learning for music and art
ch27
2016Sony
Japanese electronics and entertainment company
interlude12 ch28
2017Adam Neely
American bassist and YouTube music educator
ch32
2017Andrew Belt
American developer of VCV Rack
ch20
2017Cycling '74
Maker of the Max programming environment
ch20
2017MP3 patents expire
2017 end of licensing for the MP3 format
interlude7
2017Perfect Fit Content on Spotify
Spotify program of commissioned background music
interlude13
2017Shooting at the BPM Festival in Playa del Carmen
January 2017 shooting at an electronic music festival in Mexico
interlude4
2017Transformers (neural networks)
Neural network architecture used in modern AI
ch27
2017VCV Rack
Open-source virtual modular synthesizer
ch20
2018Behringer
German-founded maker of affordable audio gear
ch06 ch07
2018Behringer Model D
Affordable Minimoog-style analog synthesizer
ch06 ch07
2018Tracklib
Platform for licensing samples
ch13
2019Coconet (Bach Doodle)
Google neural model behind the Bach Doodle
interlude12
2019Deezer
French music streaming service
ch24 ch28 ch31
2019Denon DJ
Japanese DJ equipment brand
ch19
2019Denon Prime / Engine DJ
Standalone DJ equipment and software by Denon DJ
ch19
2019Google Doodle honoring Bach
2019 interactive Doodle harmonizing melodies in Bach's style
interlude12
2019Neural Amp Modeler (NAM)
Open-source neural amp-modeling software
ch03
2019Stem separation (Spleeter, Demucs)
AI separation of a mix into vocals, drums and other parts
ch24 interlude9
2019Steven Atkinson
Developer of Neural Amp Modeler
ch03

2020s39

2020All the Music project (Damien Riehl)
Project generating every possible melody to challenge copyright
ch33
2020Damien Riehl
American lawyer and musician, creator of All the Music
ch33
2020MIDI 2.0
Updated MIDI standard
ch14 interlude5 ch17
2020OpenAI
American AI research company
ch27
2020OpenAI Jukebox
OpenAI neural network generating music with vocals
ch27
2021Peter Jackson
New Zealand film director
ch24
2022ABBA
Swedish pop group
interlude2 ch31 interlude13
2022ABBA Voyage
London concert show with digital avatars of ABBA
interlude2 ch31
2022Riffusion
AI music generator based on spectrogram images
ch27
2022Strudel
Browser-based live-coding environment
ch23
2023"Heart on My Sleeve" (Ghostwriter)
2023 viral song with AI-cloned voices
ch30
2023Anderson Cooper
American television journalist
ch31
2023Bark (Suno)
Suno's open text-to-audio model
ch27
2023De La Soul catalog arrives on streaming
Release of the long-unavailable catalog on streaming services
ch13
2023Google MusicLM
Google text-to-music AI model
ch27
2023Mayan Warrior burns in Mexico
Fire destroyed the art-car sound stage in Mexico
ch19
2023Meta
American technology company
ch24 ch27 ch28
2023Meta MusicGen
Meta text-to-music AI model
ch27 ch28
2023Microsoft
American technology company
ch22 ch27
2023Pink Floyd song reconstructed from brain activity
Study reconstructing "Another Brick in the Wall" from recordings
epilogue
2023Reconstructing music from brain activity
Decoding heard music from brain recordings
ch01 epilogue
2023Rick Rubin on "60 Minutes"
TV interview with Rick Rubin
ch31
2023Suno
AI music generation service
prologue ch27 ch28 ch29
2024Johan Röhr
Swedish producer linked to Spotify's ghost artists
interlude13
2024Labels' (RIAA) lawsuits against Suno and Udio
2024 copyright lawsuits against AI music services
ch28
2024Live Nation
American live-entertainment company
interlude4
2024Liz Pelly
Australian-American music journalist, author on Spotify
interlude13
2024RIAA
US recording industry trade association
ch28
2024Suno v3: songs up to four minutes
2024 release of Suno's third model version
ch27
2024Udio
AI music generation service
ch27 ch28
2024Universal Music
Major record label
ch28 ch30
2025Anthropic
American AI company
ch31
2025Google Lyria RealTime
Google real-time music generation model
ch29
2025Label settlements with Udio and Suno
Settlements and licensing deals between labels and AI music services
ch28
2025Rick Rubin's "The Way of Code"
Project by Rick Rubin
ch31
2025The Velvet Sundown
AI-generated band that drew attention in 2025
ch31
2026GEMA
German music rights collecting society
ch28
2026GEMA v. Suno in the Munich court
German rights society lawsuit against Suno
ch28
2026inMusic
American music technology group, owner of Akai and others
ch19