Music lost its body. MP3 turned sound into a file, and Napster allowed it to be transferred instantly. The era of physical media began to crumble, opening the way to infinite access.
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The MP3 format used psychoacoustics, removing from music what the human ear does not hear to reduce file size by 10 times. Napster turned the sharing of these files into a global phenomenon.
This killed the concept of the album and the physical medium. Music became a 'stream' and data, available instantly. The economic collapse of the recording industry paradoxically led to a flourishing of musical diversity: access to any music in the world was just a click away.
node.music - an interactive map of the history of electronic sound
From the Telharmonium, which streamed sound over telephone wires at the end of the 19th century, to music written by AI.
Scroll down - that is how you move through time in a straight line. The [INFLUENCE] mode in the top menu shows connections: who begat whom and how concepts shaped each other. To explore the influences deeper, switch to [HORIZON VIEW].
The site makes sound - and you can even play on those sounds. If the sound gets in the way, just turn it off in the top menu.
Black lines are direct links: technology, descent, founding, rivalry.Grey lines are looser: ideas, techniques, collaborations.Hover over a line to see what it connects.
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node.music
Interactive timeline of electronic music history, from the 200-ton Telharmonium (1897) to neural audio.
> SEARCH — Find an event by title or author
> TAP — Tap on a card to learn details
> LISTEN — Listen to music and watch videos
CSOUND // LIVE_LAPTOP_ORCHESTRA
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SONIC // LAB
INTERACTIVE FEEDBACK ENGINE
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CLICK / PLAY / WATCH / NOISE / SWEEP — SYSTEM SOUNDS. CLOSING STOPS AUDIO.
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// SYSTEM: TELEMETRY[ACTIVE]
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