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Welcome to digital Audio Encyclopedia online resource. This is the knowledge base for:

• Sound designers
• Music producers
• Pro sound makers
• Music funs

A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making music. In principle anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The expression, however, is reserved generally for items that have a specific musical purpose. The academic study of musical instruments is called organology.

Some examples of instruments are - trumpet, bassoon, trombone, flute, clarinet, piccolo, saxophone, violin, viola, violoncello, piano, guitar, bass, flute, koto, sitar, bagpipe, drum, xylophone, pipe organ, theremin, synthesizer, aeolian harp, etc.

The most commonly used system in use in the west today divides instruments into string instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments. However other ones have been devised, and some cultures also use different schemes.

The oldest known scheme of classifying instruments is Chinese and dates from the 4th century BC. It groups instruments according to what they are made out of. All instruments made out of stone are in one group, all those made out of wood in another, those made out of silk are in a third, and so on.

More usually, instruments are classified according to how the sound is initially produced (regardless of post-processing, i.e. an electric guitar is still a string-instrument regardless of what analog or digital/computational post-processing effects pedals may be used with it).

• Wind instruments generate a sound when a column of air is made to vibrate inside them. The frequency of the wave generated is related to the length of the column of air and the shape of the instrument, while the tone quality of the sound generated is affected by the construction of the instrument and method of tone production. The group is typically subdivided into Brass, like the trumpet, and Woodwind instruments, such as the clarinet, bagpipes and flute.

• Lamellaphones create a sound by the plucking of lamellas made from different materials (metal, raphia etc.). These Instruments are tunable, so they do not belong to the idiophones. An example is the Mbira.

• Percussion instruments create sound, with or without pitch, when struck. The shape and material of the part of the instrument to be struck and the shape of the resonating cavity, if any, determine the sound of the instrument. Examples: drums, bells and cymbals.

• String instruments generate a sound when the string is plucked, strummed, slapped, etc. The frequency of the wave generated (and therefore the note produced) usually depends on the length of the vibrating portion of the string, its linear density (mass per unit length of string), the tension of each string and the point at which the string is excited; the tone quality varies with the construction of the resonating cavity. Examples: guitars, violins and sitars.

• Voice, that is, the human voice, is an instrument in its own right. A singer generates sounds when airflow from the lungs sets the vocal cords into oscillation. The fundamental frequency is controlled by the tension of the vocal cords and the tone quality by the formation of the vocal tract; a wide range of sounds can be created.

• Electronic instruments generate sound through electronic means. They often mimic other instruments in their design, particularly keyboards, drums and guitars. Examples: synthesizers and theremins.

• Keyboard instruments are any instruments that are played with a musical keyboard. Every key generates one or more sounds; most keyboard instruments have extra means (pedals for a piano, stops for an organ) to manipulate these sounds. They may produce sound by wind (organ), vibrating strings either hammered (piano) or plucked (harpsichord), by electronic means (synthesizer) or in some other way. Sometimes, instruments that do not usually have a keyboard, such as the Glockenspiel, are fitted with one. This term is also used to refer to the family of percussion instruments who resemble a piano keyboard. Though they have no moving parts and are struck by mallets held in the player’s hands, they possess the same physical arrangement of keys and produce soundwaves in a similar manner.

• Folk instruments a folk instrument is a musical instrument that developed amongst people, doesn’t have a known inventor and is used in the folk music.

All classes of instruments save the electronic are mentioned in ancient sources, such as Egyptian inscriptions,the Bible and the many thousand year old Hindu Vedas, and probably predate recorded history. The human body, generating both vocal and percussive sounds, may have been the first instrument. Percussion instruments such as stones and hollow logs are another likely candidate. For instance, nine-thousand-year-old bone flutes or recorders have been found in Chinese archeological sites.

A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound, and can somehow be controlled by a musician, can serve as a musical instrument. The expression, however, is reserved generally to items that have a specific musical purpose. The academic study of musical instruments is called organology.

Full list of music instruments

Cultures ... *from our wiki

• African instruments
• Austrian instruments
• Celtic instruments
• Chinese instruments
• Cuban instruments
• Eastern european instruments
• Greek instruments
• Indian instruments
• Middle Eastern instruments

• http://www.armenianinstruments.am
• http://www.duduk.com
• http://www.duduk.co.uk
• http://www.worldmusicalinstruments.com