Turntables

As often happens throughout humanity's scientific endeavors, one thing leads to another, often producing a technology that had an end result extremely far removed from the experimenter's initial intentions. The modern day turntable, a device that was commonly used as a way to listen to recorded sounds such as voice and music and has now become a musical instrument in and of itself, started out as a scientific curiosity.

The turntable moved through many forms, producing wonder along with sounds, eventually becoming nearly obsolete through other advancements in audio technology, such as the DVD and the MP3, saved from obsolescence by fans of retro technology as well as innovative uses by the hip-hop industry.

From Phonautograph To Funk

The earliest forms of turntables were known as "phonautographs" and were designed only to record sound in a visible manner; they were incapable of playing sounds back from these recordings. By attaching a bristle to a device that would move when introduced to the vibration of sound funneled by a horn, the phonautograph would sketch out a line or wave that would represent the sound. From this humble beginning came the phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison on November 21st 1877. This talking machine caused quite a stir, and eventually evolved into the modern day record player.

Music