In 1979 engineer Hugh Padgham discovered "gated reverb" – by accident
Summary
Engineer Hugh Padgham accidentally discovered the gated reverb effect in 1979, which became a hallmark of 1980s drum sounds.
Similar Articles
How to Follow a Drummer
A technical blog post describing the development of a real-time system that follows a drummer by estimating tempo and phase from drum hits using a phase-locked loop, enabling the software to adapt to human feel instead of forcing the drummer to follow a machine.
Skred (self-created sound engine) as an effects box
A video demonstrates a GUI front end experiment that uses the Skred sound engine as an audio effects processor, with a design inspired by the Korg DW-8000 digital delay line. The project is MIT-licensed open source on GitHub.
SoundGate Guitar
SoundGate Guitar is an AI music tutor that provides real-time feedback on guitar playing.
The Age of the Amplifier
The article explores how Bell Labs' pursuit of better amplifiers led to transformative inventions like the vacuum tube, transistor, and laser, which became foundational to modern electronics and computing.
IBM MCGA Gate Array Reverse Engineering
This project reverse engineers IBM's MCGA gate arrays used in PS/2 models 25 and 30, revealing detailed schematics and new features such as genlock capability and undocumented registers.