1970 – The Mini-Moog synthesizer became one of the first widely obtainable portable synthesizers at an affordable price range for the public which also became one of the most widely used synthesizers in popular music at the time. Invented by Robert Moog, this electronic keyboard had multiple functional capabilities that became widely used by popular artists such as Herbie Hancock, Steve Wonder, ABBA and more.
1971 – John Chowning became his research on frequency modulation synthesis (FM Synthesis) at Stanford University. His research was later bought out by the Yamaha Corporation in Japan in 1975 for the beginning of the development of their first Yamaha Synthesizer that was first mass produced and released in 1980. Yamaha’s researchers used Chowning’s research in their developments to implement a “scaling method” to avoid distortion when beginning the process of frequency modulation.
1972 – A failed attempt of a break-in of the Democratic National Convention headquarters in Washington D.C. led to the Watergate Scandal. This was through the involvement of the President Richard Nixon re-election committee which led to his resignation of his second term as president of the United States in 1974.
1975 – As Gerald Ford becomes the President of the United States after President Richard Nixon’s resignation after the Watergate Scandal, President Ford issues a release of troops from Vietnam. Afterwards, the North Vietnam invasion of Saigon led to an emergency evacuation of United States civilians as well as South Vietnamese refugees over an 18-hour evacuation period. Later, the two sides of Vietnam merge into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, ending the Vietnam War.
1976 – Horn Call by Dr. Randall E. Faust for Horn and Electronic Media – First premiered at the Electronic Music Plus Festival at the University of Maryland in 1979, this work explores the manipulation of timbre and echoes of the French horn reflected towards the fixed media.
1978 – The first video game to have a background sound track was composed and written by Tomohiro Nishikado in the game Space Invader. Though this score was very simplistic, with it only having a four-note bass tone on a continuous loop, the intensity of the scoring sped up and slowed down based on the interactions of the player throughout the story line.
1979 – Fantastie for Horns II by Hildegard Westerkamp for horn and fixed media – this work is written a little easier than most standard works for horn and electronics or fixed media, but rather than a metered or fixed score, this work is written based upon a chronometric score, where the composition follows throughout the chronologically timeline of the work not only showing the horn part, but the sketches of the entire work’s electronic accompaniments and free form stylings that make the works unique.