electrophone

Term for mus. instr. which produce sound by electronic means, either by oscillation or by electromagnetic or electrostatic methods. Does not cover instr. in which tone is conventionally produced and then electronically modified (e.g. electric guitar, piano, double bass). Classification added to four devised by C. Sachs and E. M. von Hornbostel and pubd. in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1914, i.e. aerophones, chordophones, idiophones, and membranophones.