Editing Kraftwerk (section)

=== Technological innovations ===
Throughout their career, Kraftwerk have pushed the limits of [[music technology]] with some notable innovations, such as home-made instruments and custom-built devices. The group has always perceived their Kling Klang Studio as a complex music instrument, as well as a sound laboratory; Florian Schneider in particular developed a fascination with music technology, with the result that the technical aspects of sound generation and recording gradually became his main fields of activity within the band.<ref name="Bussy" />{{page needed|date=April 2019}}  Alexei Monroe called Kraftwerk the "first successful artists to incorporate representations of [[Industrial music|industrial]] sounds into non-academic electronic music".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Monroe |first=Alexei |title=Interrogation Machine: Laibach and NSK |publisher=Cambridge: The MIT Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/interrogationmac0000monr/page/212 212] |year=2005 |isbn=0-262-63315-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/interrogationmac0000monr/page/212 }}</ref>
[[File:Kraftwerk Vocoder custom made in early1970s.JPG|thumb|Early 1970s vocoder, custom-built for Kraftwerk]]

Kraftwerk used a custom-built [[vocoder]] on their albums ''[[Ralf und Florian]]'' and ''Autobahn''; the device was constructed by engineers P. Leunig and K. Obermayer of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kraftwerk Vocoder (Barth / Leunig) sold: $12,500 |url=http://www.sequencer.de/blog/?p=843 |website=Sequencer.de |access-date=14 December 2012 |date=25 June 2006 |archive-date=29 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329051751/http://www.sequencer.de/blog/?p=843 |url-status=live }}</ref> Hütter and Schneider received a patent for an [[electronic drum kit]] with sensor pads, filed in July 1975 and issued in June 1977.<ref name="aktivitaet-fanzine1" /> It must be hit with metal sticks, which are connected to the device to complete a circuit that triggers analog synthetic percussion sounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-zX6QkdQ30 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/D-zX6QkdQ30| archive-date=30 October 2021|title='Tomorrow's world' (1976 TV performance) |publisher=YouTube |date=23 January 2008 |access-date=14 December 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The band first performed in public with this device in 1973, on the television program ''Aspekte'' (on the all-German channel [[ZDF|Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen]]), where it was played by Wolfgang Flür.<ref>Flür, Wolfgang (2001). "Kraftwerk": I Was A Robot. Sanctuary Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-86074-417-4}}.</ref> They created drum machines for ''Autobahn'' and ''Trans-Europe Express''.<ref>Reynolds, Simon. "Generation Ecstasy". Routledge. 2013.</ref>

On the ''Radio-Activity'' tour in 1976 Kraftwerk tested out an experimental light-beam-activated drum cage allowing Flür to trigger electronic percussion through arm and hand movements. Unfortunately, the device did not work as planned, and it was quickly abandoned.<ref name="aktivitaet-fanzine1">{{cite web |url=http://www.aktivitaet-fanzine.com/10_kk0.html |title=Aktivitaet Online – Archive – General articles – Kling Klang: The Electronic Garden |website=Aktivitaet-fanzine.com |access-date=14 December 2012 |archive-date=12 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312160256/http://www.aktivitaet-fanzine.com/10_kk0.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The same year Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider commissioned [[Bonn]]-based "Synthesizerstudio Bonn, Matten & Wiechers" to design and build the Synthanorma Sequenzer with Intervallomat, a 4×8 / 2×16 / 1×32 step-sequencer system with some features that commercial products couldn't provide at that time.<ref name="aktivitaet-fanzine1" /> The [[music sequencer]] was used by the band for the first time to control the electronic sources creating the rhythmic sound of the album ''Trans-Europe Express''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elektropolis.de/synthanorma.pdf|website=Elektropolis.de|title=Synthanorma Sequenzer – description by D. Matten|access-date=14 December 2012|archive-date=6 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806212737/http://www.elektropolis.de/synthanorma.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since 2002, Kraftwerk's live performances have been conducted with the use of virtual technology (i.e. software replicating and replacing original analogue or digital equipment). According to [[Fritz Hilpert]], "the mobility of music technology and the reliability of the notebooks and software have greatly simplified the realization of complex touring setups: we generate all sounds on the laptops in real time and manipulate them with controller maps. It takes almost no time to get our compact stage system set up for performance. [...] This way, we can bring our Kling-Klang Studio with us on stage. The physical light weight of our equipment also translates into an enormous ease of use when working with software synthesizers and sound processors. Every tool imaginable is within immediate reach or just a few mouse clicks away on the Internet."<ref>Interview: ''The Future Is Virtual – Music Tech Talk With Fritz Hilpert'', Sounds & Performance magazine, 2009</ref>