"All instruments are inventions and all music is made up -- so make your own using microcontrollers," writes Helen Leigh in Volume 76 of Make Magazine, encouraging people to create and invent musical instruments, as she has.

In this conversation with Helen Leigh, we learn about her upbringing in Wales, how she first learned about electronics at a makerspace in London, why she objects to call herself "self-taught" and her new lab in Portland Oregon. She came from a family that consumed lots of music and her early musical experiences were singing choral music in church in Wales. Her work today still bears the influences of sounds of the high church of her childhood. We talk about why harpsichords went of out fashion and how electronic music got started with pioneers such as Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire.

We talk about technology from reel-to-reel tape recorders to synthesizers and to making electronic music with Makey-Makey and the Bela board. Helen is an advocate for people learning how to make their own instruments, to experiment with music and be makers of your own kind of music.

https://makezine.com/2021/03/24/making-new-music-with-helen-leigh

https://make.co/make-cast/