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In the mid-15th\xa0century, France was ruled by Louis XI, otherwise known as \u201cLouis the Prudent\u201d...but he was always known as \u201cLouis the Cunning\u201d and \u201cThe Universal Spider\u201d because he was always spinning plots and looking for conspiracies...when it came to dissent and wars, he was a brutal sort...\nBeing a despot is hard work and sometimes you need cheering up...that\u2019s why he challenged Abbe De Baigne, a builder of things, to create a brand new musical instrument for his amusement...\nThe result was the piganino, a keyboard that required a number of pigs of varying sizes...each was laid out on a flat surface, smallest to largest...above the hind end of each pig was a spike connected to a piano-like keyboard...by pressing a key, the corresponding pig would be spiked, resulting in an oink of a certain note...it was thus possible to play a tune by poking the pig...\nIt didn\u2019t sound very good, but it worked and Louis XI found it very funny...the pigs did not...\nMusic and technology have always had an interesting relationship...sometimes it\u2019s harmonious and wonderfully...other times\u2014like with the piganino\u2014there\u2019s a hideous clash... ...however, the piganino, invented 600 years ago, was the forerunner of future music-related technologies like sample, sequencing, and synthesis...the tech\u2014or at least some of the concepts\u2014would eventually win out...\nIf we step back and look at the history of science, math, and engineering and the practice of creating the art music, we\u2019ll see that every time the two intersect, technology almost always comes out the winner...and that\u2019s okay...\nSomething that seems radical, evil, transgressive, impure, and corrupting turns out to be a pretty good deal and music is the better for it...\nHere are some stories about the clashes between tech and music...I\u2019ll lay out the facts and you decide if these were good things or bad...\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices