Hornbostel–Sachs

Hornbostel–Sachs taxonomy

Musical instruments classified by how they produce sound — from the five abstract families down through ever more particular subclasses.

1Idiophones6 subcategories 2Membranophones4 subcategories 3Chordophones3 subcategories 4Aerophones3 subcategories 5Electrophones6 subcategories

51Electro-acoustic instruments and devices5 subcategories 52Electromechanical instruments and devices5 subcategories 53Analogue electronic instruments, modules and components3 subcategories 54Digital instruments, modules and components7 subcategories 55Hybrid analogue/digital configurations 56Software

531Analogue synthesizers and other electronic instruments2 subcategories 532Voltage control sources2 subcategories 533Other analogue modules or configurations3 subcategories

531.1Analogue instruments with valve/vacuum-tube circuitry 531.2Analogue instruments with solid-state circuitry3 subcategories

531.21Solid-state instruments using additive synthesis 531.22Solid-state instruments using subtractive synthesis2 subcategories 531.23Instruments using hybrid subtractive and additive synthesis

531.221Modular subtractive analogue synthesizers 531.222Preset subtractive analogue synthesizers2 subcategories