Florian Schneider-Esleben (born April 7th, 1947, in Düsseldorf, Germany) is one of the founding members of influential and pioneering electronic music band Kraftwerk. He founded Kraftwerk with Ralf Hütter in 1970, the two having met in 1968, studying firstly at the Academy of Arts in Remscheid, then at the Robert-Schumann-Conservatory in Düsseldorf, and played together in the improvising ensemble Organisation.

Originally his main instrument was the flute, which he would treat using a diverse manner of electronic effects, including tape echo, ring modulation, use of pitch-to-voltage converter, fuzz and wah-wah. He also played violin (similarly treated) and made use of synthesizers (both as a melodic instrument and as a sound processor). Later he also created his own electronic flute instrument. After the release of their 1974 album, Autobahn his use of acoustic instruments diminished.

Schneider: "I had studied seriously up to a certain level, then I found it boring; I looked for other things, I found that the flute was too limiting... Soon I bought a microphone, then loudspeakers, then an echo, then a synthesizer. Much later I threw the flute away; it was a sort of process."¹

Schneider's approach appears to be concentrated on sound design (in an interview in 2005, Hütter called him a "sound fetishist") and vocoding/speech-synthesis. One patented implementation of the latter was christened the Robovox, a distinctive feature of the Kraftwerk sound. He is known as the static, more secretive of the elusive duo, apparently disliking touring.

David Bowie titled his Heroes instrumental track "V-2 Schneider" after Schneider. Bowie was heavily influenced by Kraftwerk's sound during his "Berlin" period in the late 70s.

Schneider currently lives in Düsseldorf, and has a daughter. He is the son of architect Paul Schneider-Esleben.

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¹Quoted 1991 in P. Bussy, Man, Machine and Music, SAF Publishing, 1993

1947 births | Living people | Kraftwerk | German musicians

Florian Schneider-Esleben | Florian Schneider | Florian Schneider | フローリアン・シュナイダー | Florian Schneider