Kraftwerk is an highly influential German band that got its start in the early 70’s. They moved from working with acoustic instruments and synthesizers to working purely with synthesizers. Their first album “Trans Europe Express” featured the song “Autobahn” which was a sea change in electronic music.
They were true pioneers of mainstream electronic music. Using synthesizers and drum machines in their early days was a complex process because many of the technologies we count on today were not available. Midi was a way to tie synthesizers together, which is a basic part of working with electronic instruments, but hadn’t been invented by the time this album came out.
By the time they produced “Man Machine” they had transitioned to a fully synthesizer fueled band. This particular album was sampled by many hip hop artists.