Would Thaddeus Cahill have held off inventing the first electronic instrument, a 60-foot-wide, 20-foot-tall, 200-ton behemoth called the Tellharmonium, had he foreseen No Mercy’s “Where Do You Go?” Then again, without Cahill, Radiohead might still be playing grunge. Electronica will vocode opinions on these matters at this year’s Electronica Fest ’09, which sounds like it might be an ecstasy-fueled rave but is actually a supergeek meeting at the National Electronics Museum. Richard Lainhart, a contemporary of Philip Glass and John Cage, will be in attendance, and so will plenty of other Cahillian noisemakers, all of them hellbent on sharing their “exotic modular systems.” Just don’t bank on any La Bouche covers.

THE CONFERENCE STARTS AT 10 A.M. AT THE NATIONAL ELECTRONICS MUSEUM, 1745 WEST NURSERY ROAD, LINTHICUM, MD. $6. (410) 765-0230.