Now that we’ve got some clarification, let’s move on to why you’re here: the history lesson. The earliest version of the turntable was actually a scientific instrument, designed and crafted by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. What de Martinville called the phonautograph was patented in France in 1857, and is widely considered the first sound recording device. However, the phonautograph had one caveat: it couldn’t play sound back. Instead, it would inscribe airborne sound onto paper that could be studied visually.