New York-based minimalist Arnold Dreyblatt (1953), a student of LaMonte Young, Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Lucier, formed the Orchestra Of Excited Strings in 1979. His early minimalistic work for this string orchestra appeared on Nodal Excitation (India Navigation, 1982 - Dexter's Cigar, 1998), named after his first composition, Nodal Excitation (1979).

In 1984, Dreyblatt relocated to Berlin, and then to Belgium.

Propellers In Love (Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien, 1986 - Hat Art, 1988)

Since 1985, Dreyblatt spent fifteen years composing music based on a found text, "Who's Who in Central and East Europe 1933", including the Who's Who Opera (1991).

A Haymish Groove (Extra Platte, 1992)

The Sound Of One String (Table of the Elements, 1998) collects compositions for a modified double bass (solo and in chamber settings, some dating from the 1970s).

Animal Magnetism (Tzadik, 1995), for just-intoned electric guitar, bass violin, cimbalon, percussion and horn section, introduced a discrete rhythm into his compositional technique. The beat is also the center of mass for the five pieces collected on International Dateline (Cantaloupe, 2002).

Among his installations of the 1990s are Memory Arena, Memory Project, Aus den Archiven.

A 41-minute improvisation by Arnold Dreyblatt, Tony Conrad and Jim O'Rourke (the latter two both on strings and electronics) is documented on Tonic 19-01-2001 (january 2001).

Point Source / Lapse (Table Of The Elements, 2004) collects two compositions: Point Source sounds like a cross between minimalism and post-rock (Dreyblatt on "excited bass", Jim O'Rourke on drums, David Grubbs and Kevin Drumm on guitars, Maureen Loughnare on violin); Lapse is traditional Dreyblatt string-based minimalism.

Live At The Federal Hall (Table Of The Elements, 2006), credited to the Orchestra Of Excited Strings, documents a 1981 live performance on modified instruments such as pipe organ, hurdy gurdy, just-intoned double bass and piano.

Resonant Relations contains the namesake composition (2005) for flutes (wooden and metal), trombone, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, harpsichord, and percussion (timpanies, snare and bass drum, metal pieces) that requires "intonation of 21 unequal tones based on the first eleven partials of the harmonic series and their multiples." 25 chords in 25 in 94 variations: Gelbe Musik (2006) "proceeds through 95 variations of 25 chords which are based upon the pitch of the 25th harmonic".

Turntable History (Important, 2011) is a composition for noises made by a magnetic resonance imaging machine performed inside a huge resonant space.

Appalachian Excitation (Northern Spy, 2013) was a collaboration between Arnold Dreyblatt and Megafaun.