It's an instrument of course. But not one that was around in Beethoven's time. But, thankfully, it is available today. So wild, that if they were to even speak of this dream, certainly they would be burned at the stake or beheaded at the very idea of such a heretic device. But dream they did.
Dreams are the building blocks to all of mankind's achievements.
He and countless other musicians have in centuries past dreamt of such a machine. We are fortunate enough to live in an age where such a machine exists. It is the synthesizer. This instrument coupled with a modest desktop computer and appropriate software will unlock your musical creativity in ways that, well, you could only dream of. Along with the hardware comes an altogether new approach to composition if you choose to take advantage of it.