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Computer music

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Computer music is a term that was originally used within academia to describe a field of study relating to the applications of computing technology in music composition; particularly that stemming from the Western art music tradition. It includes the theory and application of new and existing technologies in music, such as sound synthesis, digital signal processing, sound design, sonic diffusion, acoustics, and psychoacoustics. The field of computer music can trace its roots back to the origin of electronic music, and the very first experiments and innovations with electronic instruments at the turn of the 20th century. More recently, with the advent of personal computing, and the growth of home recording, the term computer music is now sometimes used to describe any music that has been created using computing technology.

History

Much of the work on computer music has drawn on the relationship between music theory and mathematics. The world's first computer to play music was CSIRAC. The music was generated in Australia by programmer Geoff Hill [1] which was designed and built by Trevor Pearcey and Maston Beard. However, CSIRAC played standard repertoire and was not used to extend musical thinking or composition practice which is current computer music practice. Subsequently, Lejaren Hiller (e.g., the Illiac Suite) used a computer in the mid 1950s to compose works that were then played by conventional musicians. Later developments included the work of Max Mathews at Bell Laboratories, who developed the influential MUSIC I program. Vocoder technology was also a major development in this early era. The BBC reports that the first purported music, made on a computer named "Ferranti Mark 1" computer, a commercial version of the Baby Machine, was made in the autumn of 1951 in an article dated 17 June 2008 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7458479.stm). It includes a one minute recording of the music.

Early computer music programs typically did not run in real-time. Programs would run for hours or days, on multi-million dollar computers, in order to generate a few minutes of music. John Chowning's work on FM synthesis, in the early 70s, and the advent of inexpensive digital chips and microcomputers opened the door to real-time generation of computer music[2].By the early 90s, the performance of microprocessor-based computers reached the point that real-time generation of computer music using more general programs and algorithms became possible.

Advances

Advances in computing power have dramatically affected the way computer music is generated and performed. Current-generation micro-computers are powerful enough to perform very sophisticated audio synthesis using a wide variety of algorithms and approaches. Computer music systems and approaches are now ubiquitous, and so firmly embedded in the process of creating music that we hardly give them a second thought: computer-based synthesizers, digital mixers, and effects units have become so commonplace that use of digital rather than analog technology to create and record music is the norm, rather than the exception.

Research

Despite the ubiquity of computer music in contemporary culture, there is considerable activity in the field of computer music, as researchers continue to pursue new and interesting computer-based sythesis, composition, and performance approaches.Throughout the world there are many organizations and institutions dedicated to the area of computer and electronic music study and research, including the ICMA (International Computer Music Association), IRCAM, GRAME, SEAMUS (Society for Electro Acoustic Music in the United States), and a great number of institutions of higher learning around the world.

See also

References

  1. ^ [1] Article describing music made by CSIRAC with sound clips
  2. ^ [2] Max Mathews, the Father of Computer Music
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