MUS 6 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Ibm 704, Max Mathews, Stanford University Centers And Institutes
Lecture 8 – Computer Music and Digital Audio
❖ Who, Where, When?
• Audio Researchers at Labs of the 1950s-1980s
o IRCAM (Paris, France), Acoustics, Audio, computer music research center
o Bell Labs (New Jersey), voice research facility
o CCRMA (Stanford U), Computer music research center
• All were major institutions because computers were huge and expensive
❖ Concepts
• DAC and ADC
o Digital to analog converter (speaker)
o ADC (microphone)
o Converting numbers, into voltage, into air pressure.
• Non-real-time vs. real-time digital
o Could’t opose usi i eal tie, ould hae to go ak ad liste to
the tape
o FM Synthesis
o Spectral analysis and re-synthesis
▪ Computer can take recorded sound that you send to it, analyze it,
convert it to numbers.
▪ Then you can tweak those numbers and manipulate it that way
❖ A very brief summary of Computer Music
Copute pefoae of usi as o i he a IBM in NYC played a
17-second composition on the Music I program which I wrote. The 5mbres and notes
were not inspiring, but the technical breakthrough is s5ll reverbera5ng...Many exci5ng
pieces are now performed digitally. The IBM 704 and its siblings were strictly studio
machines – they were far too slow to synthesize music in real-e. Choig’s FM
algorithms and the advent of fast, inexpensive, digital chips made real-5me possible,
ad euall ipotat, ade it affodale. – Max Mathews, 1997
❖ A Few Computer Music Moments
• Before computers could actually make sound, they could be used to generate
data that composers could use to compose. Starting in 1957 with the DAC,
computers themselves could produce sounds.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture 8 computer music and digital audio. Who, where, when: audio researchers at labs of the 1950s-1980s. Ircam (paris, france), acoustics, audio, computer music research center: bell labs (new jersey), voice research facility, ccrma (stanford u), computer music research center, all were major institutions because computers were huge and expensive. A very brief summary of computer music (cid:862)co(cid:373)pute(cid:396) pe(cid:396)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:272)e of (cid:373)usi(cid:272) (cid:449)as (cid:271)o(cid:396)(cid:374) i(cid:374) (cid:1005)(cid:1013)(cid:1009)(cid:1011) (cid:449)he(cid:374) a(cid:374) ibm (cid:1011)(cid:1004)(cid:1008) in nyc played a. 17-second composition on the music i program which i wrote. The 5mbres and notes were not inspiring, but the technical breakthrough is s5ll reverbera5ngmany exci5ng pieces are now performed digitally. A few computer music moments: before computers could actually make sound, they could be used to generate data that composers could use to compose. Early computer synthesis: silver scale, 17- second piece by marx mathews, worked in bell labs, created on music 1. It (cid:449)as (cid:373)aki(cid:374)g (cid:373)usi(cid:272) out of the (cid:374)atu(cid:396)e of spee(cid:272)h itself.
