grandad made techno in 1957

[bieke]

now we all know that Grandma had a noise band in the 1930's

 

so I figured I devote a thread to the great grandfather of techno

[bieke]

[bieke]

While working at Bell Labs in 1957, granddad demonstrated synthesis of music on a digital computer with his Music I program. Music I was followed by Music II through Music V and GROOVE, all were involved in the composition and performance of music on and with computers. These programs have been influential in the development of computer music. For this pioneering work granddad has been called the "father of computer music," and most recently, "the great grandfather of techno!"

[bieke]

Granddad then created the first computer singing, "Bicycle Built for Two," made famous by the Kubrick movie 2001 as the swan song of the dying computer but he also finished the first computer system for live performance,

and

he is also the inventor of the Radio Baton, a computer-driven device that allows the user to conduct their own orchestral performances

[bieke]

here's granddad in 1967

[bieke]

Grandad spent the majority of his career at Bell Labs as an engineer, conducting behavioral and acoustic research.
Legend has it that in the 1950's he would pipe the music of his late night computer noodling through the Murray Hill labs intercom system. Grandads' music was not an "official" AT&T project -- but he was allowed free access to any equipment he wanted to use on his "socially desirable" side project.

[bieke]

In 1987 granddad developed a new pickup for electronic violins and a real-time computer system for music performance called the Conductor and Improv Programs

[bieke]

and the radio baton

[bieke]

granddad had a lot of fun with the radio baton

[bieke]

now people can't live without their radio baton

[bieke]

Grandad says

"Computer performance of music was born in 1957 when an IBM 704 in NYC played a 17 second composition on the Music I program which I wrote. The timbres and notes were not inspiring, but the technical breakthrough is still reverberating. Music I led me to Music II through V. A host of others wrote Music 10, Music 360, Music 15, Csound, Cmix, and SuperCollider. The IBM 704 and its siblings were strictly studio machines--they were far too slow to synthesize music in real-time. Tthe advent of fast, inexpensive, digital chips made real-time possible, and equally important, made it affordable. Starting with the Groove program in 1970, my interests have focused on live performance and what a computer can do to aid a performer. I made a controller, the Radio-Baton, plus a program, the Conductor Program, to provide new ways for interpreting and performing traditional scores. Recently I have added improvizational options which make it easy to write compositional algorithms. These can involve precomposed sequences, random functions, and live performance gestures."

[bieke]

the IBM wasn't the first computer used for making music, an Australian CSIRAC computer played tunes as early as 1951

[bieke]

grandad sure can play his radio baton

[dotlikeimpact]

Yay Max Matthews!

[bieke]

but the IBM is bigger than the CSIRAC

[bieke]

Originally posted by dotlikeimpact Yay Max Matthews!

yay indeed, here's his techno setup, the Groove system

[bieke]

[bieke]

here's a radio baton schem

[dotlikeimpact]

I have nothing but admiration for this fellow. I cut my teeth on Max/MSP (a synthesis programming language named in his honor) and Csound (a direct descendant of his MUSIC N languages). Truly, one of the greats. He has enabled many many composers, sound designers and tinkerers to do their thing. Respect.

[dotlikeimpact]

Also, is the "can't live without their radio baton" picture of Dr. Richard Boulanger? His license plate is "Csound". I've seen it. wowie zowie.

[bieke]

Originally posted by dotlikeimpact Also, is the "can't live without their radio baton" picture of Dr. Richard Boulanger? His license plate is "Csound". I've seen it. wowie zowie.

it is