Computer music
Computer music refers to the use of computer technology for the creation and manipulation of sound and music. It encompasses a broad range of techniques, including computer-assisted technologies and algorithms that allow for computer-generated compositions without human intervention. This genre has evolved significantly since its inception, with the early roots tracing back to inventions like the Dynamophone and the theremin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The modern era began in the 1940s with developments in analog tape recorders and the establishment of pioneering studios focused on experimental music.
As technology progressed, the introduction of microprocessors and systems like the Commodore 64 in the 1980s democratized music production, leading to the creation of musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) standards. This revolution enabled home musicians to create music with sophisticated tools that were once confined to professional studios. Contemporary computer music employs a variety of technologies including digital synthesizers, audio sequencers, and sampling software, allowing for a vast spectrum of sounds and styles. Notably, advancements in computer algorithms have led to systems capable of composing original music autonomously, further expanding the creative possibilities in music production. This dynamic field continues to influence various genres and applications, including video game scoring and personalized music experiences.
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Computer music
Computer music is the use of computer technology to create sound or music. Computer music can be created either with computer-assisted technology, such as through the use of software technologies and synthesizers, or through algorithms that enable computers to draft compositions independent of any human effort. Computer technologies have enabled the creation of new sounds that have broadened the musicscape. These technologies have allowed a wider cross-section of people to experiment, compose, and arrange music.
Computer music can encompass a variety of musical sounds. It may include more traditional compositions that incorporate aspects of the human voice, musical instruments, ambient noise, and sound effects. However, computer music may also be more experimental in tone, with broad variations in form, length, tone, harmony, meter, and melody.
Brief History
The dawn of computer music can be traced back to 1897, when Thaddeus Cahill created a massive two-hundred-ton machine called the Dynamophone, which enabled users to engineer and arrange pre-recorded music through a mechanical sound system. The early twentieth century saw the creation of the theremin, a human-controlled musical instrument that allows its player to create notes without physical contact. However, the modern era of electronic music is generally regarded as beginning in the 1940s, when analogue tape recorders were invented. During this period, Pierre Schaeffer founded the Studio d'Essai in Paris, which used recordings of human voices and musical instruments to create an experimental form of music called Musique concrète. Similar experiments by Herbert Eimert and Werner Meyer-Eppler using an electric oscillator led to the pioneering Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne, Germany, in the 1950s and the development of a distinctive sound called elektronische Musik. In 1958, Lejaren Hiller was able to program a computer to compose original music. The first resulting piece from these efforts was called "Illiac Suite" and required human musicians to perform it.
By the early 1960s, a Bell Labs electrical engineer named Max Mathews developed a software program he called MUSIC that was eventually able to compose simple melodies with only limited input from an engineer. Mathews's program eventually became an industry standard by 1970, allowing composers such as James Tenney and Jean-Claude Risset to develop fuller musical compositions. Mathews was also responsible for the creation of GROOVE, a program that was a basic, early form of electric synthesizer similar in function to the types used by contemporary musicians. Despite these advancements, this music system was a very labor-intensive process requiring days of work for several minutes of output. Nonetheless, computer music was seen as a serious field of study, and several professional journals and conferences were established to promote its development.
As computers became more sophisticated, so too did computer music. The early analog synthesizers were eventually replaced by more complicated systems thanks to microprocessors that offered more stability and memory. The release of the Commodore 64 computer system in 1982 helped to make computer music easier for the general public to create and use. It contained a four-voice synthesizer largely meant for games, but musicians quickly realized its potential for composing and arranging music. This led to the establishment of the musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) as the commercial standard for the interface between computers and synthesizers, allowing for the development of home music studios. The release of the Atari ST system in 1985 and the Cubase software in 1989 further eased the ability of home musicians to create music without the need for expensive recording studios.
The 1990s saw several advancements. The development of soundcards, the ability to process audio tracks with plug-in effects, and the capacity to plug software instruments into the computer all helped home musicians to synthesize their music. In 2000, a music application called Reason allowed computer music composers access to all the same studio features available in professional studios in one single application. More recent advancements allow anyone to edit each individual note to achieve a level of musical precision previously unknown to music producers.
Overview
Computer music has both changed the boundaries of musical expression and widened the scope of resources available to potential composers. Computer music is able to synthesize a broad spectrum of instruments and sounds. Synthesizers can virtually simulate the sounds of various instruments, enabling anyone with the proper technology access to the equivalent of a full symphony from within their own home. Scientists hope to develop technology that will allow disc jockeys to live-code their arrangements so that they can improvise their music as they perform. Contemporary computer music uses such technologies as audio sequencers, sampling, digital drum machines, digital synthesizers, digital recording software, and MIDI technologies. Such advances have limited the need for session musicians, mixers, and sound booths. These technologies gave rise to genres of music called synthpop and computer music.
Computer scientists program computers using specialized algorithmic instructions that allow machines to independently generate musical compositions. These programs are modeled on the compositional styles of famed composers and are meant to mimic their harmonies. These technologies allow composers to experiment with melodies more quickly to determine whether they like the direction a composition is headed, saving time, effort, and money. Advanced computer music programs can translate a composer's notes into fully realized music far more quickly than if attempted by the composer's own hand. This allows music producers to test musical techniques and instrumental variations before presenting them to a full orchestra.
These advancements enabled computers to produce standalone compositions. For instance, a computer system at the University of Málaga in Spain called Melomics109 was programmed to design and produce its own music. An album of its original compositions called 0music was released in 2014. Melomics109 and its sister program, Iamus, were programmed with the ability to learn, allowing the technology to become responsible for increasingly complex and experimental works. In 2013, the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra performed an original composition by Iamus titled "Adsum."
These advancements have proven particularly useful in scoring video games. Using algorithms, programmers of games such as SimCity are able to code music to adapt to different situations in the game. This idea has implications for creating personalized mood music in computer apps that respond to the individual user. As technology evolved, composers continued to gain control of musical elements and could explore revolutionary approaches to musical form. Computer music continued to evolve using software with features like quantum probability amplitude modulation.
In 2024, the UK-based magazine Computer Music’s publisher, Future Music, announced it would cease publication at the end of that year. Computer Music launched in 1998 and featured reviews, articles, interviews, and tutorials about all computer music-related topics. Some of the publication’s content was merged with the website MusicRadar.
Bibliography
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