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Multimedia Systems

notes the fact that computers can be interfaced (connected by translating circuits) to other kinds of
electronic devices such as recording devices, synthesizers, audio-visual appliances etc.
In 1957, Max V. Mathews of AT&T Bell Laboratories became the first person to program
a computer to make musical sounds, but most early computer music was of poor quality
because it was created by computer programmers rather than by musicians who had a working
knowledge of music and sound. Early experiments in computer-generated sound were made
in the form of collaborations between computer experts or engineers, and computer-friendly
musicians. This phenomenon led, in the 1970s, to the establishment of music research centres
that were dedicated to the advancement of research in the field of computer music. These
research centres included the Institut de Recherche et Coordination d”Acoustique et Musique
(IRCAM ) in France, the Center for Music Experiment and Related Research (now the Center
for Research in Computing and the Arts) at the University of California at San Diego, the
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University and
the Electronic Music Studio at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
By the 1980s, the technology that was developed for creating computer music was applied
to the recording industry, and digital sound recording became widespread. The commercial
introduction of the personal computer, which was a great improvement on the giant computers
of previous decades, brought about the design of user-friendly interfaces which were aimed
at non-specialists in music. One such interface which was developed to fulfil the needs of
musicians was MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface).
Over the past ten years, the desktop computer has developed from a device capable of
handling small amounts of text, games and basic programs, to a device which is capable of
processing full-colour broadcast-quality video, hours of CD-quality audio in real time, and
complete volumes of text and graphics to publishing standard. This has been made possible by
the development of the digital microchip - hundreds of thousands of transistors etched onto
thin layers of crystalline silicon. The microchip has allowed the home computer to become
a powerful music-making machine, capable of recording, manipulating and storing digital
audio data, and interpreting and playing back audio from the Internet in a wide variety MS
of audio file formats. The two leading personal computer systems, Apple Macintosh OS
(Operating System) and MS-DOS (Microsoft Disc Operating System)/Windows for IBM
PC, have developed new programs and file formats while allowing compatibility with older
software. It is this compatibility and standardization, rather than technical innovation, which
establishes systems as market leaders.
Questions:

1. In which year the music research centres were established?
2. Who was the first person to program a computer to make musical sounds?

self assessment

Choose the correct answer:
4. A sample of sound is taken and stored as digital information in bits and ……...
( a) mega bytes (b) bytes

( c) hertz (Hz) (d) none of these
5. ………………… removes dead air or blank space from the front of a recording.
( a) Multiple Tasks (b) Equalizer

( c) Format Convertor (d) Trimming

40 LoveLy professionaL University