"Computer generated music" started more than 70 years ago... But not really in the way you think. Let's jump back in 1951.
To undestand where and when it all started we have to go back in Australia where a 7 tons computer, the CSIRAC Mk1 was designed by the British engineers Trevor Pearcey and Geoff Hill.
The CSIRAC Mk1 had a built-in Rola 5C speaker mounted on the console frame which basically intended to generate alerts or clicks. But nothing more.
To create something more musical, multiple clicks were combined using a short loop of instructions; the timing of the loop was giving a change in the frequency and therefore an audible change in the pitch.
From the 7th to the 9th of august 1951 “Colonel Bogey” was played publicly at the inaugural Conference of Automatic Computing Machines in Sydney.
Unfortunately this piece of art was perceived as a fairly insignificant technical test and this achievement wasn’t widely reported. Anyway there’s a trace of this.
A few months later, at the University of Manchester was based the very first world’s commercially available computer. The Ferranti Mark 1.
This computer instructions manual was written by 2 computer scientists. Christopher Strachey and his friend Alan Turing who is basically considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.
Like the CSIRAC This computer had the capability to generate sounds and therefore some music. Christopher Stratechey then programmed the Mark I to play some songs, including “god save the king” “Baa Baa Black Sheep” and “In The Mood”
By chance 3 pieces of the Ferranti were recorded on acetate discs by the BBC in November 1951. So, we can consider that the Ferranti may be the oldest known recordings of computer-generated music.
Christchurch restored the original acetate master disc in 2016.
As you can see, none of us (i think) were born when the computers started to make music. Anyway, it was a baby step. in the 80's things started to get serious !
Mods Anthology is the greatest modules compilation ever. Issued in 1996 you may find all the modules, chip, sids... released between the early beginnings of the demoscene till the mid 90's.
In a couple of years "Soundtracker" have totally taken the musicians to another level. Furthermore a lot of countries adopted this way of making music.
Music is an important component of the demos as it drives and leads the viewer towards the different animations and can be considered as the backbone of a demo.
The arrival of soundtracker have totally changed the game by the 80's. Let's understand why.
By the end of the 80's Chip music is everywhere...But something new and revolutionary happened in 1987 from a German software developer that is going to revolutionize the demoscene music.
When did demoscene music started ? Let's go back 50 years ago when the computers were just "simple machines".
"Computer generated music" started more than 70 years ago... But not really in the way you think. Let's jump back in 1951.
Do you remember the hours we've spent (and our money) in the Arcades playing games like Shinobi, Golden Axe, Space invaders and many others? This is where everything started.
The 80's are definitly one of the most important periods in "computer music". This is also the moment the "demoscene" started.