Max Mathews Radio Baton Demonstration

YouTube Uploaded by ComputerHistory on Jul 16, 2010

"[Recorded: April 7, 2010]
In the late 1950s computer music pioneer Dr. Max Mathews created MUSIC, the first widely used music synthesis program while working in the Acoustic Research Group at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Over the next forty years at Bell Labs and then at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University, Mathews advanced and refined digital computer music synthesis.
In this video Mathews describes and demonstrates his Radio Baton Controller and Conductor software program and performs brief selections by Bach, Chopin, Beethoven and Appleton.
A Radio Baton is an electronic instrument with two baton controllers and a receiving base called the antenna. In the end of each baton is a small radio transmitter. As the batons are moved over the receiving base, four antennas in the base are able to determine the batons' location in three-dimensional space. The movement of the batons through space are converted into instructions determining how the music is to be synthesized.
The Radio Baton Conductor Model uses the model of an orchestra conductor controlling the musical tempo, dynamics and expression of the piece. The Conductor program puts the pitches and the durations of the notes in a score that the computer reads as a sequence of beats in the computer memory. The conductor can move the batons around with his two hands, controlling six variables, and assign these variables to whatever functions in the music are important at any instant of the music.
When asked if the radio baton was a successful instrument, Mathews answered, 'I suspect actually it was too successful. It may have made music too easy to play. But my vision there, and the vision I think I got from John Chowning was that everyone could have his own orchestra and could interpret music according to his particular feelings about it. And that this might be a much more satisfying way than simply sitting and listening to a recording or simply listening to a concert in a concert hall.'"

via Computer Music Guide who has a small write-up on Max Mathews.

A Different Kind of Computer Music

via Peter Wendt:
"I just bought and listened to an interesting CD called IBM 1401, a user’s manual. It contains electroacoustic music by the Icelandic composer Johann Johannson, and is a tribute to an old IBM 1401 business computer that was one of the first computers to arrive in Iceland (in 1964), and which the composer’s father maintained.
The music is basically minimalist string music (think Philip Glass or Arvo Part) with subtle electronic sounds added. Some of these sounds are derived from recordings of the old computer; others are courtesy of a Hammond B3 running through some synth-effect pedals. An unknown IBM employee reads service instructions for the computer, and the computer “plays” a hymn. The last movement has some processed voices. Supposedly, Johannson’s father figured out that he could play tunes on the computer by programming the memory in a certain way and picking up RF from the computer via a radio.
The album is available as a CD from 4AD, or you can buy and download the tracks via a link at the album’s site.
Johansson co-founded an experimental electroacoustic/multimedia ensemble called Kitchen Motors, and has worked with electronic and rock musicians, such as Sigur Ros.
The site for the album is here
The composer’s site is here"
I added this to the Synth CDs section on the right.