An Acoustic Compiler for Music and Psychological Stimuli
M. V. Mathews · Bell System Technical Journal · 1961
A program for synthesizing music and psychological stimuli on a digital computer is described. The sound is produced by three operations: (a) A compiler generates the programs for a set of instruments. (b) These instruments are “played” by a sequencing program at the command of a sequence of “note” cards which contain information analogous to that given by conventional music notes. (c) The computer output, in the form of numbers on a digital magnetic tape, is converted to audible sound by a digital-to-analog converter, a desampling filter, and a loudspeaker. By virtue of the general nature of the compiling program a great variety of instruments may be produced, and the instrument programs are quite efficient in terms of computer time. The “note” cards are arranged to minimize the effort necessary to specify a composition. Preliminary compositions indicate that exceedingly interesting music and useful psychological stimuli can be generated.