This unit includes interstitial videos made by the instructor one semester when he was going to be away on a research trip during this chapter.
Analog vs. digital audio
Transistors in analog circuits
The Moog (mass-produced analog) synthesizer
Wendy Carlos’s Switched-on Bach (1968) is often hard to find in streaming format, so here is a track from the knock-off album Switched-on Country (1970) to demonstrate the Moog’s popularity:
Morton Subotnick, Silver Apples of the Moon (1968), exploring wider timbral and expressive potential, with the Buchla synthesizer
An example of creating a patch on an analog synthesizer
Frank Zappa, Jazz from Hell (1986), demonstrating typical sounds from the Synclavier digital sample-playback synthesizer. (The Synclavier was originally created at Dartmouth College, released in the late 1970s.)
Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock creating music with the (Australian-made) Fairlight CMI digital sample-playback synthesizer (also released in the late 1970s)
Classic presets from the Yamaha DX-7 digital FM synthesizer (released in 1983)
An example of modifying a patch on a Yamaha DX-7, digital FM synthesizer. (FM synthesis was originally created at Stanford University and was first used in classical compositions at Bell Labs.)
An example of a music programming language
Lejaren Hiller, Illiac Suite (1956)
To further clarify algorithmic (or generative) art, here’s an explanation of how it works in visual art. Conway’s Game of Life creates many fascinating patterns emerging unpredictably juts by following a simple set of rules (the algorithm).
An example of working with analog automation, an analog sequencer
An example of editing a MIDI sequence, in a piano roll view
Not on the test but also of potential interest:
- The first digital recording on a major label was Ry Cooder’s Bop Til You Drop (July 1979) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAe_3_GO9t0 — contrast it with the warmer analog sound of his prior album (listen for production quality; don’t be distracted by the difference in musical style): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXTWbbXXglc#t=198
- Three months later, the second digital recording in pop was also the first to use a digital synthesizer: Stevie Wonder’s Journey through the Secret Life of Plants (October 1979), using the Computer Music Melodian http://www.steviewonder.org.uk/multimedia/audio_player/secret_life_of_plants.html