MusicRadar

'The Baby' was the forerunner to the Ferranti Mark 1 that was used to make the first computer music recording.

View in gallery

That laptop-based studio sitting in front of you didn't just arrive by accident – it's taken well over fifty years of development work to get to the advanced stage we're at now.

This being the case, MusicRadar thought it was about time we gave you a quick history lesson and briefed you on some of the landmark moments in computer music history.

1951 - The first computer music recording
Believe it or not, computers were being used to make music as long as 57 years ago. The oldest known recording is of a Ferranti Mark 1 computer at the University of Manchester – it played God Save The Queen, Baa Baa Black Sheep and In The Mood. The revolution had begun…

1957 - Max Mathews writes MUSIC
Mathews is often cited as one of computer music's greatest pioneers, and one of his earliest achievements was writing the MUSIC program while at Bell Labs in the USA. This was used to create a 17-second piece that was performed in New York City on an IBM 704 computer.

1982 – Commodore 64 launched
Lots of great development work was done in the 1960s and 70s, but it was when Commodore launched the C64 that home computer music making really got going. It was notable for the inclusion of its SID sound chip, which enabled users to create music using a whopping three channels of synthesis. In fact, the distinctive SID sound is still popular today, which is one of the reasons why you can download C64 emulators for your Mac or PC.

1983 – The birth of MIDI
Standing for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, the introduction of MIDI was of crucial importance to high-tech music makers. This new protocol enabled computers, synths and other hardware to talk to each other, and is still in widespread use today. Without MIDI, computer music history would be very different indeed.

1985 – Atari releases the ST
We might all be using PCs and Macs these days, but back in the 80s, the Atari ST was the machine that every computer musician wanted to own. The son of Atari's CEO had the genius idea of fitting it with MIDI ports, making it the perfect platform for those looking to bring external hardware under the control of their computer.

1989 – Steinberg releases Cubase
Steinberg had previously achieved recognition with the widely used Pro-24 sequencer, but Cubase is the software that made its name. The first version introduced the concept of the 'arrange page' with its vertical list of tracks and horizontal timeline – a design that quickly became the standard interface for all commercially developed sequencers.

Around the web: