THE CONCORDIA COLLECTION WITHIN ELECTROACOUSTIC
HISTORY
Introduction INTRODUCTION   PEDAGOGICAL OBJECTIVES PEDAGOGICAL OBJECTIVES Introduction BACK


1980-1985
EMERGENCE OF COMPUTER MUSIC AND ITS DERIVATIVES



1980
Development of computer-assisted music. The computer can be programmed to control one or more synthesizers for use in live performance (e.g. Buchla).

Digitization
The arrival of the computer brought about great changes in electroacoustics, including a democratization of access to equipment, improvements in their quality, reduction in their costs and the possibility of transforming sound without any degradation in its quality. It also allows the composer to store sounds and manipulate them using one or more forms of synthesis and to use it as a multitracking tool, etc. All this is made possible through digitization, a method of representing objects or signals as a series of integers. Once gathered, this digitized data can be stored, transmitted, modified, etc.

This is quite different from the analogue system, which is a system constituted of continuous and variable values. As an example, in an analogue system, radio and television signals are transmitted as continuous electrical waveforms. With digitization, these signals are coded (interpreted) as a series of binary numbers, themselves grouped on a higher level by another series of binary numbers (groups of 0’s and 1’s). The digital signal is thus composed of a discontinuous ensemble of binary numbers — a digital file — that the computer can read, write and alter incessantly without any loss of information. In short, the flexibility for which digital technologies are known is due to the fact that any signal can be reduced to a series of integers (0, 1), uuuuuuuuuuhhhh which can be, among other things, sounds.

Digitization has had a major impact in all the areas covered up to this point: interfaces (sound recording and reproduction); processing and transformation (sound synthesis, reverb, equalization, compression, etc.), compositional processes, editing, mastering, CD publication, etc.

Digital technology has also made a great impact on the way composers work, some using it for its potential, while others are interested in exploring its limits, or its defects. Some subversive or parallel movements have grown out of an interest in the latter. These include “hardware hacking” (alteration of a circuit or piece of equipment to produce results the technology was not intended to produce) and “lowercase” (exploration of digital noises and errors which continue to exist in the systems despite the efforts of developers to suppress them).

We can say, without any exaggeration, that the large majority of contemporary technological progress has been made possible through the advent of this technique, which is without a doubt one of the most important innovations in the history of technology.

COMPOSER(S) WORK TITLE
* Available soon
 
 Bernard Donzel-Gargand Dispersion (00:14:17) *

 Pekka Siren Touch (00:05:57)
   
1980
Development of computer-assisted music. The computer can be programmed to control one or more synthesizers for use in live performance (e.g. Buchla). 

Japan
Now involved in the industry of developing digital synthesis tools and instruments, Japan very quickly produces important results.


France
At IRCAM, Pierre Boulez composes Répons, a work using a computer called 4X that is used to process the instrumental sounds in real-time. Digitization becomes an very powerful tool for the development of creative activities and has great impact on all areas of electroacoustic creation.


Bernard Donzel-Gargand - Dispersion  Bernard Donzel-Gargand - Dispersion (00:14:17) 

Pekka Siren - Touch)  Pekka Siren - Touch (00:05:57) 
  
1981
France
Development of digital recording technologies.
Michel Redolfi composes “subaquatic music”.


Barbara Golden - Final Spin  Barbara Golden - Final Spin (00:10:21) 

John Wells - Early one Friday…)  John Wells - Early one Friday… (00:06:13) 

Bentley Jarvis - Ice)  Bentley Jarvis - Ice (00:21:34) 

Iván Patachich - Touch)  Iván Patachich - Alterego (00:10:09) 
  
1982
The invention of the MIDI protocol is one of the first manifestations of the idea of the “network”. This idea would have a great impact in the 1990s (via the Internet, for example).

Harry Kirschner - Ancient Music  Harry Kirschner - Ancient Music (00:17:50) 

Vitazoslav Kubicka - And Even Stone Would Cry)  Vitazoslav Kubicka - And Even Stone Would Cry (00:07:57) 

Denis Smalley - Vortex)  Denis Smalley - Vortex (00:15:45) 
1983

The Yamaha DX7 is the first synthesizer offering FM synthesis available in the mainstream (100,000 will be sold). 

The decline of analogue synthesizers begins, although there would be renewed interest in them in the 2000s via the techno music scenes.

The CD appears on the market. After a somewhat fragile and uncertain debut, the CD dethrones the traditional 33-1/3 and 45 rpm vinyl disc near the end of the 1980s. DJs take possession of the remaining stock!


Joshua & Tabitha Bedoukian - Clipperfix—Super song  Joshua & Tabitha Bedoukian - Clipperfix—Super song (00:13:41) 

Francine Noël - Gotta Keep the Drama Going  Francine Noël - Gotta Keep the Drama Going (00:03:18) 

Jon H. Appleton - Boum Sha Boom  Jon H. Appleton - Boum Sha Boom (00:05:38) 

A. Jacques Coutu - Étude d’attaques et de résonnances  A. Jacques Coutu - Étude d’attaques et de résonnances (00:04:00) 

Stephen Montague - Slow Dance on a Burial Ground  Stephen Montague - Slow Dance on a Burial Ground (00:24:30) 
  1980 1981 1982 1983
 
  1980 1981 1982 1983


Produced with the financial participation of the Department of Canadian Heritage

Patrimoine canadien      Gouvernement du Canada

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Projet d’archivage Concordia (PAC) Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / Canadian Electroacoustic Community