Composers » C » John Chowning

John Chowning was born in Salem, NJ in 1934. He studied at Wittenberg University in Ohio, and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He received a doctorate in composition from Stanford University in 1966. In 1964, with the help of Max Mathews of Bell Labs and David Poole of Stanford, he set up Music IV using the computer system of Stanford University's AI Lab. Beginning the same year he began the research leading to the first computer sound localization algorithm. In 1967 he discovered FM synthesis, a very simple yet elegant way of creating and controlling time-varying spectra. Licensed by Stanford to Yamaha, FM synthesis led to a family of synthesizers that became the most successful synthesis engines of all time. In 1975 he founded the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), which remains one of the leading centers for computer music and related research.

[eContact! 12.2, 2010]