Early Digital Sounds

In 1957, Max Mathews, an acoustic researcher at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey, wrote his Music I software for the IBM 704 computer and used it to generate the first examples of digital audio.

Further developments in Matthew’s software saw his Music II (1958) being capable of producing 16 different wave forms. By 1961 with his Music IV, he was able to generate both vocal and musical sounds. Music V would become the basis for a range of computer music software used through the 60s and 70s and still in use today.

In Chowning’s Stria composed in 1977, the octaves are no longer 1:2 but are based on the Golden Ratio(1:1.618). The overall form/structure of the work is also based on the ratio, and sections contain pitches that enter temporally according to the ratio.

American John Chowning was inspired by the work of Risset and developed the theoretical basis of FM (Frequency Modulation) synthesis in 1971-3. FM synthesis was adopted by Yamaha in 1983 as the synthesis engine of the most popular synthesizer of the time, the DX7.

The Fibonacci series is a sequence of numbers, where each number is added to itself. The Fibonacci series is used to determine tunings in music. The sequence goes: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. Each number is the sum of the previous 2.

0 + 1 = 1
1 + 1 = 2
1 + 2 = 3
2 + 3 = 5
3 + 5 = 8
etc

A further digital synthesis technique is known as Analysis/Resynthesis. A real-world recording is made and analyzed to determine the fundamental and the sound’s harmonic spectrum. Using this information the sounds are recreated within sound synthesis software then manipulated.

One of a series of “chatter” pieces by American composer Paul Lansky, Notjustmoreidlechatter (1987) uses Analysis/Resynthesis of the human voice. In this piece we hear only one voice, that of Lansky’s wife, reciting text from Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” wherein Jane speaks of her unusual dreams. Yet we hear “countless unintelligible voices (high, low, fast, slow) that bombard the listener.