Computers and Music
Computers have been influential in the teaching of musical skills, in the performance of music, and, with the advent of the Internet, in the accessibility to music.
Computer technology had its genesis in music before the Twentieth century, when the first electronic synthesizer, the over 200-ton Telharmonium, was invented by Taddeus Cahill. In the first three decades of the Twentieth century, the Hammond organ was invented. Computers began to be used to generate sounds and music in the 1940's through the 1970's. Improved technology reduced the size of components, facilitating the development of more portable computerized electronic instruments. An well-known example is the Moog synthesizer, invented by Robert Moog, which was a featured instrument of a number of prominent musical groups in the 1970s, including Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and Yes.
A synthesizer is able to electronically alter musical tones because of its ability to control frequency. Originally, this was accomplished using phase locked loops. A phase locked loop is a feedback control system that allows the control of the outgoing frequency of the sound wave. The frequency is established by control of the voltage running through the system. Normally, the incoming and outgoing frequencies are the same. But slightly different frequencies can be created, which alters the sound produced by the synthesizer.
Today, a software synthesizer, or soft synth, uses a personal computer to generate the same sounds as is produced by the hardware synthesizer.
In the 1980's, the integrated circuit created a technology that was smaller and cheaper. The Musical Instrumental Digital Interface (MIDI) was developed by the electronic music industry. The interface provides a standard connection between synthesizers and computers from different manufacturers. Computers that have a MIDI interface can record sounds created by a synthesizer and then manipulate the data to produce new sounds. MIDI also allowed computer modification of the sounds produced by other instruments, such as keyboards and drum machines.
The development of teaching software and musical notation programs compatible with desktop publishing systems also occurred in the 1980's. The rapid development of a number of music software programs greatly enhanced the creative potential of computers in the creation of music. Notation software is similar to word processing software, but for music. Notation software lets the user create, print, and hear professional quality music scores. Recording and sequencing software recreates the functions of a recording studio on a personal computer. Loop based comparison allows the rendering of music to short audio segments. Pre-recorded sound can be processed by sound creation and editing software to either enhance the existing sound or change the sound into something new. The use of audio effect plug-ins can also modify existing sounds.
CD-ROMs allowed the development of interactive music education software. Software improvements and increasingly powerful computers combined to create a user-friendly tool for musicians and educators. For example, connecting a keyboard to a computer equipped with the appropriate software makes it possible to translate the piece being played into a musical score.
The Internet has revolutionized music technology. The original text-only format of the Internet limited the type of information that could be shared. For example, musical scores could not be transmitted. Musicians were able, however, to exchange ideas and share text information. In the 1980's, it became possible to transmit graphics, sound, and sequenced music files. Also, MIDI technology allowed the music files to be shared between computers and keyboards. Music notation software was also developed and refined during the 1980's. In the 1990's a new Internet programming language called Hyper Text Mark-up Language (HTML) made it possible to hear a sound file as it was still being transmitted. Before, such files took much longer to load onto a computer and listen to. This advancement provided musicians with the tools to share music notation, digital sound and video in real-time--at the moment of transfer--making the use of the Internet more user-friendly and relevant to musicians.
Computerized technology as also made it possible for a user to acquire music from the Internet. This has generated profound implications for the copyright legislation that applies to recorded music. The development of MP3 technology was a major reason for the use of the Internet as a music acquisition medium. MP3 is the file extension for MPEG, audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes for the compression of audio signals. Superfluous information, which is undetectable to the human ear, is removed from a sound signal. The resulting MP3 music file is so small that it can be transferred across the Internet. A software program called CD Burner allows the creation of studio-quality audio CDs using MP3 files that have been downloaded from the Internet.
The most relevant example of the influence of MP3 technology has been the Internet company known as Napster. The company supplies a MP3 software program that allows users to download musical selections. As of 2001, it has been successfully argued in court that this free acquisition violates a musician's right to realize copyrighted financial compensation for the sales of their musical creations. Napster is in the process of modifying its web site with computerized filters, which will prohibit the downloading of copyrighted music.
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