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"[Science fiction] is the only kind of writing that allows you to look at the world we live in and change one piece at a time."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Computer Generated DigItal Music | ||
| A computer composes music with a few simple inputs from the user. |
I'm sure there must be earlier references to this idea in sf, but I'm still looking.
| Waves, repetitions, pulsatons, rumblings, the rise of a violin taking off can all be described by a Fourier Series-an amalgamation of sine & cosine waves of different frequencies & amplitudes. A frequency is a number. An amplitude is a number. Charlie composed by choosing the number and deciding when to change it. His computer executed the command. He created his own computer language for imitating instruments. It was a simple matter to write a subroutine for oboe or violin or harmonica |
| Technovelgy from The Moon Goddess and the Son ,
by Donald Kingsbury. Published by Not known in 1979 Additional resources -
|
In an interview published in Wired magazine (August, 2010) Fred Brooks states that he programmed a computer to produce hymns in the 1950's. Brooks is the author of the famous The Mythical Man-Month.
Thanks to Dennis Cote for finding this item and sharing it with us.
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'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
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'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
