Max Vernon Mathews (November 13, 1926 – April 21, 2011) was an American pioneer ofcomputer music.
Max Vernon Mathews was born in Columbus, Nebraska, to two science schoolteachers. His father in particular taught physics, chemistry and biology in the Peru High School[1] of Nebraska, where he was also the principal.[2] His father allowed him to learn and play in the physics, biology and chemistry laboratories, where he enjoyed making lots of things from motors to mercury barometers. At the age of 9, when students are usually introduced to algebra, he started to study by himself the subject with few other students. That was because the vast majority of population there were farmers and their sons weren't interested about learning algebra, since it isn't useful for the everyday work. In the same way he studied calculus, but he never graduated from high school.[2]
After a period as a radar repairman in the navy, where he fell in love with electronics, Mathews decided to study electrical engineering at theCalifornia Institute of Technology and theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving aSc.D. in 1954. Working atBell Labs, Mathews wroteMUSIC, the first widely used program for sound generation, in 1957. For the rest of the century, he continued as a leader in digitalaudio research,synthesis, andhuman-computer interaction as it pertains to musicperformance. In 1968, Mathews and L. Rosler developedGraphic 1, an interactivegraphical sound system on which one could draw figures using a light-pen that would be converted into sound, simplifying the process ofcomposing computer generated music.[3][4] Also in 1970, Mathews and F. R. Moore developed theGROOVE (Generated Real-time Output Operations on Voltage-controlled Equipment) system,[5] a first fully developedmusic synthesis system for interactive composition and realtime performance, using 3C/HoneywellDDP-24[6] (or DDP-224)[7] minicomputers. It used a CRT display to simplify the management of music synthesis in realtime, 12bit D/A for realtime sound playback, an interface for analog devices, and even several controllers including a musical keyboard, knobs, and rotatingjoysticks to capture realtime performance.[3][7][4]
Although MUSIC was not the first attempt to generate sound with a computer (an AustralianCSIRAC computer played tunes as early as 1951),[8] Mathews fathered generations of digital music tools. He described his work in parental terms, in the following excerpt from "Horizons in Computer Music", March 8–9, 1997,Indiana University:
Computer performance of music was born in 1957 when anIBM 704 in NYC played a 17 second composition on theMusic I program which I wrote. The timbres and notes were not inspiring, but the technical breakthrough is still reverberating. Music I led me to Music II through V. A host of others wrote Music 10, Music 360, Music 15,Csound and Cmix. Many exciting pieces are now performed digitally. The IBM 704 and its siblings were strictly studio machines – they were far too slow to synthesize music in real-time.Chowning'sFM algorithms and the advent of fast, inexpensive, digital chips made real-time possible, and equally important, made it affordable.Starting with the GROOVE program in 1970, my interests have focused on live performance and what a computer can do to aid a performer. I made a controller, theRadio-Baton, plus a program, theConductor program, to provide new ways for interpreting and performing traditional scores. In addition to contemporary composers, these proved attractive to soloists as a way of playing orchestral accompaniments. Singers often prefer to play their own accompaniments. Recently I have added improvisational options which make it easy to writecompositional algorithms. These can involve precomposed sequences, random functions, and live performance gestures. The algorithms are written in theC language. We have taught a course in this area toStanford undergraduates for two years. To our happy surprise, the students liked learning and using C. Primarily I believe it gives them a feeling of complete power to command the computer to do anything it is capable of doing.
In 1961, Mathews arranged the accompaniment of the song "Daisy Bell" for an uncanny performance by computer-synthesized human voice, using technology developed byJohn Kelly, Carol Lochbaum, Joan Miller andLou Gerstman of Bell Laboratories. AuthorArthur C. Clarke was coincidentally visiting friend and colleagueJohn Pierce at the Bell LabsMurray Hill facility at the time of this remarkablespeech synthesis demonstration and was so impressed that he later toldStanley Kubrick to use it in2001: A Space Odyssey, in the climactic scene where theHAL 9000 computer sings while his cognitive functions are disabled.[9]
Mathews directed the Acoustical and Behavioral Research Center at Bell Laboratories from 1962 to 1985, which carried out research in speech communication, visual communication, human memory and learning, programmed instruction, analysis of subjective opinions, physical acoustics, and industrial robotics. From 1974 to 1980 he was the Scientific Advisor to the Institute de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), Paris, France, and from 1987 was Professor of Music (Research) atStanford University. He served as the Master of Ceremonies for the concert program of NIME-01, the inaugural conference onNew interfaces for musical expression.
Mathews was a member of theNational Academy of Sciences, theNational Academy of Engineering and a fellow in theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, theAcoustical Society of America, theIEEE, and theAudio Engineering Society. He received aSilver Medal in Musical Acoustics[10] from theAcoustical Society of America, and the Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et Lettres, République Française.
The Max portion of the software packageMax/MSP is named after him (the MSP portion is named forMiller Puckette, who teaches atUC San Diego).
Mathews died on the morning of 21 April 2011 in San Francisco, California of complications frompneumonia. He was 84. He was survived by his wife, Marjorie, his three sons and six grandchildren.
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