Real-time computer control of sound synthesis dates to Max Mathews' GROOVE system (1968)

Before computers were fast enough to synthesise audio in real time, they were first used to control analog synthesis equipment live. Max Mathews’ GROOVE (Generated Real-time Operations On Voltage-controlled Equipment), running from October 1968, used a DDP-224 computer as a control engine for an array of analog synthesisers, letting a performer shape sound through computer-mediated gestures rather than fixed scores. GROOVE marks the origin of the real-time, interactive strand of computer music that later produced live performance systems and, eventually, live coding. It is distinct from the earlier score-generation strand (Hiller and Isaacson’s rule-based Illiac Suite, 1956), which used the computer to compose rather than to perform.

Examples

GROOVE (1968) drove analog synths from a DDP-224 in real time. This control-not-synthesis lineage runs forward to MIDI sequencing, laptop performance, and live coding tools such as SuperCollider and Strudel.

Assessment

What did Max Mathews’ GROOVE system (1968) use the computer for, and how does that differ from the way Hiller and Isaacson used a computer for the Illiac Suite (1956)?