4/28/2009
Written by
University of Illinois computer science alumnus Bill Schaeffer has released a new CD recording of music he composed and created on the PLATO system in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The CD, PLATO Computer Music 1977 - 1982, was created using the Gooch Synthetic Woodwind box and the Gooch Cybernetic Synthesizer invented by computer engineering alumnus Sherwin Gooch for the PLATO system.
"Somehow I arranged an interview with Sherwin," says Schaeffer, "and he introduced me to the PLATO system. He gave me a signon, and I learned to use pnotes, term-talk, and all the rest of the system features. Eventually, I wrote some simple programs, but mostly I wrote music.
"For many months, I would go to CERL, when I was done studying at night. I checked out a GSW box and tried little experiments. I felt like an explorer in an alien musical universe where no man had yet travelled...To me, this was the future of music."
The Gooch Cybernetic Synthesizer used by Schaeffer in these recordings was a sixteen voice programmable waveform synthesizer. Each voice had a 256 point waveform and an ASR envelope. There was no filtering or post processing of the sound. Each song was composed by Schaeffer in a special music language code called OPAL and then compiled on PLATO for performance on the GCS.
"I loved working on the GCS. I loved the opportunity to make music on PLATO. I am very happy that the music was able to be salvaged and digitally restored from old audio recordings," said Schaeffer.
"I never would have had this opportunity unless I was a student at University of Illinois."
The recording is available at www.cdbaby.com/all/was57.