So, This is Why You Came...

Earlier today I digitized some examples that originally came on vinyl to supplement this book:



below is the audio that came from these two extremely floppy discs:

Side 1
Side 2
Side 3
Side 4

The book was written by a man named John Robinson Pierce who was a professor at Stanford University in Engineering and who also had a very prominent career at Bell Laboratories where he not only helped develop some of the first satellite communication techniques (Telstar 1) but also a great many discoveries in psychoacoustics and computer music. One such discovery was a musical tuning system that is now called the Bohlen-Pierce Scale (Heinz Bohlen had previously made a similar discovery which was expressed in just-intonation).

John Pierce also had a friendly relationship with science fiction author Sir Arthur C. Clarke. In 1963, Pierce invited Sir Clarke to a convention featuring some of the first computer generated music. One such presentation displayed the first talking computer. Towards the end of the presentation, the computer sang a song called "Daisy (Bicycle Built For Two)" that Clarke and film maker Stanley Kubrik later used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Pierce also created a scenario in the film where an orbiting picturephone booth is utilized.

Back to the point:

The examples I digitized are just supplements to the book, but I bet they would make some great sampling material. Also, I could not find any digitized version on the internet so I did this for YOU. Please utilize at will until I get sued.

Bill


P.S. - My far off connection to John Pierce is through a man named Max Mathews (known to most as the "father of computer music" and the inspiration for Max/MSP synthesis programming):

Max Mathews was also featured at the first computer music festival where he generated the first computer music in history to accompany the first talking computer (singing daisy with accompaniment...listen to the link I posted above because it is incredible). Max Mathews came to give a few lectures at my college in the Music Synthesis Department where I was mostly hanging out at the time (despite being a Composition focus). I performed some Bach Inventions on an instrument Mr. Mathews invented called the Radio Baton. Mr. Mathews complemented my performance and I was just psyched to be associated in some distant way to these crazy scientists.