
Restoring the first recording of computer music (2016) - ohjeez
https://blogs.bl.uk/sound-and-vision/2016/09/restoring-the-first-recording-of-computer-music.html
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triclops200
Listening to the piece at the end of the article is somehow incredibly
exciting. Aside from the fact that I'm deeply interested in digital music
synthesis, just the fact that this recording exists and you can literally hear
the human element and reaction to it at the time is just such a wonderful
feeling. A lot of modern technology gets a (somewhat justified) bad rap, but
things like this where you can have that strong human connection nearly a
hundred years after the fact will be such an interesting shift for future
historians, assuming we find ways to keep this data around for the future.

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rkuykendall-com
It's amazing the ways we... take the limited artifacts of the past and tune
them to recreate the human feelings that the original recorders intended but
couldn't create themselves.

It reminds me of They Shall Not Grow Old
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Shall_Not_Grow_Old](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Shall_Not_Grow_Old)

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jacquesm
That's a very interesting recording, not just because of the music but because
of the people, and how incredibly happy they sound. On the (off key) rendering
of 'In the Mood' someone comments 'The computer is obviously not in the mood',
and then they try again. The sound is a bit like a cello. Would be nice to
sample it so that it can be used as an instrument in a synth.

My own first computer 'music' (big word for what it sounded like) was made
using a KIM-1 and an AM radio held close to it. Pretty limited environment but
lots of fun.

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mellosouls
Mentioned in passing: the Programmer's Handbook (for the Manchester Electronic
Computer) by Alan Turing

[http://www.alanturing.net/programmers_handbook/](http://www.alanturing.net/programmers_handbook/)

Submitted separately fwiw:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23784547](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23784547)

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LeoPanthera
I appreciate why they did a noise reduction pass, but it does have the
unfortunate side-effect of making the voices in the background unintelligible.
I would like to have known what they were saying.

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ruytlm
Related: the first known music played by a computer was earlier that year in
Australia.[0] Article includes modern recreations of the music.

[0]: [https://theconversation.com/how-australia-played-the-
worlds-...](https://theconversation.com/how-australia-played-the-worlds-first-
music-on-a-computer-60381)

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grasshopperpurp
Can't help but think of this.

[https://youtu.be/41U78QP8nBk](https://youtu.be/41U78QP8nBk)

