Computers and music (Skill Zone News, 24-Apr-2009)
Computers and music
Over the years there have been lots of covers of "Bohemian Rhapsody", and using computers to generate music is nothing new, but a computer enthusiast going by the name of James of Toronto has created a version of Queen's classic which brings a whole new meaning to computer-generated music.
In his "Old School Computer Remix", the band is made up of computers and peripherals which have all seen better days. They are used for the motorised mechanical noises they generate, such as the whirring of the an old HP Scanjet, or the more percussive thudding of a floppy disc drive. Neither is it a digital sampling of sounds which are then played through a synthesiser keyboard. Instead it is the result of programming to get the various bits of obsolete kit to move at the right speeds and with the right timings to generate the sounds directly, along with an Atari 800 (remember them?) providing the organ sound.
Equally heart-warming is the news that in a poll of the best sci-fi theme tunes of all time, the Doctor Who theme tune topped the list, beating off strong competition from Red Dwarf, the X Files, Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Composed almost 50 years ago at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Dr Who was one of the first pieces of electronic music to be used as a programme theme tune and was created on tape from a recording of single plucked string which was speeded up, slowed down, spliced together, and mixed with samples of white noise to create the original of the music which is still so familiar today.
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