Many people now use computers to create music, but few know that the association stretches back over 50 years to CSIRAC – Australia’s first computer.
A new book about the first computer music ever generated was launched today at Melbourne Museum, along with an informative new website dedicated to the computer on which it was created – CSIRAC.
The Music of CSIRAC: Australia’s First Computer Music was written by composer/sinologist Paul Doornbusch and is published by Common Ground Publishing, in association with Museum Victoria.
Charting a new history of computer music starting in Australia in the early 1950s, it brings to life the great spirit of invention and imagination shown by the engineers and programmers who made it possible for a machine to make music.
CSIRAC: Australia’s First Computer is Museum Victoria’s newest website. Detailing the CSIRAC story from conception through years of operation to its ultimate conservation, it features historical video footage, audio clips of CSIRAC’s music and examples of digitised items from the CSIRAC Archive.
CSIRAC is the only intact first-generation computer in the world. Running its first program in 1949, it was the world's fourth stored-memory computer.
On display at Melbourne Museum, CSIRAC can be viewed daily from 10am to 5pm.