Computer Music issue 1
21 years ago, the computer was just starting to be powerful enough to crunch enough data for proper music making. Where the Ataris and Commodores of the 80s had done MIDI well, the Macs and PCs of the 90s were starting to do ‘audio’ well too. Some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to cash in on this new era of music making. Another (shamelessly) copied the (entire) format of sister magazine Computer Arts, and three months of sitting around later,
Computer Music was born…
Issue 1 had a feature about ‘Music on the internet’, an interview with games music guru Nathan McRee who wrote the score to Tomb
Raider (in a feature hilariously entitled ‘Tune Raider’) and a round up of the cards you needed to insert into your computers to make them make sound (called, appropriately, soundcards). The magazine came with a free CD-ROM (like a DVD only more rubbish) with £200 of free software, 500 samples but not one free plugin in sight, simply because they hadn’t quite been invented back then.
The idea of this revolutionary magazine was that we would inform a largely beginner audience about how the machines with which they compiled emails, spreadsheets and letters could potentially – with some tinkering, jiggerypokery, and quite a lot of it as it transpired – make beautiful music.
The vision was that these machines would become ‘the most important’ instruments in the world and, to some extent, that was realised as our Macs and PCs became powerful enough to run plugin instruments and effects. The only problem – and something perhaps we didn’t predict – was that making music solely on a machine designed for producing spreadsheets and letters, eventually felt like you were, well, producing letters and spreadsheets.
Over the course of the following decades, then, an entire industry of software and hardware grew up to help make the experience more enjoyable, more real and tactile, less computer-y. The computer itself is now certainly the most powerful part of a recording setup but just that, a part, and the hybrid studio of software talking to classic outboard and analogue gear has now become as popular as the do-it-all in-the-box laptop studio. Add to that the way the iPad – just another computer, really – revolutionised mobile and touch music making and computer music making has exploded to take on all sorts of shapes, practices and forms. It is an exciting time for all of us and surely (hopefully!) the next 21 years of the magazine. But we digress…
Issue 1 of actually sold out, and such was the demand, it was reprinted – unheard of for magazines back then! And then – can you believe it? – it sold out again! The rest, as they say… is history is Ableton Live, Serum, AutoTune, Omnisphere, FL Studio, loads of words with a ‘k’ where a ‘c’ should be, Cubase SX, Z3ta, way too many companies based in Berlin, Sylenth, Massive, the incredible plugin suite, way too many features on ‘the dubstep wobble’, Logic Pro X, many weird controllers and, ultimately, the world’s best-selling music software magazine, for which we must simply say ‘thanks’ to you dear reader. So thanks!