Re: [microsound] audio interface cards for real time processing

[Richard Zvonar <zvonar@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 9:37 AM -0800 2/25/03, Jonathan Hughes wrote:
>  >did cage use digidesign ?
>
>Had John Cage lived to see the prevalence and power of today's 
>computer-based music creation and audio editing system, it wouldn't 
>surprise me if he would have taken advantage of it.

That's debatable. Cage had ample exposure to the technology but 
generally chose not to pursue it in a hand-on fashion. That's not to 
say that he didn't use computers - far from it! In 1969 I saw Cage 
and Gordon Mumma at Project Mac (the artificial intelligence project 
at MIT) doing an interactive performance between Mumma on musical saw 
and a mainframe computer. The programmer/operator was Steve Smoliar, 
who did some work with Cage and Merce Cunningham over the years, 
creating tools for computer-assisted composition. Cunningham was, and 
continues to be, particularly eager to adopt digital tools for his 
choreography (LifeForms) and for cataloging his video performance 
archive. Since John and Merce lived together for many years, this 
technology was ready at hand. My impression was that although Cage 
took delight in new technologies he tended to let other "specialists" 
do the hands-on work while he conceived of situations in which to use 
the results.

John Cage was also a visual artist who delighted in the physical 
nature of materials, and this engagement in the material world was a 
nice counterpoint to his more philosophical leanings. He was also of 
a generation and a temperament that loved routine disciple. He had 
his methods and his work schedule and seemed happiest when these 
could coexist with his other obligations, such as residencies and 
performance tours.

An interesting sidelight was a comment that composer Conlon Nancarrow 
made on a panel at the Cabrillo Music Festival in the early 1980s 
(this panel also included John Cage and Lou Harrison). When a 
question about what the future of music might be, Conlon replied, 
"Why, computer music of course!" When further asked if he himself 
might adopt it he said "no," that he was too firmly entrenched in his 
practice of cutting piano rolls to change tools that late in life.

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______________________________________________________________
Richard Zvonar, PhD
(818) 788-2202
http://www.zvonar.com
http://RZCybernetics.com

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