Editing Max Mathews

{{Short description|American computer music pioneer (1926–2011)}}
[[File:Max Mathews on 80th birthday.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Max Mathews on his 80th birthday]]
'''Max Vernon Mathews''' (November 13, 1926 – April 21, 2011) was an American pioneer of [[computer music]].

==Biography==
[[File:Mathews84Violin.PNG|thumb|upright=1.3|Max Mathews playing one of the electronic violins he built, in his analog electronics lab at Bell Telephone Labs  (c. 1970)<!-- in 1984 -->]] Max Vernon Mathews was born in Columbus, Nebraska, to two science schoolteachers. His father in particular taught physics, chemistry and biology in the Peru High School <ref>{{Cite web |last=Bell |first=Gordon C. |title=Max V. Mathews 1926–2011 |url=https://www.nae.edu/189840/MAX-V-MATHEWS-19262011 |access-date=16 May 2023 |website=National Academy of Engineering}}</ref> of Nebraska, where he was also the principal.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Park |first=Tae Hong |title=An Interview with Max Mathews |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40301041 |journal=Computer Music Journal |date=2009 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=9–22 |jstor=40301041 }}</ref> His father allowed him to learn and play in the physics, biology and chemistry laboratories, where he enjoyed making lots of things from motors to mercury barometers. At the age of 9, when students are usually introduced to algebra, he started to study by himself the subject with few other students. That was because the vast majority of population there were farmers and their sons weren't interested about learning algebra, since it isn't useful for the everyday work. In the same way he studied calculus, but he never graduated from high school.<ref name=":0" />

After a period as a radar repairman in the navy, where he fell in love with electronics, Mathews decided to study electrical engineering at the [[California Institute of Technology]] and the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], receiving a [[Sc.D.]] in 1954. Working at [[Bell Labs]], Mathews wrote [[MUSIC-N|MUSIC]], the first widely used program for sound generation, in 1957. For the rest of the century, he continued as a leader in digital [[sound reproduction|audio]] research, [[Sound synthesis|synthesis]], and [[human-computer interaction]] as it pertains to music [[performance]]. In 1968, Mathews and L. Rosler developed [[Graphic 1]], an interactive [[graphical sound]] system on which one could draw figures using a light-pen that would be converted into sound, simplifying the process of [[algorithmic composition|composing computer generated music]].<ref name="holmes2008">
{{cite book
  | last  = Holmes | first = Thom
  | year  = 2008
  | chapter=Digital Synthesis and Computer Music
  | title = Electronic and experimental music: technology, music, and culture
  | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=hCthQ-bec-QC&q=Mathews+MUSIC+GROOVE+%22Graphic+1%22&pg=PA254 254]
  | publisher = Taylor & Francis
  | isbn  = 978-0-415-95781-6
}}</ref><ref name="roads1980" />  Also in 1970, Mathews and F. R. Moore developed the [[GROOVE]] (Generated Real-time Output Operations on Voltage-controlled Equipment) system,<ref name="groove">
{{cite journal
  |first1 = Mathews |last1 = Max V.
  |first2 = Moore   |last2 = F.R.
  |year   = 1970
  |title  = GROOVE—a program to compose, store, and edit functions of time
  |journal= Communications of the ACM
  |volume = 13 |issue=12
}}</ref> a first fully developed [[algorithmic composition|music synthesis]] system for interactive composition and realtime performance, using 3C/[[Honeywell]] [[DDP-24]]<ref name="vercoe">
{{cite web
  |author1=Nyssim Lefford |author2=Eric D. Scheirer |author3=Barry L. Vercoe  |name-list-style=amp | title = An Interview with Barry Vercoe
  | url   = http://www.media.mit.edu/events/EMS/bv-interview.html
  | work  = Experimental Music Studio 25
  | publisher = Machine Listening Group, MIT Media Laboratory
}}</ref> (or DDP-224)<ref name="bogdanov2001" /> minicomputers. It used a CRT display to simplify the management of music synthesis in realtime, 12bit D/A for realtime sound playback, an interface for analog devices, and even several controllers including a musical keyboard, knobs, and rotating [[joystick]]s to capture realtime performance.<ref name="holmes2008" /><ref name="bogdanov2001">
{{cite book
  | last  = Bogdanov | first = Vladimir
  | year  = 2001
  | title = All music guide to electronica: the definitive guide to electronic music
  | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=GJNXLSBlL7IC&q=GROOVE+Generated+Real-time+Output+Operations+on+Voltage-controlled+Equipment&pg=PT271 320]
  | publisher = Backbeat Books
  | isbn  = 978-0-87930-628-1
}}</ref><ref name="roads1980">
{{cite journal
  | last  = Roads | first = Curtis
  | title = Interview with Max Mathews
  | date  = Winter 1980
  | journal = Computer Music Journal
  | volume=4 | number = 4 }} <br />in
{{cite book
  | editor= Curtis Roads
  | title = The Music Machine: Selected Readings from Computer Music Journal
  | year = 1989
 | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=bqKfS3qQjMQC&q=Mathews&pg=PA5 5]
  | publisher = MIT Press (1989/1992)
  | isbn  = 978-0-262-68078-3
}}</ref>

Although MUSIC was not the first attempt to generate sound with a computer (an Australian [[CSIRAC]] computer played tunes as early as 1951),<ref name="CSIRAC">
{{cite web
  | title = Australian CSIRAC computer website
  | url   = http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/csirac/music/2.html
}}</ref> Mathews fathered generations of digital music tools. He described his work in parental terms, in the following excerpt from "Horizons in Computer Music", March 8–9, 1997, [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University]]:

{{quote|Computer performance of music was born in 1957 when an [[IBM 704]] in NYC played a 17 second composition on the [[Music I]] program which I wrote. The timbres and notes were not inspiring, but the technical breakthrough is still reverberating. Music I led me to Music II through V. A host of others wrote Music 10, Music 360, Music 15, [[Csound]] and Cmix. Many exciting pieces are now performed digitally. The IBM 704 and its siblings were strictly studio machines – they were far too slow to synthesize music in real-time. [[John Chowning|Chowning's]] [[Frequency modulation synthesis|FM algorithms]] and the advent of fast, inexpensive, digital chips made real-time possible, and equally important, made it affordable.

Starting with the GROOVE program in 1970, my interests have focused on live performance and what a computer can do to aid a performer. I made a controller, the [[Radio-Baton]], plus a program, the [[Conductor (software)|Conductor]] program, to provide new ways for interpreting and performing traditional scores. In addition to contemporary composers, these proved attractive to soloists as a way of playing orchestral accompaniments. Singers often prefer to play their own accompaniments.  Recently I have added improvisational options which make it easy to write [[Algorithmic composition|compositional algorithm]]s. These can involve precomposed sequences, random functions, and live performance gestures. The algorithms are written in the [[C (language)|C language]]. We have taught a course in this area to [[Stanford]] undergraduates for two years. To our happy surprise, the students liked learning and using C. Primarily I believe it gives them a feeling of complete power to command the computer to do anything it is capable of doing.}}

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<div style="clear:right;float:right;margin-top:-3.3ex;">
[[Image:Max Mathews Radio Baton demo 1, SF MusicTech Summit VI, May 17, 2010.ogv|thumb|Radio-Baton demonstration by Mathews on SF MusicTech Summit 2010]]</div>

In 1961, Mathews arranged the accompaniment of the song "[[Daisy Bell]]" for an uncanny performance by computer-synthesized human voice, using technology developed by [[John Larry Kelly, Jr|John Kelly]], Carol Lochbaum, Joan Miller and [[Louis Gerstman|Lou Gerstman]] of Bell Laboratories. Author [[Arthur C. Clarke]] was coincidentally visiting friend and colleague [[John R. Pierce|John Pierce]] at the Bell Labs [[Murray Hill, New Jersey|Murray Hill]] facility at the time of this remarkable [[speech synthesis]] demonstration and was so impressed that he later told [[Stanley Kubrick]] to use it in ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'', in the climactic scene where the [[HAL 9000]] computer sings while his cognitive functions are disabled.<ref name="bell labs hal">
{{cite web
 |title=Bell Labs: Where "HAL" First Spoke (Bell Labs Speech Synthesis Web Site)
 |url=http://www.bell-labs.com/news/1997/march/5/2.html
 |access-date=February 8, 2007
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000407081031/http://www.bell-labs.com/news/1997/march/5/2.html
 |archive-date=April 7, 2000
}}</ref>

Mathews directed the Acoustical and Behavioral Research Center at Bell Laboratories from 1962 to 1985, which carried out research in speech communication, visual communication, human memory and learning, programmed instruction, analysis of subjective opinions, physical acoustics, and industrial robotics. From 1974 to 1980 he was the Scientific Advisor to the Institute de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique ([[IRCAM]]), Paris, France, and from 1987 was Professor of Music (Research) at [[Stanford University]]. He served as the Master of Ceremonies for the concert program of NIME-01, the inaugural conference on [[New interfaces for musical expression]].

Mathews was a member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]], the [[National Academy of Engineering]] and a fellow in the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], the [[Acoustical Society of America]], the [[IEEE]], and the [[Audio Engineering Society]]. He received a [[ASA Silver Medal|Silver Medal in Musical Acoustics]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Acoustical Society of America Awards|url=https://acousticalsociety.org/acoustical-society-of-america-awards/|access-date=2021-11-28|website=Acoustical Society of America|language=en-US}}</ref> from the [[Acoustical Society of America]], and the Chevalier de l'[[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|ordre des Arts et Lettres]], République Française.

The Max portion of the software package [[Max (software)|Max/MSP]] is named after him (the MSP portion is named for [[Miller Puckette]], who teaches at [[University of California, San Diego|UC San Diego]]).

Mathews died on the morning of 21 April 2011 in San Francisco, California of complications from [[pneumonia]]. He was 84. He was survived by his wife, Marjorie, his three sons and six grandchildren.

==See also==
* [[Qwartz Electronic Music Awards]]
* [[Algorithmic composition]]
* [[Graphical sound]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Max Mathews}}
* [http://120years.net/wordpress/groove-systems-max-mathews-usa-1970/ the GROOVE System on '120 Years Of Electronic Music']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140111140457/http://www.signallake.com/innovation/MVMathews1963.pdf The Digital Computer as a Musical Instrument; Science, Vol. 142, Iss. 3592, pp. 553–557 1963–11]
* [http://www.csounds.com/mathews/ Max Mathews] at [http://www.csounds.com/ cSounds.com]
* [http://www.qwartz.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=259&Itemid=91 Max Mathews received the Qwartz d'Honneur – 2008]
* [http://stretta.blogspot.com/2011/04/max-matthews-1926-2011.html Max Matthews 1926–2011] on Stretta blog
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130115160847/http://blog.frieze.com/max-mathews/ Max Mathews 1926–2011 by Geeta Dayal, Frieze Magazine, May 9, 2011]
* [http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2011/04/21/max-mathews-computer-music-pioneer-r-i-p/ Max Mathews, Computer Music Pioneer, R.I.P.]
* [http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2009.33.3.9 Max Mathews interview in Computer Music Journal] by Tae Hong Park
* [http://www.musicainformatica.org/topics/groove.php The GROOVE System]
* [https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/max-mathews Max Mathews Interview] at [[NAMM Oral History Program|NAMM Oral History Collection]] March 29, 2007

{{Computer music}}
{{SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Max}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:American electrical engineers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the IEEE]]
[[Category:Scientists at Bell Labs]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:California Institute of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:People from Columbus, Nebraska]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]