The SK-1 was epic in my life at 12 years old ... sampling farts and burps, then composing songs with those sounds. Got to make all of my buddies laugh ... was totally worth it.
5:09 Gary Kildall = legend . "During the 1970s, Kildall created the CP/M operating system among other operating systems and programming tools, and subsequently founded Digital Research, Inc. (or "DRI") to market and sell his software products. Kildall was among the earliest individuals to recognize microprocessors as fully capable computers (rather than simply as equipment controllers), and to organize a company around this concept. Due to his accomplishments during this era, Kildall is considered a pioneer of the personal computer revolution"
No doubt. CP/M alone was the cornerstone building block for the entire personal computing software industry, let alone all his other contributions. Gary was a genius and didn't need an IQ test to prove it.
Wow, The Computer Chronicles really had a tight guest schedule; companies better sent their fastest representatives to showcase their systems in such a short time!
I noticed that too. Stewart is always cutting off the guests and rushing them through the demonstrations. This should have been an hour-long show instead to give everyone more breathing room.
People didn't really respect or take MIDI seriously and it's pretty much the same deal today. It requires a load of cash to aquire the hardware and software to actually get it to sound acceptable. There are actually many differrent routes and ways to go about it and it is not only good for giving yourself a headache, but also wasting your money on things that leave you dissatisfied with the results... It really is about trying to sell the illusion of being given the ability to make music, that will be successful, when in reality, It's just not that easy or straightforward. They didn't want to play alot, because it's hard to take seriously and they knew it. 😆 The Charlie brown bit was all detuned and harsh. It's come a long way and is actually much better now then it used to be by default, but still requires hardware and money to get it to sound high quality and realistic.
It was a poor choice for a demo to show off on THAT program...it barely gets into the 2nd voice and the interviewer is like "yeah ok, ok, what you got for us Bob?"
@@dickrichard626 But MIDI is not about how bad/good particular instrument or note sounds. It's a communication protocol for devices, to pair and use them together. IT'S NOT A MUSIC. This is like blaming Bluetooth and saying it sux because photo from camera sent using it looks shit and blurry. Nonsense.
Still amazes me how many people don't really get what MIDI is or why it's important. It's not there to give you really bad performances through your SB16 or your AdLib card. It's there to record what notes are being played, for how long, and when, divided into tracks (along with other information) so that it can be transferred to any other electronic instrument that has a MIDI interface - and it can be played, live, with that instrument. Extremely powerful stuff.
Yeah. Many people think MIDI = just the MIDI song file format (or old phone ringtone format), and not the cross-device cross-platform communication standard for transmitting performance and control data. The standard is/was so good, it was almost 40 years before a brand new version of the standard was established.
@@sontodosnarcos The language of electronic music gear... synthesizer, sampler, beat boxes, vst soft synths etc etc You can control literally everything...MIDI was and is a great thing....even with the incredible power of modern DAWs.
basically back then the synth is used to generate the sounds for the computer. But now it is the reverse. you can get the cheapest keyboard in the world and use it to trigger the most expensive VSTi samples installed on your PC.
Yep, I've done that too,, trigger VSTi with my MIDI-only keyboard. Back in the older days, I loved to hear the SID synth playing on my Commodore 64 (which I still have all that stuff). I also did the Amiga MODPLay stuff on my PC, in the early 1990s, which I built the circuit board that output the signal out of the parallel printer port to an 8-bit DAC which then fed to duo power amplifier IC's & then to speakers using Quaker Oats cylinder box as the speaker cabs. But I haven't done much music tinkering these past few years.
Even the show that talks about Windows 95. Not that was a delight back then when I was a teenager. I kind of wished I could have discovered Computer Chronicles when I was around 4 years old but man I was too young to comprehend English fully back then. 😅
@@graysonpeddie I had not been on a microcomputer during the Microsoft Windows 95 era; not even the DOS period. This is because employers never employed me to have chances on working on a microcomputer, even though I have had excellent keyboarding skills. I had some exposure to the IBM PC at a school in 1988, thus leading me to "major" in word processing. Then, I bought my first microcomputer which was Cybernet that included Microsoft Windows XP Professional, and Microsoft Office XP Professional, including Microsoft Publisher 2002, in the year 2002. Since 2017, I replaced Cybernet with a Dell Inspiron microcomputer, with Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, and Microsoft Office 2021. Now, I am free as a bird! Thank you for tapping or typing to me. I bid you "Happy Keyboarding!"
You're so right! I watched every Saturday on PBS as a child, this episode brings back so many memories, since I was enthralled with synths at that age... around 13 when this first aired. I dreamed of owning one for years, as we were fairly poor growing up, until eventually getting a cheap guitar at 15 and learning that instead.
@@David.C.Velasquez This episode has shown me some of the microcomputers I missed learning due to numerous employment rejections. Today, I have been blessed to have owned a microcomputer, two printers and a scanner, and to continually learn business production with the applications software I have. I do not need to search for the work; the work searches out for me. Thank you very much for typing to me. Until next time, Happy Keyboarding!
This is one of the coolest videos I've seen in all of UA-cam and I had NO IDEA that computerized music technology was this advanced back then. This video has so many mind blowing things in it for the time. Thanks for posting this, Computer Chronicles channel!
I started my midi studio in 1986: atari 1040ste w/monitor ($550) C-Lab midi software ($600) Korg C-30 midi 88keyboard ($1200)..still using today. Then added as could afford: Korg 03r/w, Roland JV-880, Kurzweil K2000r, Yamaha Motif-RackES...still using all today. The atari was the first to come with built-in midi connections, AND the first to use "desktop" icons to "click" to start programs.(prior to Mac/apple) Today I use all Linux open source software....Ardour6.9 does everything my Emagic/Logic Platinum was doing in the '90's. I've been building my own PC's since retiring the atari, which I only used for a couple of years. I remember paying $350 for 350MB of "extended" memory for the atari stE. Note: the thousands of dollars I spent on my studio setup were the best investments I've ever made, not for dollars returned on investment, but the joy of playing/composing my own music........priceless. Today anyone can obtain a used pc/laptop & midi keyboard for very little cost. Install a free DAW(I use Ardour) and start making music, of your own creation. Sadly, there are less and less really talented musicians, but even noises being produced today by most is a form of music/entertainment. If our species can survive the shit that is happening due to the thieves who manipulate this world, music will be, again, the universal language, when all are in harmony with natural law.(and the thieves properly punished)
@@emanuel_soundtrack Rarely do the most talented musicians become part of the "music industry". Marriage, children, jobs, paying the bills to raise/support a family becomes priority #1, tho music was their(our) passion/purpose. Somehow I've survived the drugs and suicides which took a number of my friends. For that I thank having a midi studio I've used as therapy, never really stopping/ending the passion for playing, composing, if only for my own pleasure. There does seem to be an abundance of talented producers popping up using their daws but I've never known a talented musician who is also a talented producer, for that is not where the passion is.
it's shit because there's no gatekeeping. You can get into making some beeps and bops in less than an hour or two. We just need to move the bar higher, that's all.
To be fair, I would have assumed that he & Activision were told by CC that he would only be there to demo for only a minute or so. I would have hoped that Chris would have watched previous episodes of CC in the days prior, just to get an understanding of how fast the show goes. I watched CC back in the day & I always looked forward to it every week, along with NBA Inside Stuff that came right after it (on another tv channel of course), from the mid 1980's through to the early 2000's.
I learned how to write music on the old Guitar Pro software that only used MIDI instruments. I really prefer the simpler tools when it comes to composing, I've tried some of the other programs out there like Propellerhead's Reason software and I get caught up fine tuning one instrument or sound to such an in depth level that I end up wasting time. The MIDI stuff is a blast.
@@haywoodyoudome Yeah. Damn Soviets, occupying my country for 45 years without even asking! The technology gap was at least 15-20 years. We never even heard of any of this stuff.
2 роки тому
hey, we had the official tv and radio channels broadcasting software. which you could record on your tape deck, then load in your home computer you got from mariahilfer strasse in vienna. we. had. it. all.
@ Haha! Yeah. You had what you could bring in yourself or bought soviet knock-offs from shady costers on the gray market. You needed coin and connections in both cases.
Vids like this really make me feel old. These kids today really don’t understand the struggle we had making music back in the 80’s. They completely take for granted free apps on their phones like GarageBand.., and have no clue how much we had to pay for gear back in the 80’s. We’ve come so far since this video. I’ve got an entire virtual studio on ONE small laptop, and NEVER in my wildest imagination would I have thought back then that we would be where we are now. One laptop with even a half decent DAW has literally replaced countless pieces of hardware we used to have that was needed to produce an album. When I was making music in the 80’s.., it was EXPENSIVE as hell for gear. That Yamaha DX-7 you see in this vid wasn’t by any means affordable either.., and that applied pretty much to all the pro level synths of the day. We all wanted a badass REEL to REEL, and our worlds were rocked when affordable 4 track tape recorders started hitting the market. I do not miss getting lost in the never ending mess of cables and plugs too. These 20 something musicians today should be forced to spend 6 months making music on the same gear we used in the 80’s…, maybe then they would see how good they have it now.
Nicely said, and somehow I recall making music back then more satisfying than today, but that's probab\ly because thought I'd be a musical superstar rather than a complete wanker.
Software salesman blabs on for a few minutes. Gary Kildall chimes in" So it's a word processor but for music" BOOM! Gary condenses 3 minutes of blab to 8 words, now that's a genius programmers mind at work.
@@marklechman2225 Yeah, so busy he didn't show up at IBM's invitation to provide them with an OS for their upcoming Personal Computer, which allowed Bill Gates to swoop in, become the richest man alive, and unleash Covid on our asses to distract us from his involvement with Epstein
So interesting to see how it all started. I’m surprised how many functions you can do on these programs back then. I play on my old Yamaha PSR-175 with a cheap MIDI cable from amazon lol. Never really thought about how MIDI works since its just plugging a cable into the computer. You really take technology for granted nowadays.
@@tB3o3tR9o9 LOL 😂- so long ago since I used it forgot about how it was spelled. There is a video on my channel of my old studio in 1998 - we still have the ST in that video.
First time watching this show ever and I'm all in. Seeing the infancy of computers and all the great names that pioneered the industry. Frickin awesome.
@3:20 Digital Performer when it was known as Professional Composer. Most of those windows, icons and menu items are still in use today by DP. Even 35 years on I could use that version and know exactly what’s what. That’s amazing! I almost chose an Amiga over a Macintosh, but I felt that the Macintosh Toolbox and interface language assured that the Mac platform would be stable and around for awhile. The Amiga was great, no doubt. I wish Apple would have made one more Quadra with the 68060 CPU like Amiga did. Long live the 68k! Mine still runs!
One of first DAWs in 2006 was Digital Performer 7 or 8. I got it bundled with the Ultralite FireWire audio interface. DP was not software I liked using but it was functional. We had the Quadra 610 back in the day used it until we got a PowerPC 8600. Both were passed on to my grandmother and after she moved from her house, a family member had them taken out with the trash even though they both still worked 😭 Our oldest machine now is my dual G4 Digital Audio tower from 2001, it also still runs.
Wow, I didn’t know DP went that far back. In 2000 I bought a Mac G3 with the new FCP 1.0 video editing software. Amazing how Apple then had firewire and Sony came out with the first digital, firewire video camera. What a time to be doing digital video and computer editing, down to one frame! Then about 2002 I started drumming again and bought an Alesis e-drum kit. Next step was recording my drums and recording with a guitar player friend. I bought Digital Performer and was very glad I did! All the equipment appeared as I grew and needed it! This was after my first tinkering with the purchase of a Korg M1 back in about ‘86. Oh what fun riding this digital wave the last thirty five years!
damn, after that ADAP demo, i can really see how easily the tracker scene emerged from this generation of machines.... so easy to just get a sample off of any CD and integrate it... it feels like modern music software has somewhat stepped back, at least in regards to that ease.
I don’t think the software’s much harder to use - you can still drop a sample in something like Battery and begin using it in seconds. But expectations are much higher, so you aren’t going to get away with recording 1.2 seconds of a wine glass in one shot. People were impressed that it was possibile at all back then. Now it sounds comically artificial without (e.g.) envelopes, and dynamic response to velocity and aftertouch, multiple round-robin samples per note... All those parameters take time to craft into something that responds well to playing. We’ve really raised the bar since the 80s. ;-)
@@KeatingJosh More popular than what? Modern music? Mmm.... I dunno about that. 80s (has?) had a bit of a resurgence lately, and that's great. But I don't think anyone would seriously give up modern sampling software for an Atari ST or Mac from the mid 80s. Just like nobody wants to run a TV studio off a Video Toaster now.
@@nickwallette6201 There is a lot of creativity to be found in limitations and workflow. I wanted to make something that sounds like authentic old videogame music for a long time, but never got it right. The moment i downloaded famitracker and just wrote a short waltz I got it to sound like a town theme from a nes game. It just happened instantly. I wasn't even much pf a composer back then (much more of just a producer), but to this day it's my favorite composition of mine. Limiting yourself to (for example) old stuff can really make you do interesting things. It's too many choices that paralyzes me.
@@meskisable I meant the audio splicing technology. The part where the program replaces a scratch in a vinyl recording with an approximation of what the program thinks that section of audio should sound like. You can find that function in most editing audio software now. I use Audacity for that particular effect because it's easy with Audacity but just about all editing software can do it now.
It was a treat to watch this late evening in the 80's. I would look forward to watching this every time it came on in the Detroit area. I think that was channel 56 or 62. It's amazing to be alive to see how much computers have 'invaded' our lives since those days. Thanks for sharing.
These guys help made music instruments 🎹 at its highest now. Thanks to you guys we can make music at home on DAW or on my Smartphone at the park I can easily make any music on the go anywhere from a laptop 💻 to my cellphone 📲 ❤️ thank you guys lol CPU
I got into electronic music around 1986, remember having read about all this in the music magazines. I am pretty happy with my laptop and bunch of free VST plugins. Still dream of trying to make something with a Casio SK-1, a four track cassette portastudio and a couple of guitar stomp boxes.
11:06 "So this is sort of (1) like (2) the equivalent (3) of the word processing system, but for music instead." Most daring and insightful description of a DAW ever!
With the progress of miniaturization, it is entirely possible that in a near future everyone will be able to have such device in their pocket, allowing everyone to easily compose and listen personal music on demand
I remember watching these shows on TV in the old days - good stuff and still educational today cool that they added the Ensoniq Mirage guts, etc. to the Apple IIgs - I didn't remember that happening - I love my Mirage Ensoniq was formed by former Commodore engineers (SID chips, etc.) a later segment even covers some tech from Stanford CCRMA - a cool music innovation place just down the road and they have cool guest concerts as well - I met Dave Smith (Sequential) there back in 2013 or so
Amazing how fast they spoke compared to today's on air talent. They also didn't stumble over their words/script. The absence of cellular signals in those days must have kept their brain intact and allowed them to concentrate.
every man with a beard and a suit in the 1980's looked like they were about to exchange a briefcase full of dollars for an apartheid south africa diamond mine.
It's amazing how far we have come. I have actually worked with Pro Tools last semester, using expensive equipment (Mac Studio) at my university, and I noticed that one thing remains the same; you need quality microphones, and sound modules for this, and just like the software in that video, Pro Tools also has a bit of a learning curve. As they mentioned in the video, software like that is excellent for removing pops, and clicks, and I was able to do that with my small vinyl record collection!
If you know how to play you can get good results out of a free DAW with some free plug-ins, the only expense beyond your computer needs to be your interface and a cheap midi keyboard. $150 can get you there and if you have an SM 57 or 58 that’s all you really need to get a decent sound with audio. Of course there is better but great records have been made with less
""How would you compare that sample to compact disc audio?" "I would say it's less quality sound, but it's perfectly adequate for the home studio." That was the most honest sales person I've ever seen.
“So what I have here is a uh original piece of music which I wrote, usi “ “Shut up nerd, Bob, what have you got?” “So this software can make triplets and it ca” “Shut up and play this music nerd” “Doodoofuh dada” “Knock that shit off, Bob what have you got?”
20:52 - product for PC and Mac only. It was this mindset that doomed the Atari and Amiga. They were not seen as "mainstream" enough.... 21:50 - Still these products were some of the first analog waveform editors. Out of the university labs and into the mainstream...exciting times.
I'd say atari themselves doomed the atari ST-TT lines by focusing on the atari jaguar. I would have loved for the Atari falcon to have picked up. A cool dsp chip in it but somehow didn't went through. Well At least there are remnants from the era like Cubase and Logic pro which come from the atari st lines.
It was the "experts" that poo-pood the idea of buying an ATARI ST or Amiga . They would NEVER recommend them from the start . It's like a real conspiracy because the ST was power without the price and the AMIGA was the most powerful PC at the time . The ST was a much better buy than the Mac yet even some moron made an insulting comment in a different video saying the ST was only a toy to play games .
поразительно. Речь идет о технологии, такой сложной в те времена, но доступная любому школьнику сейчас. Это был прорыв. MIDI сигнал сегодня используется не только в музыкальной индустрии, но и во многих других сферах. Так круто!!!
very funny, just for your information, MIDI is a communication standard, used over extensively in the profesional audio production, actually probabaly 99% of the audio production uses MIDI at some point of the process, because of all the virtual and physical electronic intruments, racks automation etc etc.
That was the time when the microcomputer penetrated into the music spectrum. The MacIntosh Apple computer is not alone in music production. I see that the Windows computers can do that do, too. I was also interested in sound reproduction, since I had my first high-fidelity components system in 1978. It only takes one computer operator to put all the elements together and we all face the music.
It's impressive how mature the systems for creating music were, the limitation is more on raw computer power. They already got the creative process pretty much nailed down, like, you cold slap a modern GUI on some of those softwares and just start using them today.
@@ZxSpectrumplus The first time I ever had exposure to a microcomputer was in 1988. I studied "Office Technology" at Control Data Institute. I really needed not to attend school because I possessed at that time and still do today a typewriting skill, which is a keyboarding skill. The typewriting skill made me eligible to learn word processing, data entry including keypunch, even the computer. Somehow, the keyboarding speed and accuracy were not sufficient to help me gain successful employment. Let alone, a suit, shirt and tie to convince the interviewers that I would be the right candidate for those jobs. Once I bought my first microcomputer, color laser printer and scanner in 2002, I forgone the keyboarding speed. In this way, I can do what I feel and feel what I do, by striving to be a perfect typist as my desire. Thank you for tapping or typing to me. Enjoy the music.
@@ShuAbLe It is amazing the way the microcomputer seeped into the music business. The musical setup concept works like the printing spectrum. The computer user makes layout pages in the desktop publishing program; keyboards the text in the word processing program or the desktop publishing program; artwork may be created in an illustration program and inserted into the desktop publishing program. This process takes one microcomputer, one printer, one scanner, and one operator to do the job. And I do it all in the privacy of my home. Thank you for tapping or typing to me.
Great demos. The Amiga demo was particularly cool, when it came to multitasking. This is one year before Karsten Obarski gave [Amiga] musicians the gift of The Ultimate Soundtracker.
During the early years of Computer Chronicles, computers with 8086 processors amazed me with text search and copy and paste. It is already 2022 but I still do not understand how computers produce sound and I've never seen a printed music software code that I can compile.
As the video started, my mind saw a man with a slight build wearing a purple velvet suit and white ruffled shirt rise up out of the floor in a swirl of smoke…”Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get to this thing called life!”
That Casio SK-1 demo song they played at the beginning.
36 years later, and I still recognize it immediately.
I have to admit it took me a second because the SK1 demo song wasn't being played with fart or grunt sounds XD
I still have one it's great with farts I mean voices...yes definitely voices...😁
The SK-1 was epic in my life at 12 years old ... sampling farts and burps, then composing songs with those sounds. Got to make all of my buddies laugh ... was totally worth it.
OMG yes!
I had the SK1 and a CZ 101, back then.
Computers seemingly outdoing their own capabilites was so fun to watch back in the day.
When you had to understand something about how computers work.
Meanwhile, today…this nightmare…
ua-cam.com/video/J6Mdq3n6kgk/v-deo.html
The problem nowadays is that the software is not keeping up with the hardware, M1 being a case in point.
M1 is an insane processor. We need better software
This whole MIDI and computer music thing is just a fad. I give it 10 more years. By 1996 electronic music will be out, mark my words.
i agree its all nonsense
🤣🤣🤣and if it still exists by then the music will probably be terrible and boring
Ok, Mac. Does that include cell phones too?
You mean car phones?
@@originalman01 well to be fair... 90% of it that comes out today is terrible and boring...
5:09
Gary Kildall = legend
.
"During the 1970s, Kildall created the CP/M operating system among other operating systems and programming tools, and subsequently founded Digital Research, Inc. (or "DRI") to market and sell his software products. Kildall was among the earliest individuals to recognize microprocessors as fully capable computers (rather than simply as equipment controllers), and to organize a company around this concept.
Due to his accomplishments during this era, Kildall is considered a pioneer of the personal computer revolution"
No doubt. CP/M alone was the cornerstone building block for the entire personal computing software industry, let alone all his other contributions. Gary was a genius and didn't need an IQ test to prove it.
First multitask O.S!!
Wow, The Computer Chronicles really had a tight guest schedule; companies better sent their fastest representatives to showcase their systems in such a short time!
I noticed that too. Stewart is always cutting off the guests and rushing them through the demonstrations. This should have been an hour-long show instead to give everyone more breathing room.
He takes 3 1/2 hours to recreate Axle F, and they only play 3 1/2 seconds of it.
People didn't really respect or take MIDI seriously and it's pretty much the same deal today. It requires a load of cash to aquire the hardware and software to actually get it to sound acceptable. There are actually many differrent routes and ways to go about it and it is not only good for giving yourself a headache, but also wasting your money on things that leave you dissatisfied with the results... It really is about trying to sell the illusion of being given the ability to make music, that will be successful, when in reality, It's just not that easy or straightforward. They didn't want to play alot, because it's hard to take seriously and they knew it. 😆 The Charlie brown bit was all detuned and harsh. It's come a long way and is actually much better now then it used to be by default, but still requires hardware and money to get it to sound high quality and realistic.
I reckon he had a cry afterwards and seriously questioned where he was going in his life.
It was a poor choice for a demo to show off on THAT program...it barely gets into the 2nd voice and the interviewer is like "yeah ok, ok, what you got for us Bob?"
@@dickrichard626 that’s so true…wow! Never realized that before.
@@dickrichard626 But MIDI is not about how bad/good particular instrument or note sounds. It's a communication protocol for devices, to pair and use them together. IT'S NOT A MUSIC. This is like blaming Bluetooth and saying it sux because photo from camera sent using it looks shit and blurry. Nonsense.
Love how simple this is and how they are all different companies here. Even how awkward it all is, love it.
Still amazes me how many people don't really get what MIDI is or why it's important. It's not there to give you really bad performances through your SB16 or your AdLib card. It's there to record what notes are being played, for how long, and when, divided into tracks (along with other information) so that it can be transferred to any other electronic instrument that has a MIDI interface - and it can be played, live, with that instrument. Extremely powerful stuff.
Yup. I've got a family convoluted midi setup running with my hardware.
Yeah. Many people think MIDI = just the MIDI song file format (or old phone ringtone format), and not the cross-device cross-platform communication standard for transmitting performance and control data.
The standard is/was so good, it was almost 40 years before a brand new version of the standard was established.
Most musicians are at least familiar with MIDI now, since the boom in home recording during the pandemic.
Thank you for the explanation. I still disn't understand exactly what its purpose was.
@@sontodosnarcos The language of electronic music gear... synthesizer, sampler, beat boxes, vst soft synths etc etc
You can control literally everything...MIDI was and is a great thing....even with the incredible power of modern DAWs.
25:56 "The world is a carousel of color.", says the guy wearing a beige suit surrounded by beige items in a beige room.
Beige is a snazzy color!
Hahaha
You've got to appreciate the optimism haha
basically back then the synth is used to generate the sounds for the computer. But now it is the reverse. you can get the cheapest keyboard in the world and use it to trigger the most expensive VSTi samples installed on your PC.
I thought it was hot stuff when the synths did MIDI over USB.
exactly
Yep, I've done that too,, trigger VSTi with my MIDI-only keyboard. Back in the older days, I loved to hear the SID synth playing on my Commodore 64 (which I still have all that stuff). I also did the Amiga MODPLay stuff on my PC, in the early 1990s, which I built the circuit board that output the signal out of the parallel printer port to an 8-bit DAC which then fed to duo power amplifier IC's & then to speakers using Quaker Oats cylinder box as the speaker cabs. But I haven't done much music tinkering these past few years.
The Computer Chronicles is a delightful program to watch.🙂
Even the show that talks about Windows 95. Not that was a delight back then when I was a teenager. I kind of wished I could have discovered Computer Chronicles when I was around 4 years old but man I was too young to comprehend English fully back then. 😅
@@graysonpeddie I had not been on a microcomputer during the Microsoft Windows 95 era; not even the DOS period. This is because employers never employed me to have chances on working on a microcomputer, even though I have had excellent keyboarding skills. I had some exposure to the IBM PC at a school in 1988, thus leading me to "major" in word processing. Then, I bought my first microcomputer which was Cybernet that included Microsoft Windows XP Professional, and Microsoft Office XP Professional, including Microsoft Publisher 2002, in the year 2002. Since 2017, I replaced Cybernet with a Dell Inspiron microcomputer, with Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, and Microsoft Office 2021. Now, I am free as a bird! Thank you for tapping or typing to me. I bid you "Happy Keyboarding!"
You're so right! I watched every Saturday on PBS as a child, this episode brings back so many memories, since I was enthralled with synths at that age... around 13 when this first aired. I dreamed of owning one for years, as we were fairly poor growing up, until eventually getting a cheap guitar at 15 and learning that instead.
@@David.C.Velasquez This episode has shown me some of the microcomputers I missed learning due to numerous employment rejections. Today, I have been blessed to have owned a microcomputer, two printers and a scanner, and to continually learn business production with the applications software I have. I do not need to search for the work; the work searches out for me. Thank you very much for typing to me. Until next time, Happy Keyboarding!
Man I'm seriously sold on this new Apple IIGS. Pretty sure the series will have a great future when Apple III happens.
the III is older than the GS
Good to know that anxiety and stress from using computers daily hasn't improved.
I don't know exactly what it is but I still find these episodes fascinating nearly 40 yrs later.
It must have been so exciting to be a musician and composer at that time
Sure it was as well as today!!
Yup, the 80's were the future.
@@bloodmapedit were
Yes it was.
Subtle difference between composing music and making beats. You actually needed knowledge and talent and not just a computer and pirated software 🤷🏼
This is one of the coolest videos I've seen in all of UA-cam and I had NO IDEA that computerized music technology was this advanced back then. This video has so many mind blowing things in it for the time. Thanks for posting this, Computer Chronicles channel!
I started my midi studio in 1986:
atari 1040ste w/monitor ($550)
C-Lab midi software ($600)
Korg C-30 midi 88keyboard ($1200)..still using today.
Then added as could afford:
Korg 03r/w, Roland JV-880, Kurzweil K2000r, Yamaha Motif-RackES...still using all today.
The atari was the first to come with built-in midi connections, AND the first to use "desktop" icons to "click" to start programs.(prior to Mac/apple)
Today I use all Linux open source software....Ardour6.9 does everything my Emagic/Logic Platinum was doing in the '90's. I've been building my own PC's since retiring the atari, which I only used for a couple of years.
I remember paying $350 for 350MB of "extended" memory for the atari stE.
Note: the thousands of dollars I spent on my studio setup were the best investments I've ever made, not for dollars returned on investment, but the joy of playing/composing my own music........priceless.
Today anyone can obtain a used pc/laptop & midi keyboard for very little cost. Install a free DAW(I use Ardour) and start making music, of your own creation.
Sadly, there are less and less really talented musicians, but even noises being produced today by most is a form of music/entertainment.
If our species can survive the shit that is happening due to the thieves who manipulate this world, music will be, again, the universal language, when all are in harmony with natural law.(and the thieves properly punished)
i think there are still the same talented people, but the bad ones multiply and are overwhelming
@@emanuel_soundtrack Rarely do the most talented musicians become part of the "music industry". Marriage, children, jobs, paying the bills to raise/support a family becomes priority #1, tho music was their(our) passion/purpose. Somehow I've survived the drugs and suicides which took a number of my friends. For that I thank having a midi studio I've used as therapy, never really stopping/ending the passion for playing, composing, if only for my own pleasure. There does seem to be an abundance of talented producers popping up using their daws but I've never known a talented musician who is also a talented producer, for that is not where the passion is.
Talented musicians are by the millions in this world right now. The problem is that the public wants to consume garbage instead of music.
it's shit because there's no gatekeeping. You can get into making some beeps and bops in less than an hour or two. We just need to move the bar higher, that's all.
Aphex Twin
The Casio SK-1 cost $100 in 1986. A few months ago, in 2022, I paid $100 for a Casio SK-1.
😎😎😎😎no reinventing the wheel here
That $100 nowadays would be equivalent to $270.
Guy spends 3 and a half hours sequencing Axel F, then gets 3 and a half seconds to demo it. I feel sad for him.
You can see the pride turn to pain in his eyes after he asks how long it took him... :(
He did such an incredible job. You could here the track continue briefly in the background and sounded on point. Super talented guy!
To be fair, I would have assumed that he & Activision were told by CC that he would only be there to demo for only a minute or so. I would have hoped that Chris would have watched previous episodes of CC in the days prior, just to get an understanding of how fast the show goes. I watched CC back in the day & I always looked forward to it every week, along with NBA Inside Stuff that came right after it (on another tv channel of course), from the mid 1980's through to the early 2000's.
It’s amazing how revolutionary midi was at this time now we don’t really think about it. It’s like stepping into a time machine.
I learned how to write music on the old Guitar Pro software that only used MIDI instruments. I really prefer the simpler tools when it comes to composing, I've tried some of the other programs out there like Propellerhead's Reason software and I get caught up fine tuning one instrument or sound to such an in depth level that I end up wasting time. The MIDI stuff is a blast.
Fantastic Computer and Music Informations in the 80s to make People productive . Where are this in 2022 ??
This was back in 86? Wow! In Hungary, we didn't even have color television to watch shows like this yet...
That's communisms for ya.
@@haywoodyoudome Yeah. Damn Soviets, occupying my country for 45 years without even asking! The technology gap was at least 15-20 years. We never even heard of any of this stuff.
hey, we had the official tv and radio channels broadcasting software. which you could record on your tape deck, then load in your home computer you got from mariahilfer strasse in vienna. we. had. it. all.
@ Haha! Yeah. You had what you could bring in yourself or bought soviet knock-offs from shady costers on the gray market. You needed coin and connections in both cases.
Thank you, this absiolutely blew my mind. Born in 87', my entire lifetime was "teased" on this video from beggining to end.
Vids like this really make me feel old. These kids today really don’t understand the struggle we had making music back in the 80’s. They completely take for granted free apps on their phones like GarageBand.., and have no clue how much we had to pay for gear back in the 80’s. We’ve come so far since this video. I’ve got an entire virtual studio on ONE small laptop, and NEVER in my wildest imagination would I have thought back then that we would be where we are now. One laptop with even a half decent DAW has literally replaced countless pieces of hardware we used to have that was needed to produce an album. When I was making music in the 80’s.., it was EXPENSIVE as hell for gear. That Yamaha DX-7 you see in this vid wasn’t by any means affordable either.., and that applied pretty much to all the pro level synths of the day. We all wanted a badass REEL to REEL, and our worlds were rocked when affordable 4 track tape recorders started hitting the market. I do not miss getting lost in the never ending mess of cables and plugs too. These 20 something musicians today should be forced to spend 6 months making music on the same gear we used in the 80’s…, maybe then they would see how good they have it now.
Nicely said, and somehow I recall making music back then more satisfying than today, but that's probab\ly because thought I'd be a musical superstar rather than a complete wanker.
That’s why we watch these vids on UA-cam, well some of us. 🙂
I downloaded thousands of MIDI files in the 1990s, I think I still have them archived somewhere!
Software salesman blabs on for a few minutes. Gary Kildall chimes in" So it's a word processor but for music" BOOM! Gary condenses 3 minutes of blab to 8 words, now that's a genius programmers mind at work.
Gary was a busy guy, he didn’t have time for BS 👍
Yes, the salesman is just fumbling when they need a condensed version for their program.
Two words; Common sense.
@@marklechman2225 Yeah, so busy he didn't show up at IBM's invitation to provide them with an OS for their upcoming Personal Computer, which allowed Bill Gates to swoop in, become the richest man alive, and unleash Covid on our asses to distract us from his involvement with Epstein
Yip. Gary kills all!
Thanks UA-cam for this suggestion. Great archive.
So interesting to see how it all started. I’m surprised how many functions you can do on these programs back then.
I play on my old Yamaha PSR-175 with a cheap MIDI cable from amazon lol. Never really thought about how MIDI works since its just plugging a cable into the computer. You really take technology for granted nowadays.
I started with an Atari ST running Q-Base in the early 90’s - such a great piece of simple software that we wrote our first album using.
Cubase not Q-Base, level 0 musician
@@tB3o3tR9o9 LOL 😂- so long ago since I used it forgot about how it was spelled. There is a video on my channel of my old studio in 1998 - we still have the ST in that video.
@@SharpblueCreative i'll watch it. i like that stuff
Axel F world famous MIDI demo track, that also was played on a movie.... :)
this video is the 80s. just the whole decade.
This was amazing. Thank you for sharing it. I loved hearing dude was using Professional Composer, the predecessor to Digital Performer.
I started to make MIDI files exactly here. Thank you for this "chronicle"
First time watching this show ever and I'm all in. Seeing the infancy of computers and all the great names that pioneered the industry. Frickin awesome.
Ahh, brings back memories of hunkering over an old Brother PDC100 Pro sequencer. I still have the lower back problems this caused.
the show was so short that people just bringing in all their gear for a few seconds of sound. hahaha
The show wasn't for turtles 🐢
@3:20 Digital Performer when it was known as Professional Composer. Most of those windows, icons and menu items are still in use today by DP. Even 35 years on I could use that version and know exactly what’s what. That’s amazing! I almost chose an Amiga over a Macintosh, but I felt that the Macintosh Toolbox and interface language assured that the Mac platform would be stable and around for awhile. The Amiga was great, no doubt. I wish Apple would have made one more Quadra with the 68060 CPU like Amiga did. Long live the 68k! Mine still runs!
One of first DAWs in 2006 was Digital Performer 7 or 8. I got it bundled with the Ultralite FireWire audio interface. DP was not software I liked using but it was functional.
We had the Quadra 610 back in the day used it until we got a PowerPC 8600. Both were passed on to my grandmother and after she moved from her house, a family member had them taken out with the trash even though they both still worked 😭
Our oldest machine now is my dual G4 Digital Audio tower from 2001, it also still runs.
Wow, I didn’t know DP went that far back. In 2000 I bought a Mac G3 with the new FCP 1.0 video editing software. Amazing how Apple then had firewire and Sony came out with the first digital, firewire video camera. What a time to be doing digital video and computer editing, down to one frame! Then about 2002 I started drumming again and bought an Alesis e-drum kit. Next step was recording my drums and recording with a guitar player friend. I bought Digital Performer and was very glad I did! All the equipment appeared as I grew and needed it! This was after my first tinkering with the purchase of a Korg M1 back in about ‘86. Oh what fun riding this digital wave the last thirty five years!
I did NOT expect to hear Dire Straits during this video. An album that was recorded 100% digitally.
damn, after that ADAP demo, i can really see how easily the tracker scene emerged from this generation of machines.... so easy to just get a sample off of any CD and integrate it... it feels like modern music software has somewhat stepped back, at least in regards to that ease.
Oh the glory days where I still used Cubase 2.0 and Protracker STe on my trusty Atari 1040 STe
I don’t think the software’s much harder to use - you can still drop a sample in something like Battery and begin using it in seconds. But expectations are much higher, so you aren’t going to get away with recording 1.2 seconds of a wine glass in one shot. People were impressed that it was possibile at all back then. Now it sounds comically artificial without (e.g.) envelopes, and dynamic response to velocity and aftertouch, multiple round-robin samples per note... All those parameters take time to craft into something that responds well to playing. We’ve really raised the bar since the 80s. ;-)
@@nickwallette6201 yet the 80s stuff is still more popular
@@KeatingJosh More popular than what? Modern music? Mmm.... I dunno about that. 80s (has?) had a bit of a resurgence lately, and that's great. But I don't think anyone would seriously give up modern sampling software for an Atari ST or Mac from the mid 80s. Just like nobody wants to run a TV studio off a Video Toaster now.
@@nickwallette6201 There is a lot of creativity to be found in limitations and workflow. I wanted to make something that sounds like authentic old videogame music for a long time, but never got it right. The moment i downloaded famitracker and just wrote a short waltz I got it to sound like a town theme from a nes game. It just happened instantly. I wasn't even much pf a composer back then (much more of just a producer), but to this day it's my favorite composition of mine.
Limiting yourself to (for example) old stuff can really make you do interesting things. It's too many choices that paralyzes me.
Crazy how far we've come and how much farther we've yet to discover
MIDI outlasted the CD.
Who’d a thunk it.
24:49 This $7000 audiophile piece of hardware can now be had for free in Audacity. I use this same function all the time when I record vinyl.
It was "audiophile" in 86, but not anymore. Nowadays good DAC costs around 2k.
@@meskisable I meant the audio splicing technology. The part where the program replaces a scratch in a vinyl recording with an approximation of what the program thinks that section of audio should sound like. You can find that function in most editing audio software now. I use Audacity for that particular effect because it's easy with Audacity but just about all editing software can do it now.
It was a treat to watch this late evening in the 80's. I would look forward to watching this every time it came on in the Detroit area. I think that was channel 56 or 62. It's amazing to be alive to see how much computers have 'invaded' our lives since those days. Thanks for sharing.
Morrow actually restored many old records throughout his life.
It’s wild how much music changed but how the last 30 years it’s generally been the same
These guys help made music instruments 🎹 at its highest now. Thanks to you guys we can make music at home on DAW or on my Smartphone at the park I can easily make any music on the go anywhere from a laptop 💻 to my cellphone 📲 ❤️ thank you guys lol CPU
ill never ever forget how eye opening my "midi and electronic music" class in college was, changed the game for me big time.
I started out with a Commodore 128, a Passport MIDI interface and a Roland TR-626, using EA's Deluxe Music Construction set. Uggh, that was painful.
It's really impressive i didn't even imagine MIDI in that time
I got into electronic music around 1986, remember having read about all this in the music magazines. I am pretty happy with my laptop and bunch of free VST plugins. Still dream of trying to make something with a Casio SK-1, a four track cassette portastudio and a couple of guitar stomp boxes.
Do ist. Its fun. A nice restored four track will cost you around 400€ bucks now. But its Worth it !
11:06 "So this is sort of (1) like (2) the equivalent (3) of the word processing system, but for music instead." Most daring and insightful description of a DAW ever!
With the progress of miniaturization, it is entirely possible that in a near future everyone will be able to have such device in their pocket, allowing everyone to easily compose and listen personal music on demand
Android has Midi protocol and you can use plugged with a keyboard to produce your music.
Yes, or perhaps have it done by AI, as has happened with Dalle and imagery...
Woosh
Wow... Hybrid Arts on an Atari ST. MIDITrack, SMPTETrack, and the various instrument editors... if I had a nickel for every hour I spent...
It's so funny how serious that show look like. Like PC stuff is serious business, no fun allowed.
I just Googled Stewart Cheifet . Dude's 85 and still kickin' it.
i got the sk1 when it came out. i used that little gem and the sk5 later. i made a lot of music on that little guy. still have my sk5 today.
I remember watching these shows on TV in the old days - good stuff and still educational today
cool that they added the Ensoniq Mirage guts, etc. to the Apple IIgs - I didn't remember that happening - I love my Mirage
Ensoniq was formed by former Commodore engineers (SID chips, etc.)
a later segment even covers some tech from Stanford CCRMA - a cool music innovation place just down the road and they have cool guest concerts as well - I met Dave Smith (Sequential) there back in 2013 or so
I really would've loved if all these episodes on UA-cam had the commercials included. I was 12 when this episode aired
I've got an SK-1 still. Love it.
Amazing how fast they spoke compared to today's on air talent. They also didn't stumble over their words/script. The absence of cellular signals in those days must have kept their brain intact and allowed them to concentrate.
0:34 The origin of the basement dweller archetype. He even has a wide array of piss jugs.
Atari should still be prominent in the electronic muSic arena. Those machines still work in 2022.
every man with a beard and a suit in the 1980's looked like they were about to exchange a briefcase full of dollars for an apartheid south africa diamond mine.
It's amazing how far we have come. I have actually worked with Pro Tools last semester, using expensive equipment (Mac Studio) at my university, and I noticed that one thing remains the same; you need quality microphones, and sound modules for this, and just like the software in that video, Pro Tools also has a bit of a learning curve.
As they mentioned in the video, software like that is excellent for removing pops, and clicks, and I was able to do that with my small vinyl record collection!
If you know how to play you can get good results out of a free DAW with some free plug-ins, the only expense beyond your computer needs to be your interface and a cheap midi keyboard. $150 can get you there and if you have an SM 57 or 58 that’s all you really need to get a decent sound with audio. Of course there is better but great records have been made with less
Love how these guys conduct an interrogation I mean interview
Them being excited about re-recording records, and digitally taking the scratch sounds out of them is amusing haha
That computer from 1986 loads files faster than my 2022 windows 10 laptop
""How would you compare that sample to compact disc audio?"
"I would say it's less quality sound, but it's perfectly adequate for the home studio."
That was the most honest sales person I've ever seen.
Would love to see their reaction to all these tape plug in's in 2022. They were trying to get rid of the tape with computers.
Remember watching these shows as a teen…
“So what I have here is a uh original piece of music which I wrote, usi “
“Shut up nerd, Bob, what have you got?”
“So this software can make triplets and it ca”
“Shut up and play this music nerd”
“Doodoofuh dada”
“Knock that shit off, Bob what have you got?”
LOL exactly what I was thinking about )))
Wow that old software is so clean and intuitive, what happened?
The peak of MIDI music was the intro of Ultima 6. It was all downhill from there
I hope Bob was able to advance his career . What a smart young man.
I love how they portrayed Gary Lauenberger as an unapproachable genius who is just too busy to stop and talk to us mere mortals.
That's true. It's pretty funny but at the same time, back then, I guess as a kid I would have been impressed.
How do you figure
@@TheGreatAtario Gary Leurenberger (and David Bristow) created the sounds for the DX7. And Gary was a pioneer in FM synthesis.
@@dcampagna1772 But how are they making him out to be anything in this
Brings tears to my eyes
It took an afternoon? Hahaha! That's hilarious!
make your dinner 🥘 haha
20:52 - product for PC and Mac only. It was this mindset that doomed the Atari and Amiga. They were not seen as "mainstream" enough....
21:50 - Still these products were some of the first analog waveform editors. Out of the university labs and into the mainstream...exciting times.
I'd say atari themselves doomed the atari ST-TT lines by focusing on the atari jaguar. I would have loved for the Atari falcon to have picked up. A cool dsp chip in it but somehow didn't went through. Well At least there are remnants from the era like Cubase and Logic pro which come from the atari st lines.
same reason why apple still exist, they made a shitty product looks like it was a mainstrea essential one, even if sales were bad all the way
@@retrocompaq5212 Go pray to your Bill Gates poster.
It was the "experts" that poo-pood the idea of buying an ATARI ST or Amiga . They would NEVER recommend them from the start . It's like a real conspiracy because the ST was power without the price and the AMIGA was the most powerful PC at the time . The ST was a much better buy than the Mac yet even some moron made an insulting comment in a different video saying the ST was only a toy to play games .
00:34 Let’s appreciate the amount of water needed to support those keyboards
@2:45. Gary Leueberger - the man who made ‘that’ Yamaha DX7 Electric Piano sound 😉. Legend 👍
поразительно. Речь идет о технологии, такой сложной в те времена, но доступная любому школьнику сейчас. Это был прорыв. MIDI сигнал сегодня используется не только в музыкальной индустрии, но и во многих других сферах. Так круто!!!
This MIDI thing sounds cool. But did it stick around for very long?
Nah their last album was all digital
very funny, just for your information, MIDI is a communication standard, used over extensively in the profesional audio production, actually probabaly 99% of the audio production uses MIDI at some point of the process, because of all the virtual and physical electronic intruments, racks automation etc etc.
@@lo2740 yes. I believe the internet use to say "woosh" to your response.
It may be strange to think that MIDI was the very first "Machine Code". It had an "autocratic" code. It was a very simple way back then.
That was the time when the microcomputer penetrated into the music spectrum. The MacIntosh Apple computer is not alone in music production. I see that the Windows computers can do that do, too. I was also interested in sound reproduction, since I had my first high-fidelity components system in 1978. It only takes one computer operator to put all the elements together and we all face the music.
It's impressive how mature the systems for creating music were, the limitation is more on raw computer power. They already got the creative process pretty much nailed down, like, you cold slap a modern GUI on some of those softwares and just start using them today.
I had a MIDI cable connected to my Sound Blaster card via the gameport (25pin serial) and hooked it up to my cheap CASIO keyboard back then. :)
@@ZxSpectrumplus The first time I ever had exposure to a microcomputer was in 1988. I studied "Office Technology" at Control Data Institute. I really needed not to attend school because I possessed at that time and still do today a typewriting skill, which is a keyboarding skill. The typewriting skill made me eligible to learn word processing, data entry including keypunch, even the computer. Somehow, the keyboarding speed and accuracy were not sufficient to help me gain successful employment. Let alone, a suit, shirt and tie to convince the interviewers that I would be the right candidate for those jobs. Once I bought my first microcomputer, color laser printer and scanner in 2002, I forgone the keyboarding speed. In this way, I can do what I feel and feel what I do, by striving to be a perfect typist as my desire. Thank you for tapping or typing to me. Enjoy the music.
@@ZxSpectrumplus Cheap does not mean low quality. It means only inexpensive. It may be cheaper only in price, but high in performance.
@@ShuAbLe It is amazing the way the microcomputer seeped into the music business. The musical setup concept works like the printing spectrum. The computer user makes layout pages in the desktop publishing program; keyboards the text in the word processing program or the desktop publishing program; artwork may be created in an illustration program and inserted into the desktop publishing program. This process takes one microcomputer, one printer, one scanner, and one operator to do the job. And I do it all in the privacy of my home. Thank you for tapping or typing to me.
Didn't even know Activision made music software even though I started making music just a couple of years later.
Great demos. The Amiga demo was particularly cool, when it came to multitasking. This is one year before Karsten Obarski gave [Amiga] musicians the gift of The Ultimate Soundtracker.
Ahead of its time truly.
During the early years of Computer Chronicles, computers with 8086 processors amazed me with text search and copy and paste. It is already 2022 but I still do not understand how computers produce sound and I've never seen a printed music software code that I can compile.
Wow, the eNsoniq Mirage chip in the Apple II GS !! Hmm .. could I load my Mirage floppies in the Apple
Now we have FL Studio or Domino MIDI Editor already lol. Can't believe back in the 86' that these had already existed.
Nobody will ever be able to purchase 8Mb of RAM just to store music samples. This technology for making music will never happen.
Damn I'm old. I remember Leading Edge computers.
That classic lift the mouse up and back down to move the cursor. Dam I miss ball point
Too much nostalgia
Interesting how people these day experience unease and anxiety when they forget their pocket computer at home 🤔
And so the world of dance music and raves were born
🤣🤣🤣
That Guy Thanks, I will look into it later.
As the video started, my mind saw a man with a slight build wearing a purple velvet suit and white ruffled shirt rise up out of the floor in a swirl of smoke…”Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get to this thing called life!”
Thank you for a long time ago
Que de chemin parcouru depuis . How far we have come since .