Making Machines Make Music
from Where What If Becomes What's Next Hosted by Carnegie Mellon University
What happens when a computer scientist is also a trumpet player? Meet Roger Dannenberg — CMU professor, pioneer of computer music, and co-creator of Audacity — one of the most widely used free audio editing tools in the world. In this episode, drawing from CMU’s Oral History Archives, Roger reflects on a career spent bridging two worlds. From building a custom computer in 1984 to accompany live musicians in real time, to developing Nyquist, a programming language built just for music, to developing one of the most popular programs for teaching music to students, Roger’s work has redefined how computers play with and play music. He also shares the unexpected origin story of Audacity, born not from a product vision, but from a research project on "query by humming." And he reveals how early gesture research in his CMU lab — including pinch-to-zoom — foreshadowed the touchscreen interactions we use every day. Roger also looks ahead, imagining a future where AI becomes a true musical collaborator, as he acknowledges how far computers still have to go in understanding the importance of rhythm, anticipation and surprise in music. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. For more, info visit: cmu.edu/whatsnextpodcast.
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