Laurie Spiegel on the difference between algorithmic music and ‘AI’
Source: The Verge
From Bell Labs to Macs, Laurie Spiegel has pushed musical boundaries. Image: Irina Prosser / Eventide
Music Mouse (1986)
In 1986, electronic‑music pioneer Laurie Spiegel created Music Mouse, a tool that let users of Mac, Atari, or Amiga computers explore algorithmic music creation. Music Mouse is deceptively simple: notes are arranged on an XY grid, and you “play” by moving the mouse around. At the time, the computer mouse was still a relatively novel device—its origins trace back to the late 1960s, but it didn’t see widespread adoption until the release of the Macintosh 128K in 1984.
Spiegel’s Earlier Work
By the mid‑1980s, Spiegel was already an accomplished composer. Her 1980 album The Expanding Universe is widely regarded as one of the greatest ambient records of all time.