An Acoustic Compiler for Music and Psychological Stimuli

General translating devices for rapid conversion of numerical data into a continuous analog signal 1 make it possible for a digital computer to produce interesting and useful sounds, among them music. In this way many of the mechanical and acoustic limitations of conventional instruments and sound sources can he overcome. This paper describes the third in a series of programs written for sound production, which achieves a much greater versatility than its predecessors 2 because it includes a compiler11 which writes programs for various sound generators or instruments. Since many who are interested in the musical aspects of this subject may not be familiar with computers, technical descriptions will l>e minimized and programming details omitted. In addition, it may be helpful to describe briefly the digital-to-acoustic converter to which the process · A compiler is a program which writes o t h e r programs. 677 078 THE flKLL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, MAY 19(11 DIGITAL COMPUTER ( DIGITAL^, -- i i i r h i r ' " ' ' ^ ^ ^ MnwriC I