Album Notes

In 1983, I was a graduate student at the University of Illinois, studying Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science. In my spare time, I attended composer forums and was composing music for the C.E.R.L. PLATO Computer Music Project at the University of Illinois.

The project was directed by Lippold Haken, also a graduate student. We were a young, renegade bunch of digital music pioneers. Lippold, along with Kurt Hebel, had just built the Interactive Music Synthesizer, or IMS, to replace the beloved Gooch Cybernetic Synthesizer. Taking advantage of advancements in chip technology, the IMS had several improvements over the GCS -- it was all digital, sixteen bit, stereo output, with frequency modulation and more memory.

For the next few years I wrote music with this IMS music machine and stored it on the PLATO Computer System.

Just before I left Urbana, my friend Dale Sinder loaned me his 1/2" Beta MAX Hi-Fi VCR and I recorded the tracks on the CD. Over the years, the tapes were converted to DAT, and then from DAT to CD-R. It is fortunate that this music has survived so well.

Special thanks to everyone on the CERL music project and the PLATO computer system.

"Press NEXT to Begin."