Making Machines Make Music

<p>What happens when a computer scientist is also a trumpet player? </p><p>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. </p><p>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.</p><p>He also shares the unexpected origin story of Audacity, born not from a product vision, but from a research project on &quot;query by humming.&quot;  And he reveals how early gesture research in his CMU lab — including pinch-to-zoom — foreshadowed the touchscreen interactions we use every day. </p><p>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.</p><p>Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  For more, info visit: <a href="http://cmu.edu/whatsnextpodcast"><u>cmu.edu/whatsnextpodcast</u></a>.</p>