"In 1986, electronic music pioneer Laurie Spiegel created Music Mouse, a way for those with a Mac, Atari, or Amiga computer to dabble in algorithmic music creation. Music Mouse is deceptively simple: Notes are arranged on an XY grid, and you play it by moving a mouse around. Back in 1986, the computer mouse was still a relatively novel device. While it can trace its origins back to the late '60s, it wasn't until the Macintosh 128K in 1984 that it started seeing widespread adoption."
"By then Spiegel, was already an accomplished composer. Her 1980 album The Expanding Universe is generally considered among the greatest ambient records of all time. And her composition " Harmony of the Worlds" is currently tearing through interstellar space as part of the Voyager Golden Record, launched in 1977. But she is also a technical wizard who joined Bell Labs in 1973 and was instrumental in early digital synthesis experiments and worked on an early computer graphics system called Vampire."
Laurie Spiegel created Music Mouse in 1986 to let Mac, Atari, and Amiga users experiment with algorithmic composition by moving a mouse across an XY note grid. Spiegel combined deep compositional experience and technical expertise from Bell Labs to make an "intelligent instrument" that enables complex melodies and harmonies with minimal music-theory knowledge. Music Mouse restricts output to selected scales and offers controls for parallel or contrary motion, chords or arpeggios, and a simple pattern generator. The software remained tied to older Mac OS until 2021, and Eventide is helping revive it for modern machines while keeping features deliberately restrained.
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