The Music of CSIRAC: Australia's First Computer Music

By Paul Doornbusch.

Published by New Directions in the Humanities, a book imprint by Common Ground Publishing

The Music of CSIRAC charts a new history of computer music starting in Australia in the early 1950's.


From MIT Press' Computer Music Journal, Fall 2006, Vol. 30, No. 3, Pages 85-87:
By Gus Gollings

Readers of Computer Music Journal will likely be aware of Paul Doornbusch's work on early computer music in Australia. For many, it was a revelation to realize that music was being produced "down under" as early as 1951, several years before Max Mathews and his colleagues were producing digital sounds at Bell Labs in New Jersey.

Mr. Doornbusch's dedication to this project and the thoroughness with which he pursued the explication of this historic computer music technology, along with his determination to reproduce the sounds of the CSIRAC, are admirable. The history of computer music is one to be constructed from a great variety of sources, and this hitherto little known Australian contribution from the very early days represents a valuable addition to our knowledge of the field.

The Music of CSIRAC presents good solid work on an aspect of computer music history that deserves to be better known. Paul Doornbusch is to be lauded for his dedication to this project. His book is an important, crucial addition to the body of references documenting our field.

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