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Music Mouse, software written by Laurie Spiegel in 1985, turned a computer into a musical instrument that anyone could play. As a user moved the mouse through an onscreen grid to choose notes, the computer automatically generated accompaniments and ornaments for the notes, based on the context of the user's previous choices and keys pressed on the computer keyboard.
As Spiegel explained, "The software interprets the players actions and outputs music which can be thought of and experienced as a transformation of the player's physical movement. The actual music produced will vary with an action's context, history, and position in what can be thought of as multidimensional musical space."
Screen shot of Music Mouse
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The photo at the left, by Joel Chadabe, shows Spiegel with an Apple computer at PS1 Soundshow in 1979.
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