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Iannis Xenakis formed CEMAMu (Centre d'Etudes de Mathématiques et Automatiques Musicales / Center for Studies in Mathematics and Automated Music) in Paris in 1972. He then developed UPIC (Unité Polyagogique Informatique du CEMAMu) in 1977.
The original UPIC was a graphics tablet used as an input device to a Hewlett-Packard computer. Xenakis drew lines and shapes that were interpreted as controls for music. He used it to compose La Legende d'Eer in 1977. But he also saw the system as a 'universal' interface. He wrote: "Anybody, even myself or you, or children, can draw lines or graphics with an electromagnetic ballpoint, and they are transformed by computer directly into sound ... "
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The image at the left is Xenakis' block diagram of the functioning of the UPIC system.
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