''Music Mouse'' is an
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...
ic
musical composition software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
developed by
Laurie Spiegel
Laurie Spiegel (born September 20, 1945) is an American composer. She has worked at Bell Laboratories, in computer graphics, and is known primarily for her electronic-music compositions and her algorithmic composition software ''Music Mouse''. Sh ...
.
Spiegel's best known and most widely used software, "Music Mouse - An Intelligent Instrument" (1986) is for
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
,
Amiga and
Atari computers.
The "
intelligent instrument" name refers to the program's built-in knowledge of
chord and
scale convention and stylistic constraints. Automating these processes allows the user to focus on other aspects of the music in real time. In addition to
improvisations
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
using this software, Spiegel composed several works for "Music Mouse", including ''Cavis muris'' in 1986, ''Three Sonic Spaces'' in 1989, and ''Sound Zones'' in 1990.
She continued to update the program through Macintosh
OS 9
Mac OS 9 is the ninth major release of Apple Inc., Apple's classic Mac OS operating system which was succeeded by macOS, Mac OS X (renamed to OS X in 2011 and macOS in 2016) in 2001. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "T ...
it remained available up until 2021, as of 2023, the website is no longer active and is archived on the wayback machine.
See also
*
List of music software
This is a list of software for creating, performing, learning, analyzing, researching, broadcasting and editing music. This article only includes software, not services. For streaming services such as iHeartRadio, Pandora, Prime Music, and Spotify, ...
Sources
External links
Music Mouse, ''The Music Mouse website''.
, ''The Music Mouse Instruction Manual and Tutorial by Laurie Spiegel''.
Music Mouse - An Intelligent Instrument - An Emulation ''Tero Parviainen, Independent Software Developer''
{{Computer music
Music software