I grew up in a suburb of Chicago and went to college in the Midwest from 1964 to 1970 ending up with a BS in art from UW Stout. While in art school I did my first experiments with algorithmic composition using tape recorders and random length tape loops. In 1983 I started with computer generated algorithmic composition using a personal computer interfaced to homemade oscillator circuits. The programming at that time was x86 assembly language. In 1993 I was invited to setup an installation at the ICMC in Tokyo. My system was an IBM type laptop computer with a MIDI interface driving a Yamaha TG77 synthesizer module. I stayed with assembly language until Java and the Internet came along. Since 2001 I have been working with the Java programming language and the Jsyn software engine.
Over the years I have also studied and played jazz guitar which has been an influence on my algorithmic composition. I write computer programs from the point of view of myself, the jazz improviser. I am trying to recreate how my thought process approaches composition and improvisation but with the ability of a computer. Although my composition Ramona is somewhat mimicking a human, this is not necessarily my direction. My goal is to create a music unheard of that goes beyond human creative and technical abilities, but in a way that it can still be understood.
I have made a living at everything from cheese factory worker to sound engineer. From 1991 to Jan 2008 I worked in the post production sound department on the Universal lot in Los Angeles, CA. Universal merged with NBC and is now called NBC Universal. I am now retired and working on my various projects.
John Clavin, July 2008
