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. Since 1991 I have been in the post production sound department on the Universal lot in Los Angeles, CA. Universal has merged with NBC and we are now called NBC Universal.
John Clavin, July 2006
