[1401_software] 1403 printer music

[Ronald Mak]

I made these recordings of 1403 printer music back in 1970. They're up on
the museum's and Ed's website, and also here:

    http://www.apropos-logic.com/1403music/1403_bornfree.mp3
    http://www.apropos-logic.com/1403music/1403_raindrops.mp3
    http://www.apropos-logic.com/1403music/1403_godrestye.mp3
    http://www.apropos-logic.com/1403music/1403_inexceldeo.mp3
    http://www.apropos-logic.com/1403music/1403_blue_danube.mp3

A small group of us students in junior high school first learned to program
in FORTRAN and Autocoder on the Richmond (CA) Unified School District's 1401
computer system, which had the full 16K of memory, two tape drives, a disk
drive, and a console printer. Writing "music programs" was one of our
favorite activities. I don't recall ever breaking any print chains.

Enjoy these "hits" from the late 1960s!

-- Ron

> > I will check out the 1401 music.  I recall that I heard two types of
> > 1401 "music" fifty years ago.  One was from a program that  
> > synchronized
> > the sounds of the printer, card reader and the punch to produce a  
> > tune.
> > The other was done by running a program that tickled the memory in  
> > such
> > a way that it emitted rf that could be picked up on an untuned radio
> > held nearby and played.
> >
> > An interesting aside.  One time Bill Murray and the printer guys
> > wondered what would happen if a line were set up to be printed that
> > caused every print hammer to strike simultaneously.  I was 
> in the next
> > room at my desk when I heard a loud noise followed by 
> laughter.  Fuses
> > blew.
> >
> > Let me know about the memos.
> >
> > John