<table width="650">

<tr>

<td>

This tutorial is Extension 1 from the second edition of <em><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/processing-0">Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists</a></em>, published by MIT Press. Copyright 2014 MIT Press. This tutorial is for Processing version 2.0+. If you see any errors or have comments, please <a href="https://github.com/processing/processing-docs/issues?state=open">let us know</a>.

</p>

<p class="txt">

The history of music is, in many ways, the history of technology. From developments in the writing and transcription of music (notation) to the design of spaces for the performance of music (acoustics) to the creation of musical instruments, composers and musicians have availed themselves of advances in human understanding to perfect and advance their professions. Unsurprisingly, therefore, we find that in the machine age these same people found themselves first in line to take advantage of the new techniques and possibilities offered by electricity, telecommunications, and, in the last century, digital computers to leverage all of these systems to create new and expressive forms of sonic art. Indeed, the development of phonography (the ability to reproduce sound mechanically) has, by itself, had such a transformative effect on aural culture that it seems inconceivable now to step back to an age where sound could emanate only from its original source.¹ The ability to create, manipulate, and reproduce lossless sound by digital means is having, at the time of this writing, an equally revolutionary effect on how we listen. As a result, the artist today working with sound has not only a huge array of tools to work with, but also a medium exceptionally well suited to technological experimentation.

</p>