Introduction : the many futures of computer music

In this brief introduction, I give some perspectives on the scope and futures of computer music, indicating how the topics are addressed within the book. Computer music has passed its 50th anniversary and is part of a slightly longer tradition of electroacoustic music. This book provides a broad introduction to the whole electroacoustic field and its history, but its explicit emphasis is on computer music in the period since the 1980s during which the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer and the availability of desktop (and later laptop) computers at prices individuals could afford meant that the practice of computer music was no longer restricted to those who could access a mainframe computer.