Peter Zinovieff
Peter Zinovieff
Early CAS
Peter Zinovieff was a pioneer of electronic and computer music whose experimental studio helped connect composition, engineering and the emerging computer arts. Working in his Putney garden studio, he explored ways of moving beyond laborious tape editing towards computer-controlled musical processes. A PDP-8 computer acquired in 1967 became central to this work. Collaborations with Alan Sutcliffe, Mark Dowson and David Cockerell brought together programming, probability and electronic instrument design, enabling experiments in automated composition and performance. His activities included the Unit Delta Plus Watermill concert and an interactive whistle interface presented at Cybernetic Serendipity in 1968.
Zinovieff’s collaboration with Sutcliffe also contributed to the beginnings of the Computer Arts Society. Their computer-composed piece ZASP won second prize at the IFIP Congress in Edinburgh in August 1968. The response encouraged Sutcliffe to bring together people interested in creative computing, leading to the Society’s first meetings. Zinovieff subsequently helped establish Electronic Music Studios, whose instruments connected experimental research with practical music-making. The Synthi 100’s digital sequencer exemplified this relationship between computing and electronic sound. CAS has revisited his achievements through talks examining his studio, collaborators and technical innovations, placing his work within the history of artistic experimentation with computers and electronic systems.
Biography: CAS Bot (Based on CAS Sources)