Anyone interested in computer-aided algorithmic composition (CAAC) will likely be acquainted with Hiller’s remarkable contributions from his research publications as well as from his compositions. The latter inspired many independent researchers who contacted him directly, which made Hiller “a repository of information.” Although several of Hiller’s projects are well documented, quite a few are not. Ariza’s absorbing paper reveals two such undocumented but pioneering projects: the works of David Caplin and Dietrich Prinz, and the work of Sister (then Mother) Harriet Padberg, as revealed in correspondence between Hiller and these authors.

One fascinating aspect of these projects is that the authors started with almost no knowledge of how to apply computers to music creation and yet were successful in finding new techniques. Moreover, historically, each had an ingenuous appeal in some sense. Caplin and Prinz could well represent the “first use of a computer to generate not just sound but musical structures” as early as 1955. And Padberg’s academic dissertation from around 1960 is possibly the first in CAAC and certainly the first by a woman. The paper describes not only the history of these projects, but also subsequent implementations and recordings as well as new compositions emerging from them. An interesting technical commonality between these projects is the use of transitional probabilities and microtonal pitch scales, which are still used by current composers and researchers in computer music.

The target audience for this paper includes postgraduate students, composers, and researchers in computer music.