Telling the story of game and computer audio isn’t an easy
task1. It’s not even easy to know where to start. Does it begin
with the first electronic music? Early pioneers like Otto
Luening, Wendy Carlos, Vangelis, Jon Appleton and Karlheinz
Stockhausen began producing electronic music nearly five decades
ago and caused quite a controversy among professional musicians
and composers. There was fear that electronic music would make
professional musicians obsolete and reduce the cultural value of
music—living, breathing human performers would be replaced by
soulless machines. Even tape recorders were viewed with
suspicion. In 1982, Victor Fuentealba, then president of the
American Federation of Musicians, tried to have synthesizers
banned from recording studios2. The new technology was feared by
academics as well. Electro-acoustic composer Jon Appleton, a
professor at Dartmouth College, says the prejudice against
electronic music has always been and will likely continue to be
strong even in university music depar