Roger Dannenberg - Episode 61

In this episode of ACM ByteCast, Bruke Kifle hosts ACM Fellow Roger Dannenberg, a Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, Art & Music at Carnegie Mellon University. Dannenberg is internationally renowned for his research in computer music, particularly in the areas of programming language design, real-time interactive systems, and AI music. Throughout his career, he has developed innovative technologies that have revolutionized the music industry and is known for creating Audacity, the widely known and used audio editor. In addition to his academic work, His other projects include Music Prodigy, aiming to help thousands of beginning musicians and Proxor, aiming to help software developers launch a successful career. Roger is also an accomplished musician and composer, having performed in prestigious venues around the world.

Roger traces his two lifelong passions for computer science and music, and his fascination with the connection between sound, mathematics, and physics. He describes the signal changes in interactive computer music, which once required specialized hardware but has since been replaced by ubiquitous software-based audio processing. Roger and Bruke discuss the promise of AI in music, especially for enhancing creativity and live performance, as well as the challenges of balancing AI with human labor and creativity. Roger also describes his work on the powerful open-source audio editor Audacity (co-developed with former student Dominic Mazzoni), which has democratized music production and is now used by millions of users worldwide. Finally, he talks about some recent projects in music analysis and composition, and reflects on his role as an academic and advisor.