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00400	C00002 00002	To:  Al Cohen
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00100	To:  Al Cohen
00200	From: J. Chowning
00300	Subject: Center for Computer Research in Acoustics and Music (CCRAM)
00400	
00500	Max Mathew's visit was very encouraging, I  think.   Although  he  is
00600	familiar  with  the  work that Leland and I have done, he had not had
00700	the opportunity previously to see the work being done by Loren  Rush,
00800	John  Grey,  and  Andy  Moorer.   We  gave  him  a presentation which
00900	resulted in some very positive feedback.  I will  enumerate  some  of
01000	his   thoughts   and   suggestions   in   regard  to  continuing  the
01100	computer-based acoustical and compositional work at Stanford.
01200	
01300		1.  The idea of the Music Department creating a center  is  a
01400	good  one  and very much enhanced by its inter-disciplinary nature as
01500	defined by both the proposed staff and research.
01600	
01700		2.   Our  ideas  are  sound  for  a  small  computer   system
01800	controling   a   powerful   special   purpose   acoustical  processor
01900	provisionally attached to the A.I. Lab. PDP-10 system.
02000	
02100		3.  NSF should be  approached  for  support  and  Mathews  is
02200	willing  to  help.  He  thinks  that  the  foundations may be equally
02300	appropriate or better  and,  again,  he  is  willing  to  help.   The
02400	foundations  should  be asked for something on the order of $500,000,
02500	certainly no less, and he feels that he is not  being  optimistic  in
02600	thinking  that  we  can  get it.  Now, I would feel that he was being
02700	optimistic except for the fact that a commitment from Max to help  is
02800	by  no  means  an  empty  one  and  he  is the principal authority in
02900	computers and music.
03000	
03100		4.  Once the appropriate foundation contacts are made through
03200	him and/or Stanford, I should make the 'pitch' in person.  We have in
03300	the royalty income budget from my spatial processing  invention  some
03400	$1500.   from  which  we  could  pay  the  travel  expenses,  in  all
03500	probability to the east coast.
03600	
03700	Time Schedule-
03800	
03900	As I understand the protocol, we can submit a proposal  to  NSF  with
04000	department  approval  whereas  for  foundations we must have approval
04100	from some higher level. In  addition,  we  would  apply  to  NSF  for
04200	research  support  only,  but  to  the  foundations  for support of a
04300	'center'.
04350	
04400	→ → → →	It  seems of some priority, then, to gain university approval
04500	for the center so that we can proceed with the search for support.
04600	
04700	In the meantime we will have the NSF proposal  prepared  in  no  more
04800	than two weeks.  This same proposal will form the research section of
04900	a foundation proposal to which we will add a section on the  relation
05000	of music to all of this.
05100	
05200	My  feeling  is  that  we  should not delay in pursuing the idea of a
05300	center. We have the research momentum together with the right people.
05400	Computer  music  facilities  are  proliferating at a fairly high rate
05500	which means that there will be a proportional increase in the  number
05600	seeking  support  and  it  would  be unfortunate should Stanford, the
05700	first independent facility and one of the most productive, not be  an
05800	early beneficiary.  I will keep you up to date on our progress.