IBM 7094

The very first computer to “sing” was IBM 7094, which sang Daisy Bell in 1961 at Bell Labs. This was one of the first tests of speech synthesis, and the recording can be found in the United States National Recording Registry. If you like, you can think of IBM 7094 as the great-grandfather of vocaloids like Hatsune Miku. IBM 7094’s performance was referenced in 2001: A Space Odyssey, where HAL9000 sings Daisy Bell as he’s being shut down.

Kat W. – Author

Kat is a Computer Information Technology major with a passion for sharing interesting information, ranging anywhere from computer history to animal biology.