By combining scientific, technological and artistic methodologies it aims at understanding, modeling and generating sound and music through computational approaches.
The Sound and Music Computing research field can be traced back to the 1950s, when a few experimental composers, together with some engineers and scientists, independently and in different parts of the world, began exploring the use of the new digital technologies for music applications.
Using this name, in 2004 the Sound and Music Computing Conference was started and also in 2004 a roadmapping initiative was funded by the European Commission that resulted in the SMC Roadmap [2] and in the Sound and Music Computing Summer School.
With increasing research specialization within the SMC field, a number of focused conferences have been created.
The current SMC research field can be grouped into a number of subfields that focus on specific aspects of the sound and music communication chain.