Gary Lee Nelson (born Albion, Michigan, 1940) is a composer and media artist who taught at Oberlin College in the TIMARA (Technology in Music and Related Arts) department.
The MIDI Horn is a digital wind instrument designed and constructed at Oberlin by music engineer, John Talbert.
A Macintosh computer, and an array of synthesizers from Yamaha, Roland, and E-mu Systems complete Nelson's concert setup.
In 1988, his “Amber Waves” was awarded first prize in music at “Contours of the Mind,” an international competition for computer-based art held at the Australian National University.
During the same year, he was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new course called “Algorithmic Approaches to Interactive Composition.” In 2001, his work on fractal music was featured on the “Pulse of the Planet” radio program broadcast on NPR.
In 2004, Nelson was commissioned by the Boston Museum of Science to create interactive software that demonstrated principles of genetics and evolution through musical sound and graphic animations.