The UPIC (Unité Polyagogique Informatique CEMAMu), known in Greek as Polyagogia, was a computer system for sound creation and music composition based on the graphic representation of a sound signal. It was developed by the great Greek composer Iannis Xenakis (1921-2001). Xenakis, who had lived in exile in Paris since 1947, founded in 1972 in the French capital the CEMAMu (Centre d'Études de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales – Center for the Study of Musical Mathematics and Automation), aimed at researching contemporary music. As part of his research, he designed the Polyagogia, which was first presented with great success in Bonn in 1977. The Polyagogia consisted of many different components, such as a screen, keyboard, stylus, architectural table, central unit, and others. The system allowed the user to create sounds by drawing shapes on the table, which were then converted into sound. This particularly innovative invention for its time facilitated and promoted compositional experimentation. When Xenakis returned to Greece and, together with Yannis G. Papaioannou, Stefanos Vassiliadis, and together with 22 other members founded the CMRC (Contemporary Music Researc Centre, 1979), he ensured that a Polyagogia system was purchased, which from 1986 became a landmark for the center. The first two Greek composers who wrote works for the Polyagogia and taught its operation after Xenakis were Haris Xanthoudakis (1950-2023) and Dimitris Kamarotos (b. 1954). It was within this framework that the Electronic Music Department operated at the Athenaeum Conservatoire in collaboration with the CMRC and under Haris Xanthoudakis. Since 2018, the Polyagogia system has been kept at the Athens Conservatoire.
The UPIC (Unité Polyagogique Informatique CEMAMu), known in Greek as Polyagogia, was a computer system for sound creation and music composition based on the graphic representation of a sound signal. It was developed by the great Greek composer Iannis Xenakis (1921-2001). Xenakis, who had lived in exile in Paris since 1947, founded in 1972 in the French capital the CEMAMu (Centre d'Études de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales – Center for the Study of Musical Mathematics and Automation), aimed at researching contemporary music. As part of his research, he designed the Polyagogia, which was first presented with great success in Bonn in 1977. The Polyagogia consisted of many different components, such as a screen, keyboard, stylus, architectural table, central unit, and others. The system allowed the user to create sounds by drawing shapes on the table, which were then converted into sound. This particularly innovative invention for its time facilitated and promoted compositional experimentation. When Xenakis returned to Greece and, together with Yannis G. Papaioannou, Stefanos Vassiliadis, and together with 22 other members founded the CMRC (Contemporary Music Researc Centre, 1979), he ensured that a Polyagogia system was purchased, which from 1986 became a landmark for the center. The first two Greek composers who wrote works for the Polyagogia and taught its operation after Xenakis were Haris Xanthoudakis (1950-2023) and Dimitris Kamarotos (b. 1954). It was within this framework that the Electronic Music Department operated at the Athenaeum Conservatoire in collaboration with the CMRC and under Haris Xanthoudakis. Since 2018, the Polyagogia system has been kept at the Athens Conservatoire.