Marcus Thompson performs in studio with Barry Vercoe (shown in video cover) and onstage at Kresge Auditorium, ca. 1973.

Software developer and Associate Professor of Media Arts & Sciences Barry Vercoe composed "Synapse for Viola and Computer" (in Computer Generations, Composers Recordings Inc., 1978) for Marcus Thompson, Associate Professor of Music. "Synapse" was essentially a small viola concerto with orchestra part performed by computer, as well as the first major work to emerge from the Media Lab's Experimental Music Studio and the first music written using the MIT Graphic Score Editor.