Apple’s Macintosh series of computers has been on the market since the late 70s, and though the name of the computers has been changed to “Mac” since the mid 90s, there is still a constant that remains a part of these computers to this day, and that would be in the fact that these computer play a certain chime when powered on.
The startup chime for these computers varies between it’s many iterations, though the chime has not changed since the release of the Power Mac G3 in 1999. The chime consists of a single, harmonic note, usually played by use of synth sounds. The earliest known credit for this was Mark Lentczer who is cited as the creator of the software that plays the chime in the Macintosh II. Video below!
The release of the Macintosh Quadra 700 saw a new chime introduced, composed by Jim Reekes. In an interview with CNBC he recalled that he created the chime with his Korg Wavestation EX in his home studio, and that he made it because he was annoyed with the current chime, as it sounded like something that would be used as a crash sound for other computers at the time. He recalled that Apple didn’t actually allow him to change the chime, and that he snuck it into the computers programming through the help of ROM chip developers. This chime is very similar to the chime that can be heard in Macs today. Video below!