Thursday, December 30, 2010
Video-Driven Soundtrack Composer
A new concept insofar as the music generated is driven by an associated video. This process has been developed by Tunepresto and is available as a commercial product, Abaltat Muse, for users to create their own music based on their video pictures or slideshows. The process involves an analysis of the color saturation in the pictures, together with the calculation of the duration of the footage. The user then chooses a style of music and a soundtrack is created using the video analysis information combined with the rules of the chosen musical style. The music generated is royalty-free since the user is the originator of the music.
Machine Improvisation
Machine Improvisation uses computer algorithms to create improvisation on existing music materials. This is usually done by sophisticated recombination of musical phrases extracted from existing music, either live or pre-recorded. In order to achieve credible improvisation in particular style, machine improvisation uses machine learning and pattern matching algorithms to analyze existing musical examples. The resulting patterns are then used to create new variations "in the style" of the original music, developing a notion of stylistic reinjection. This is different from other improvisation methods with computers that use algorithmic composition to generate new music without performing analysis of existing music examples.
OMax is a software environment developed in IRCAM. OMax uses OpenMusic and Max. It is based on researches on stylistic modeling carried out by Gerard Assayag and Shlomo Dubnov and on researches on improvisation with the computer by G. Assayag, M. Chemillier and G. Bloch (Aka the OMax Brothers) in the Ircam Music Representations group.
Statistical style modeling
Style modeling implies building a computational representation of the musical surface that captures important stylistic features from data. Statistical approaches are used to capture the redundancies in terms of pattern dictionaries or repetitions, which are later recombined to generate new musical data. Style mixing can be realized by analysis of a database containing multiple musical examples in different styles. Machine Improvisation builds upon a long musical tradition of statistical modeling that began with Hiller and Isaacson's Illiac Suite in the 1950s and Xenakis' uses of Markov chains and stochastic processes. Modern methods include the use of lossless data compression for incremental parsing, Prediction Suffix Tree and string searching by factor oracle algorithmUses of Machine Improvisation
Machine Improvisation encourages musical creativity by providing automatic modeling and transformation structures for existing music. This creates a natural interface with the musician without need for coding musical algorithms. In live performance, the system re-injects the musician's material in several different ways, allowing a semantics-level representation of the session and a smart recombination and transformation of this material in real-time. In offline version, Machine Improvisation can be used to achieve style mixing, an approach inspired by Vannevar Bush's memex imaginary machine.Implementations
Matlab implementation of the Factor Oracle machine improvisation can be found as part of Computer Audition toolbox.OMax is a software environment developed in IRCAM. OMax uses OpenMusic and Max. It is based on researches on stylistic modeling carried out by Gerard Assayag and Shlomo Dubnov and on researches on improvisation with the computer by G. Assayag, M. Chemillier and G. Bloch (Aka the OMax Brothers) in the Ircam Music Representations group.
Musicians working with machine improvisation
Gerard Assayag (IRCAM, France), Tim Blackwell (Goldsmiths College, Great Britain), George Bloch (Composer, France), Marc Chemiller (IRCAM/CNRS, France), Nick Collins (University of Sussex, UK) Shlomo Dubnov (Composer, Israel / USA), Mari Kimura (Juilliard, New York City), George Lewis (Columbia University, New York City), Bernard Lubat (Pianist, France), Joel Ryan (Institute of Sonology, Netherlands), Michel Waisvisz (STEIM, Netherlands), David Wessel (CNMAT, California), Michael Young (Goldsmiths College, Great Britain), Pietro Grossi (CNUCE, Institute of the National Research Council, Pisa, Italy)Live coding
Live coding[4] (sometimes known as 'interactive programming', 'on-the-fly programming',[5] 'just in time programming') is the name given to the process of writing software in realtime as part of a performance. Historically, similar techniques were used to produce early computer art[citation needed], but recently it has been explored as a more rigorous alternative to laptop musicians who, live coders often feel, lack the charisma and pizzazz of musicians performing live.[6]
Generally, this practice stages a more general approach: one of interactive programming, of writing (parts of) programs while they are interpreted. Traditionally most computer music programs have tended toward the old write/compile/run model which evolved when computers were much less powerful. This approach has locked out code-level innovation by people whose programming skills are more modest. Some programs have gradually integrated real-time controllers and gesturing (for example, MIDI-driven software synthesis and parameter control). Until recently, however, the musician/composer rarely had the capability of real-time modification of program code itself. This legacy distinction is somewhat erased by languages such as ChucK, SuperCollider, and Impromptu.
TOPLAP, an ad-hoc conglomerate of artists interested in live coding was formed in 2004, and promotes the use, proliferation and exploration of a range of software, languages and techniques to implement live coding. This is a parallel and collaborative effort e.g. with research at the Princeton Sound Lab, the University of Cologne, and the Computational Arts Research Group at Queensland University of Technology.
Generally, this practice stages a more general approach: one of interactive programming, of writing (parts of) programs while they are interpreted. Traditionally most computer music programs have tended toward the old write/compile/run model which evolved when computers were much less powerful. This approach has locked out code-level innovation by people whose programming skills are more modest. Some programs have gradually integrated real-time controllers and gesturing (for example, MIDI-driven software synthesis and parameter control). Until recently, however, the musician/composer rarely had the capability of real-time modification of program code itself. This legacy distinction is somewhat erased by languages such as ChucK, SuperCollider, and Impromptu.
TOPLAP, an ad-hoc conglomerate of artists interested in live coding was formed in 2004, and promotes the use, proliferation and exploration of a range of software, languages and techniques to implement live coding. This is a parallel and collaborative effort e.g. with research at the Princeton Sound Lab, the University of Cologne, and the Computational Arts Research Group at Queensland University of Technology.