File(s) not publicly available
The Analysis of Generative Music Programs
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 19:31 authored by Nick CollinsComposers have spent more than fifty years devising computer programs for the semi-automated production of music. This article shall focus in particular on the case of minimal run-time human intervention, where a program allows the creation of a musical variation, typically unravelling in realtime, on demand. These systems have the capacity to vary their output with each run, often from no more input information than the seeding of a random number generator with the start time. Such artworks are accumulating, released online as downloads, or exhibited through streaming radio sites such as rand()%. Listener/users and composer/designers may wish for deeper insight into these programs' ontological status, mechanisms and creative potential. These works are challenging to dissect; this article makes a tentative start at confronting the unique problems and rich behaviours of computer-program-based generative music, from the social and historical context to the backwards engineering of programs in relation to their sound world. After a discussion of exemplars and definitions of generative art, strategies for analysis are outlined. To provide practical examples, analyses are provided of two small scale works by James McCartney.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Organised SoundISSN
1355-7718Publisher
Cambridge JournalsExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
13Page range
237-248Pages
12.0Department affiliated with
- Informatics Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes