Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Don, 
    
    What did the music sound like? Was it any more/less human than...
    
                            A. Humans?
                            B. Quantized sequences?
    
    Did you like the music?
    
    As for untouched by human hands, well, somebody wrote that code!
       
    Edd

    There was an article about a composition system like this a while
    back in Computer Music Journal, by Fry. (He only uses his last name,
    although I know his first name, heh heh).
    
    	- Rick
    

    
    I heard it; didn't really care for the computer's music, but
    he picked a nice instrument! :-)
    
    Fredric

    
    uVax indeed....Better odds it was a Mac.
    
    you *didnt* tape it?
    
    Youre recollection implies that funk has a more complex heuristic.

    ( wah! git down! hooah! brrrrrrrrreeet! )
    :*}
    

    It's not *really* computer music until a computer listens to it
    and writes a scathing review about what sloppy algorithms the modern
    generation has.
    
    David
    

It was a Mac, half hidden under the table at the front of the display.

    Sounds interesting, but I don't see computers taking over the
    compositional end of music. On the other hand, one thing I'd like
    to try if I had the extra bucks, is a package put out by Dr. T called
    the Algorithmic Composer (I think that's the right name). It does
    some compostition based on input parameters, but what Dr. T suggests
    the user do is to use it for inspiration in teerms of melody and
    harmony, and then use it for your own compositions.
    
    Rob
    

Sounds like .7 hit the nail on the head.  Any technological advance should be 
aimed at freeing people from mundane tasks so that a greater percentage of 
their time is spent creatively.  Studies have shown that, contrary to what one 
might think, this INCREASES productivity rather than cutting back on it due to 
"fatigue" of applying "too much mental energy" too consistently.  I personally 
do not believe the initial idea is necessarily where the majority of the 
creative energy goes in composing, so a cybernetic composer could possibly 
bring out the best in anyone who has the proper training to use it effectively 
as a creative tool, rather than resulting in more clinical works.


				Mark

    re -1.. so, when you comin' over to help me figure out how to
    generate the SYS-EX messages for my Fb-01 from my KX88 ?
    
    k m2

    RE .9	(and your mail comments to me today), I think the FB_01
    note (463 ?) had something from Paul Kent on almost exactly this.
    Somewhere in the range of 463.60 to 463.80 he goes through this,
    some detail on what didn't and then what did work.  Finally, removing
    something that was "intercepting" sys ex's cured his problem.
   
    	Good Luck,  
    
    	Reg
     

    
    I heard this setup a month or so back, and liked it a lot.
    
    I am not much into jazz, though - it all just sounds like 
    "noodling" to me. However, my friend who also saw the exhibit
    is very much into jazz - and she said it sounded nice, but was
    just a lot of "noodling"!
    
    Still, though, don't think I am knocking the system - I am still
    impressed with what they've accomplished.
    
    And now, like everyone else, I will throw in my two cents on the 
    destiny/utility of compositional algorithms.
    
    I agree with Mark a little bit. They may be a useful "tool" of the
    composition process, doing a lot of the menial tasks while the
    composer "experiments and paints with a wide brush"  (Mark, is
    that a reasonable paraphrase?) It is even fun - I have a demo disk
    of a program called "Jam Factory", which improvises on material
    you play. Basically, though, it is simply a musical version of
    Eddington's Monkey*. 
    
    I see the value of compositional algorithms, like computers in
    general, as "Tools with which to Explore Music". That is, it is
    NOT the OUTPUT that is important, but WHAT YOU LEARNED IN ORDER TO
    GENERATE THAT OUTPUT that has lasting value. 
    
    To relate this to the Kurzweil Exhibit: I would probably not
    buy an album of the music produced by this system, but I know
    that the people who built the system learned a LOT about how
    to put music together and to understand musical relationships.

    It is much the same in computer graphics - someone produces
    a picture of a glass ball. It reflects and bends light just
    the way you would expect. Sure, the picture is pleasant to
    look at, but wouldn't you agree that the REAL VALUE is in what
    the modeller learned about reflecting light (and how to describe
    those physical laws)?

    							Scot
    
    * Eddington is the guy credited with the conjecture that
      if you put an infinite number of monkeys at typewriters,
      they would eventually reproduce great works of Shakespeare,
      et al. Certain "markov-chain" algorithms which modify
      text have sprung out of this work (one was in Scientific
      American a few years ago.) "Jam Factory" does the same thing:
      according to the documentation, it builds a markov chain
      of your input and then hops around for a while.

    

    to digress, 
    
    situation with Kx88 sending Fb01 config change is:
    
    good news: gee, you can do it!
    
    bad news: gee, you need n copies of a canned message with
             ONE byte changed to indicate "select config. n "
    
    Still need, and should want, a cheep computer to do the
    "footswitch-to-midi-message-initiation(s)" business, Karl.
    
    Or was that another note?
    
    ron
        

    re -1,-2
    
    uhh, thanks, guys, I've extracted all the Fb01 stuff.
    
    Back to the topic, Cybernetic Composer.. I also have demo disks
    for 'M' and 'Jam Factory'.
    
    I now agree with Butch Leitz. On this one point. that is to say,
    
    Bleeeeeaah.
    
    karl

    RE: noodling
    
    Yep, sounds like the programmers didn't put any repetition into
    the melody lines.  Anyone want to fill out a bug report?
    
    Similar question posed in the 'My dinner with Racter' note (good
    title, Len - very memorizable):  Is the generated 'music' copyrighted?
    
    Todd.

putting together what i said earlier with what scot said, i think the best 
result of this algorthmic composer is it will help people to learn better how 
to do it themselves, by stepping through a template approach.  just as 
learning to use a drum machine can help a person to better understand rhythm 
and learn how to play or write for the real instruments.