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Concept
Algorithmic composition
Summary
Algorithmic composition is the technique of using algorithms to create music.
Algorithms (or, at the very least, formal sets of rules) have been used to compose music for centuries; the procedures used to plot voice-leading in Western counterpoint, for example, can often be reduced to algorithmic determinacy. The term can be used to describe music-generating techniques that run without ongoing human intervention, for example through the introduction of chance procedures. However through live coding and other interactive interfaces, a fully human-centric approach to algorithmic composition is possible.
Some algorithms or data that have no immediate musical relevance are used by composers as creative inspiration for their music. Algorithms such as fractals, L-systems, statistical models, and even arbitrary data (e.g. census figures, GIS coordinates, or magnetic field measurements) have been used as source materials.
Compositional algorithms are usually classified by the specific programming techniques they use. The results of the process can then be divided into 1) music composed by computer and 2) music composed with the aid of computer. Music may be considered composed by computer when the algorithm is able to make choices of its own during the creation process.
Another way to sort compositional algorithms is to examine the results of their compositional processes. Algorithms can either 1) provide notational information (sheet music or MIDI) for other instruments or 2) provide an independent way of sound synthesis (playing the composition by itself). There are also algorithms creating both notational data and sound synthesis.
One way to categorize compositional algorithms is by their structure and the way of processing data, as seen in this model of six partly overlapping types:
translational models
mathematical models
knowledge-based systems
grammars
optimization approaches
evolutionary methods
systems which learn
hybrid systems
This is an approach to music synthesis that involves "translating" information from an existing non-musical medium into a new sound.
Official source
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