RE: [microsound] microsound and mathematics

[jhno <ear@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>Uh, my ears pricked up at that. Genetic music objects ?

bill vorn made a set of objects that do genetic algorithms in max/msp (also
a nice implementation of conway's life). available via the usual max
archives...

>I tried that once
>but couldn't figure out how to select which sounds go into the next
>generation other than picking them by hand. Very time consuming.

lesson number one. :) using a human as the selection mechanism is quite
practical for visual images, where you can take in a whole field of
possibilities at once and the eye is drawn naturally to its interests.

with time-based media, this process is much slower - even if the sounds or
musical fragments are very short. the effectiveness of a genetic algorithm
varies in proportion to the size of population and number of generations -
so this is bad news.

when i was checking this out at interval research, i tried to overcome the
problem by generating visual icons to match the sounds - which helped a
lot, but was not really enough.

the real solution is to move part or all of the burden of selection into
the algorithm. if you can come up with an analysis technique that lets the
computer guide the ga, then you can let it run overnight if it needs to.
analysis is tough, though. whatever you do will have as much influence on
the material as the generative algorithm itself (genotype -> phenotype
step). i have dozens of ideas on the back burner, hope to have some
interesting results to offer some day instead of just a theoretical
perspective.

i have to say, though, even when the process is laborious, genetic
algorithm techniques can be amazing. the gold you are panning for is pure
novelty - trying to get the computer to find something in the space of
possibilities that you would never achieve by other means. when this
happens, it is a real pleasure...

jhno

(tangental to this thread is david cope, and his "experiments in musical
intelligence." machine-made music in the style of dead euromales. a
composer friend of mine went to a concert for two pianos "in the style of
rachmaninoff" and was knocked out...)