Computer Generated Music Composition

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:15 am

With today's virtual instruments, audio editing programs...there's no limit...
But what's about Composing music, how to create new song/melody/theme...? Composing music with computers is almost norm? Pro Et Contra?

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 3:39 am

First of all i would like to say: obviously (maybe) I didn't make it clear enough ("Computer Generated Music").
Today's "composing music" is - almost - manipulation by combining and mixing with already exiting loops and patterns.
But, what's about the melody, tune...???
It's not too simple, so, why shouldn't we accept the help of IT?
Probably, you'll be surprised by the amount of software that you will find: Apple Computer's GarageBand software, Classical Music Composer, Easy Music Composer, FlexiMusic Composer, Fractal Music Composer, Jump, Magix Music Maker, Virtual Music Composer,... Yes, all these programs compose new music. And really important notice:
they doesn't require any special knowledge or/and skills of composition. Just click a couple of buttons and listen to the music, new songs. And it belongs to you!...

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:09 am

hmmm... im not 100% sure where you are going with this... i agree with you that the modern approach is very much computer orientated music, and yes, frequently uses loops and such, but it certainly isnt limited to that, anyone who is skilled on piano / keyboard has a slight advantage in my opinion when it comes to using a computer for music, most software uses a keyboard and to very good effect, there are some really top notch orchestral sounds out there available that gives people options in music that were nothing but a mere dream 10 / 15 years ago... the thing that shines through for me is anyone who is skilled on an instrument, be it piano/keboard, strings of any sort, or even wind instruments will stand out a little or come with a slightly different approach than just using samples and loops to make a song, but they still have to learn to effectively use the software to get the best out of it, this learning of the vast, vast amount of available softwares to create music, is on a par with learning a 'real' instrument... i have certainly found that anyway... Laughing

i guess in short i would say the advantages of the advancement in technology through music greatly outways the disadvantages.. more people can now get involved and have a wider range of options to create with, the possibilities are almost endless... but this is not an easy thing anyone can just pick up and create a masterpiece with, computer software, as a 'real' instrument takes practice and time to perfect...

for scientifically proven results on this just click on that banner below and here a guitarist struggling to make sense of the world of computer music Laughing

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:45 am

It wasn’t long time ago, with the appearance of computers...
"...computers will never defeat humans in the game of chess..."
"...Robert Moog: a dangerous anarchist out to destroy music as we know it..."
There's no area of art, science... that hasn't been compared in this or any other similar way.
Now, try to imagine today's musician who had never used the computer or chess analysis without comp assistance or...

So what is my point here you ask?

A couple of days ago to this forum ( a couple of any others well-visited also ) I have started a new thread titled "Computer Generated Music Composition". The topic for general discussion was a question "Pro Et Contra" on subject: programs for virtual composing / virtual music composers.
The feedback is almost...as you can see...none or the same to the sentences above.
So, do we have to wait again for several more years before we...
The human touch will never be replaced, but, whether we like it or not, it is reality.

IT can do it also!

Probably you'll say now: He's one of them (developer, author...). Yes, I'm one of them.
But, in this thread ( in previous thread also ) I never mentioned a name of this software or any other fact about that could be a way to. So,it is not advertising.
I'm just curious about this...

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:08 am

ok, i mostly agree with what you are saying there, the 'human touch', however will be lost slightly through computer usage i think... with the availabilty of the software and the ever lowering prices of the hardware alot of potential instrument players will be buying a computer and going for solo music instead of buying for example a violin....

the difference this will make is that people will not be interacting and learning skills from each other in the same way as they would by the old methods such as musicians 'jamming'... this will greatly effect overall musical ability i feel, but that aside, there will always be one thing that the computer cannot do very well, that is translate into live performance, computers will never give the listeners the visual / audio stimulation of seeing a live band or orchestra... and so, maybe the 'human touch' will always have a thread of hope / inspiration left for new talent to come through....

as long as there is a balance between 'real' instruments and 'computer' music then music can continue to evolve with more human elements and feeling than computer simulated emotion, the line is already very thin though, as you stated in an earlier post people can just use loops to make a song then call it there own, but not everyone will do that, for me these are new and exciting times and i personally am more than willing to embrace technology within music, though i know people who are not... as i say as long as there is a balance between the two views music will continue to pull through...

are you a software developer then?? thats cool... dont think ive ever (knowingly anyway) chatted to one...lol.. what software do you work on?? Laughing

dont worry about advertising etc, im just really curious, it might be one i use / have used...
nice to have you stop by here anyway, i hope you get some interesting points in forums elsewhere, it is a very interesting and open to opinion subject... Cool

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:24 am

1.
Musician reamains musician..."The music is the only art, unique among all others, that wouldn't be possible without existence of, at least, two of them: the art of the composition/composing and the art of performing music."
So, there's no problem for us,...concerning "computer takes it all".
2.
This song is composed by software (main theme and harmony), my arrangement and performance,...then video, just for my pleasure:
http://www.virtualmusiccomposer.com/Download/Temp/Video_My_Song_Preview.mov

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:39 am

cheers for the link!! there are some really nice samples in there, im really impressed... the operatic singing samples really stood out for me, though all the samples used sounded very good quality the bells were quite a unique sound too, i liked the organ sounds, and the grand piano sounds too, i have found there are a lot of piano samples that get too thin and 'tinkley' at the higher end but these sounded pretty good from what i could hear, excellent work... whats this software called??? is there a demo version available?? if there is could you please leave me a link, if this is a beta version or something then please let me know when its finished and available!! Laughing

also, i think i ought to add great work on the composition!! thats a really cool piece of music that shows off the various samples perfectly!! nice work..

cheers again for the link... Cool

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:51 am

Poor little FaceFlip.......went for the bait.......sorry, but I knew a link of some sort was coming...
tsk,tsk

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:05 am

hahaha, the link was cool.. the software looks good, im gonna d/l the demo i think and check the user friendlyness of it... dont know why ive been asking what the software was called...lol.. had a blond moment there!!! seeing as the names in the link and all... hahaha

ill leave some feedback for this product after ive tested it out... Cool

moderator Joined: Jun 30, 2007 Posts: 433

the first project with fractals and logarithmic auto generated music is "the gemma 6000" project in the 60 or 70 with government investment in usa i remember well the storie... Exclamation

Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 4:23 pm

actually, you can go back to the late 50's and early 60's. the russians had a similar project and pioneered a lot of not-so-well-known electronic music. nothing like we thing of today. more along the lines the 'gemma 6000' project. not quite the same, but similar. i've got it on MP3. not much fun to listen to, but pretty interesting considering the era it was made.

PPB, do you have any MP3 of music generated w/ gemma 6000? i would be interested in hearing it.

word. Cool

moderator Joined: Jun 30, 2007 Posts: 433

i don't have some sorry but i could download it if you think you really need it, i know internet a lot, i have lots of annoying online science and dictionnary off all king i care a lot...wikipedia
arnarchist science Smile

network, webmastering, listeners for nice artists,hacking and hi jacking sciences for newbies is close to dead...
(i always nightmared to say this and it happened)
never we will be genrating music that don't sound very borring on our pc because of the music industry is using it for itself only since 20 years...70% of the records you like in electronica have different compositor and producer people in cd or track...the name you always see is the producer one...always because this is the rules of labels since a long time...robert miles hasn't composed dreamland...jean michel jarre has left lame stuff from him of when he was young but the productions just sucks for 2008, however better not dare to make so good and logical sohesticate compo, i can do a better sound than this record but never i will create a so bright compo...i mean jean michel jarre...peter gabriel...simon and garfunkel...elvis preslev.......bach....all have their name in the music book because they were creators of a music the biggest computer of the world can't compare...never we will have else than automatised sofware for arrangment and dj mixing, more than the dying industry of cd is using to sell pop music and electronic music especially...music are mathematicals...physical...it's easy to make a soft that make a melody that sound a bit if you are a 40 years old gecko with a good but not genius at all brain...i did song just by setting note afer each others like i would with my mood and knowlegdes for years...i you know me you i'm not a genius and that there are people of 15 that do better like me..i have a near 14 years producing from total noob to a bit downloaded music since years on the net...the day you lose the faith then you are not an artist anymore...even if u rules...in this case go a record house and ask an annoying job of producers or sound engineer for music with no meaning or talent or both...and you could live well and happy too...you are a pro but not an artist...and nobody is giving you else than rewards in the better case...and u don't deserve it really and algorytmic music has no soul because of it's not made by an human so i will NEVER imagine something else than something perfect, but poorless of mellow feelings...or we get in 3K and world is love... Evil or Very Mad

ubw newbie Joined: May 20, 2008 Posts: 3

Hi, all!

New member here - from sweden.
I couldn't help but to jump in, since I'm into this myself.

The way I see it, it's absolutely possible for an algoritmic composing program to generate high quality music - but not at every try. No matter how good the algorithms, there always has to be someone (human) who decides what's good and not.

Then again, not even Bach would have been able to make a masterpiece every time...

Just my 2c,

Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 9:28 am

i think youve hit the nail on the head when you said ''there will always be someone who decides whats good and whats not''

music is so differently interpritated between different people, there are masses of factors that possibly effect this, from differences in peoples hearing spectrum, to differences in peoples 'electronic signal to the brain' type thing Laughing

also things like familiarity or lack of it can exite people differently...
possibly also, people may be affected socially, as in the good old, my friend likes that and so do i thing... that happens a lot more than people let on, in the same way as my friend likes that so i dont, like it or not sometimes pre-conceptions will play a big part in what you hear, almost as if youre not really listening to the piece with youre full attention because you already know it will be like ''blah,blah''...

anyways, enough of that, im going slightly off subject, i know nothing of the 'gemma 6000' project so cant really comment any further... Laughing

Computer Generated Music Composition

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