Algorithmic Composition of Music
March 29th, 2006
I posted a few days ago about some of the projects that I found interesting at the UCC Open Day for Computer Science fourth year projects. The one which I expected to see more of in the future was Mark O’Brien’s project on the algorithmic composition of music. He has sent on some midi files that were automatically composed at the touch of a button (and maybe a couple of slider bars) by his program.
The interface also has a “risk” slider which, if set to “low”, would come out with a tune that conforms perfectly to our rules of music, akin to Mary Had a Little Lamb. Increasing the risk will allow the computer to stray more from the predefined rules to create either a unique inspirational work, or an absolute disaster. Take a listen to this Shins-esque one (which I think had risk factor set to “medium”)… I think its class:
If you’re not into the sinister bells genre, there are pianos, guitars and more on the zip file here (3kb). Mark says he’s currently accepting donations 
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digg it
March 30th, 2006 at 16:55 pm
Cathal McCarthy’s a mutual friend of ours, I believe. He saw your blog and told me you’d mentioned my project in it. Cheers for the publicity, and the kind words!
March 30th, 2006 at 21:03 pm
No probs - let me know if you ever need a beta tester
April 10th, 2006 at 19:51 pm
James, does this Mark character have a blog/website? I wouldn’t mind hearing more about this program!
April 11th, 2006 at 19:29 pm
No idea, it would be good to get the full lowdown on it alright.