Computers will soon learn what makes a good piece of music

[soma]

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070421/bob8.asp
There's a guy out there who has made a program that records statistical information by listening to music and can predict the next note in a song... The computer can play accompaniment to songs it has never heard.

[Edward4K]

Yeah for it. Since most commercial music sounds like its being written and performed by mindless drones, this may be an improvement. I think if you created a program that was able to follow a set group of ethical principles, it would do a better job governing than a typical politician.

[Audio~Geek]

Yeah for it. Since most commercial music sounds like its being written and performed by mindless drones, this may be an improvement. I think if you created a program that was able to follow a set group of ethical principles, it would do a better job governing than a typical politician.

I'd buy that. All hail the machine!

[ravasb]

When I was a teen I had to go to concerts, get drunk and have meaningless sex. Thank God we have computers for that now.

[BosseJo]

When I was a teen I had to go to concerts, get drunk and have meaningless sex. Thank God we have computers for that now.

Computers getting you drunk? How does that work? I really would like to know. Demo? Group buy?

[justified]

Thank God sex is full of meaning now.

[laputa_sync]

When I was a teen I had to go to concerts, get drunk and have meaningless sex. Thank God we have computers for that now.

Computers getting you drunk? How does that work? I really would like to know. Demo? Group buy?

Its in beta still.

[JumpingJackFlash]

Yeah for it. Since most commercial music sounds like its being written and performed by mindless drones

In many cases it is!

Well, ok, maybe not most commercial music, but certainly much of the sort of music that many people on KvR produce. - People use samples and synths, program patterns into a sequencer, quantise to taste... - the music is performed by the computer.

Also, people are now using computer programs to generate harmony, automatically orchestrate chords etc. - In a sense, much of the music is being written by the computer.

Is this new program any different? - Will this trend continue, such that people are completely unable to produce music without the aid of a computer? (In the sense people are generally much less good at spelling now thanks to spell-checkers, and much less good at maths thanks to sophisticated calculators?)

Where do you draw the line?

[laputa_sync]

Yeah for it. Since most commercial music sounds like its being written and performed by mindless drones, this may be an improvement.

So does your face.

I think if you created a program that was able to follow a set group of ethical principles, it would do a better job governing than a typical politician.

Your typical. So is your face.

[Hovmod]

Where do you draw the line?

What do you mean? If you're a Banjo player, I suggest you don't buy the program.

I can't outrun a car. That didn't make hiking up Mount Cameroon any less enjoyable.

[laputa_sync]

Kasparov is still the greatest chess player, even if there are machines he can't beat every time.

Russian Prison Machine will defeat Kasparov. He has a few weeks until he ends up in jail.

[JumpingJackFlash]

I can't outrun a car. That didn't make hiking up Mount Cameroon any less enjoyable.

But would it have been more or less enjoyable to just get in a lift, push a button, and go straight to the top? - Would you have gained more or less out of the experience doing it this way?

[k-bird]

Also, people are now using computer programs to generate harmony, automatically orchestrate chords etc. - In a sense, much of the music is being written by the computer.

The thing is that the computer doesn't necessarily make the compositional decisions. It can certainly offer options, but you still ultimately need an operator to audit the decisions the computer makes into a piece of music. The eventual authorship is down to the sensibility/luck of the operator.

I suspect it'll take a lot of cross-referenced research in at least music theory, computer science, psychomusicology, artificial intelligence, etc before computers are able to autonomously compose a listenable piece of music from start to finish without any human interaction based only on its own databanks and algorithms.

Perhaps with all this extra technology the composer doesn't have to be as formally aware of musical theory as time goes on, but composing's just making creative decisions in the end anyway. I for one am happy that computers are making it so much easier to make those decisions how you want them made, from being able to pick pleasing harmonic progressions to custom-designing the timbres of instruments.

Still, nothing like being able to bash out a tune on a proper instrument. It's much more fun than sitting in front of a PC all day after all.

[ocmtime]

Yeah for it. Since most commercial music sounds like its being written and performed by mindless drones

In many cases it is!

Well, ok, maybe not most commercial music, but certainly much of the sort of music that many people on KvR produce. - People use samples and synths, program patterns into a sequencer, quantise to taste... - the music is performed by the computer.

Also, people are now using computer programs to generate harmony, automatically orchestrate chords etc. - In a sense, much of the music is being written by the computer.

Is this new program any different? - Will this trend continue, such that people are completely unable to produce music without the aid of a computer? (In the sense people are generally much less good at spelling now thanks to spell-checkers, and much less good at maths thanks to sophisticated calculators?)

Where do you draw the line?

how can u generate harmony on a computer ? where can I get chord progression generator ?

[neokoo]

where can I get chord progression generator ?

This (and some others too) might fit the bill...

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1945.html