Well, that was pretty much my point: all random generators are not created equally. But by your words you are judging "random music" from only the perspective of Reaktor generators. Whether this is because you haven't been exposed to other forms or merely the ambiguity of your stated position, we as readers are left to assume based upon your wording.ahja wrote:Markleford, [...] Perhaps we are speaking of different random generators.
Sure, you refined your stance after the fact, but you must recognize that most of the vitriolic reactions you've received are because of this initial blanket categorization.
I can certainly agree with that, if the end goal is specifically to create a song based on someone else's generator. To me, if you're relying entirely on someone else's algorithm to do the work for you, THEN IT IS NOT YOUR PIECE. At best, depending upon the amount of effort you put into setting up the parameters and tweaking factors, it is a collaboration: you should be giving full credit to the programmer for their (substantial) part in the compositional process.I speak more of the ones you can find in the Reaktor user library where you don't even hold down (a) note(s). You load it up, you press random, and there is your "song". I don't understand how anyone could disagree with me on this... But I guess there are a few.
However, there is still plenty of fun to be had from such generators. I view them as interactive toys: it's a joy to be able to poke and prod at them to affect changes in the system and hear the results! What's *not* fun about that?
The world needs more musicial toys. Some of my long-term goals revolve around interactive art installations where the viewer participates naively in generating the music.
- m
