Algorithmic Composer

Tone Rows - PureData and Max

2011-09-03T18:21:00.003+01:00

Today's algorithmic composition tutorial looks at manipulating a tone row in Max and PureData to generate musical material. We'll also have a look at one technique that's useful in generating more fully formed compositions in Pd and Max than some of the musical sketches we've generated so far. Jump to the end of the post to hear some sample algorithmic music output from this patch. As with

Open Music - Tone Rows and the Maquette

2011-09-02T18:11:00.002+01:00

Today's algorithmic composition tutorial looks at using OpenMusic to manipulate and generate musical material from tone rows. If you haven't already got OpenMusic 6.5 installed you can download OpenMusic free for Mac and PC here. IRCAM supply a number of tutorials but you can also look through the OpenMusic tutorials available here. Jump to the end of the post to hear some sample algorithmic

Chaos in Max and PureData

2011-08-18T16:18:00.005+01:00

We've looked at a few algorithmic composition ideas using Chaos in OpenMusic here, today's post applies some of these ideas algorithmic composition ideas in Max and PureData. Chaos theory is a field of mathematics where dynamic systems are very sensitive to initial conditions. The famous 'butterfly effect' states that small differences in initial conditions can lead to large variations later:

Tom Johnson's Algorithmic Compositions Part 2

2011-08-16T16:41:00.004+01:00

A previous post looked at some of the algorithmic composition ideas used by American Composer Tom Johnson. Today's algorithmic composition tutorial looks at a few more of Johnson's concepts specifically his use of finite automata. A finite automaton is a sequence using a finite number of symbols generated according to specific rules. In the case of Johnson's Automatic Music, six percussionists

OpenMusic 6.5

2011-07-18T18:45:00.002+01:00

A new version of OpenMusic has been released today. This algorithmic composition software is developed by IRCAM and the latest version 6.5 has been released for free before it's been released to paying IRCAM forum members. You can download OpenMusic for Mac and PC here. OpenMusic 6.5 includes the following new features and bug fixes: OMSheet (beta):The sheet is a new score container allowing

Tom Johnson's Self Similar Melodies

2011-06-27T18:32:00.005+01:00

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Second Order Markov Chains in PureData

2011-06-27T14:06:00.004+01:00

It's been too long since the last algorithmic composition post, but a series of new posts are on the way! To kick things off we'll revisit one of our previous Markov chain algorithmic compositions. Previously we looked at first order Markov chains in PureData. We also extended this into a second order Markov chain in Max. Let's have a quick recap first. First Order Markov Chains In a previous

Algorithmic Composition with timbres: Klangfarbenmelodie

2010-05-23T17:05:00.007+01:00

Algorithmic composition often tends to focus on pitch and rhythm. Today's algorithmic composition tutorial concentrates on timbre, creating algorithmic music by outputting MIDI from MaxMSP [Max] and PureData [PD]. Klangfarbenmelodie (German for tone color melody) and the synonymous French term mélodie de timbres distributes a melody over several instruments rather than assigning it to just one

Algorithmic Composition with OpenMusic | Markov Chains and Rhythm

2010-05-20T17:06:00.012+01:00

Previous Algorithmic Composition tutorials have looked at using Markov Chains in OpenMusic, using some of the functions available in the OMalea library to analyse the pitches of a MIDI file and create new algorithmic compositions based on these. Today we're looking using Markov Chains in OpenMusic to generate rhythmic patterns for algorithmic compositions. Our previous OpenMusic tutorial used

Algorithmic Composition: Markov Chains in Max MSP

2010-05-16T14:40:00.014+01:00

We've looked at using Markov Chains for Algorithmic Composition in PureData, Markov Chains in Keykit and Markov Chains in OpenMusic in previous posts. In today's Algorithmic Composition tutorial we'll look at using Markov Chains in Max MSP to analysis existing music and generate new algorithmic music. We'll start off by recreating the Markov Chains in PureData example and then extend it with

Algorithmic Composition: Markov Chains in PureData

2010-05-08T16:38:00.011+01:00

We've looked at Markov Chains in a few previous Algorithmic Composer tutorials including Markov Chains in Keykit and Markov Chains in OpenMusic. Today we'll be creating some algorithmic music by composing with Markov Chains in PureData. Markov Chains choose the next state based on the current state and a set of probabilities. Mapped to pitch this would involve choosing our next note based on

Algorithmic Composition | OpenMusic Rhythm Trees Tutorial Part 2

2010-05-06T12:25:00.006+01:00

In our last algorithmic composition tutorial we introduced using Rhythm Trees in OpenMusic. Rhythm trees are powerful ways of representing complex musical rhythms, the downside is that they can be a little cumbersome to enter by hand. Fortunately we can use some of the built in objects in OpenMusic and simple algorithmic composition techniques to generate rhythm trees and musically interesting

Algorithmic Composition | OpenMusic Rhythm Trees Tutorial Part 1

2010-05-02T13:07:00.007+01:00

In previous algorithmic composition tutorials we've looked at using OpenMusic for algorithmic composition, today's algorithmic composition tutorial introduces Rhythm Trees. Rhythm trees are a way of representing rhythm with nested lists. The notation can get quite unwieldy and a little complicated, however these disadvantages are outweighed by the advantages. using rhythm trees it's possible to

Random Walks in Max and PureData Part Two

2010-05-01T13:01:00.005+01:00

Our last algorithmic composition tutorial introduced random walks in Max and PureData. Today's algorithmic composition tutorial follows on from this with a small extension: we'll apply random walk to dynamics and walk through a scale rather than chromatic pitches. I'll assume that you've read through some of the previous Algorithmic Composition Tutorials for Max and PureData here. Random Walk

Random Walks in Max and PureData

2010-04-30T22:57:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since we've looked at PureData and Max as algorithmic composition tools, today's algorithmic composition tutorial looks at Random Walks. We've looked before in this Random Walks OpenMusic tutorial but this is the first time we've used in random walks in Max and PureData. Random Walks We'll start with a simple example: 1. Given a starting pitch of middle C 2. We will make a

OpenMusic and Chaos - OMChaos library

2010-04-25T20:10:00.005+01:00

Our last few Algorithmic Composition posts have featured OpenMusic tutorials. We're continuing our look at OpenMusic today by looking at chaos, using the OMChaos library. Chaos theory is a field of mathematics where dynamic systems are very sensitive to initial conditions. The famous 'butterfly effect' states that small differences can lead to large variations later: the small flap of a

OpenMusic Markov Chains and omlea

2010-04-23T07:10:00.003+01:00

We've looked at using OpenMusic for algorithmic composition in a number of posts before, we've also looked at using the OpenMusic OMalea library and random walks in OpenMusic. Today we're going to use OpenMusic and OMalea to work with Markov Chains. Markov Chains are a very useful tool for the algorithmic composer, we've looked at Markov Chains in keykit here. If you're not familiar with how

OpenMusic and CSound - om2csound library

2010-04-21T16:41:00.009+01:00

We've looked at algorithmic composition with OpenMusic in a few posts before. This post looks as using OpenMusic and CSound. CSound is a very powerful synthesis program that is cross platform, free to download under the GNU Lesser General Public License and available here. It has hundreds of built in synthesis algorithms ranging from simple to advanced, cutting edge synthesis and sound

The OpenMusic OMalea library - Random Walk

2010-04-17T14:25:00.003+01:00

In our last post we had a look at some of the functions in the omalea OpenMusic library. In the last post we looked at mapping some different probability distributions to pitch. Using other omalea functions, we can explore a number of random walk functions to generate pitch sequences: Random walks Imagine a drunk walking home. When he reaches a junction he can turn left, right or carry

Probabilities in OpenMusic using OMalea

2010-04-16T12:08:00.002+01:00

We've introduced OpenMusic the computer-aided composition environment in a couple of previous algorithmic composition posts. Today we'll have a look at using the OpenMusic library omalea to discuss the concept of probabilities and music. OpenMusic has a number of libraries that give additional functionality. Omalea (OM stands for OpenMusic and alea is Latin for dice. Aleatoric music uses chance

Piano Phase - Max

2010-04-15T10:42:00.002+01:00

In a previous post we implemented Steve Reich's Piano Phase in an algorithmic composition patch in PureData. Today we have a similar implementation in Max. Piano Phase (1967) an identical twelve note phrase played by two pianists who are playing at slightly different tempos. As the piece progresses the two phrases drift further and further out of phase with each other. The 12 note phrase is:

OpenMusic 6.2

2010-04-10T02:31:00.002+01:00

We gave a brief introduction to OpenMusic a few posts ago. A new version of this algorithmic composition software has just been announced by IRCAM. The new version, OpenMusic 6.2 is available for Windows XP, Vista and Mac OSX Univeral Binary and comes with updates, bug fixes and some new features. New features: - Compatible with LispWorks 5 and 6 (for LispWorks users) - New "LispFunction"

Keykit | Algorithmic Composition Software

2010-04-04T13:59:00.002+01:00

Keykit is a piece of algorithmic composition software that the developer describes as 'a programming language and graphical interface for manipulating and generating music'. It runs on Windows and Linux and is a free download available here: http://www.nosuch.com/keykit Keykit read and write MIDI files so it can also be easily integrated with other programes and has a number of useful

Tutorial Max 2: Random Major Scale Pitches In Max

2010-03-28T16:42:00.002+01:00

Our second PureData example looked at playing random major scale pitches. This post looks at creating the same patch in Max. Our last algorithmic composition example in Max played random chromatic pitches if you haven't already follow the tutorial to create or download this last Max patch, it looked like this: Open our last patch from tutorial one. We'll be storing the pitches of our major scale

Tutorial Max 1: Random Pitches In Max5

2010-03-27T15:40:00.002Z

A few days ago we posted an introductory algorithmic composition example that generated random pitches in PureData. Today we're creating the same example in Max 5. Max is a commercial application available from Cycling 74. Max is very similar to the opensource programme PureData, in today's example the patches are very similar, as we start to implement more advanced algorithmic compositions