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In the mid-'80s, Puckette developed a program for the Macintosh called Max. Miller Puckette's work at IRCAM has had a more lasting impact.
#Atari tunesmith like program code#
Unfortunately, his platform of choice was the Atari ST computer niether Tobenfeld's code nor Johnson's has never been ported to MS-DOS, much less to Windows or the MacOS. T (Emile Tobenfeld) had his own visionary ideas about MIDI-based algorithmic composition. T's Music Software, as was Jim Johnson's wonderful Tunesmith.
#Atari tunesmith like program generator#
Joel Chadabe's MIDI generator software, called M, was distributed for a while by a now-defunct company called Dr. For the first time it was possible to write a computer program that would play a conventional synthesizer in real time. The birth of MIDI in 1983 gave a big boost to algorithmic composition.
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If the patterns are not only recognizable but pleasing to human listeners, so much the better. There are often elements of randomness in the results, but the idea is to constrain the computer's random number generator with an algorithm that produces recognizable patterns. The composer then presses a button and sits back and waits while the computer churns out the music. In algorithmic composition, the composer develops a computer algorithm that describes how notes will be generated. This was the beginning of what today is called algorithmic composition. Basically, they used the computer to generate long strings of random numbers and then decided which numbers to use for the melody and which numbers to skip, based on certain rules - the melody had to start and end on Middle C, certain leaps from one pitch to another were forbidden, and so on. (It would be another 20 years before the computer itself could generate even simple tones in real time, thus becoming an instrument in its own right.) The Illiac Suite for string quartet, generally credited as the first such work, was composed in 1957 by Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson using the ILLIAC computer at the University of Illinois. Some of the earliest uses of computers in music involved generating a musical score with the computer, the score then being performed by traditional instruments. Today even classical music has moved firmly back into the "play the tune three times so they won't forget it" camp. In any event, it proved not to be the wave of the future. You'll note that I said "almost all music." In the mid-20th Century, a few composers, most notably John Cage, started creating music that was deliberately devoid of repeating patterns. Indeed, you could make a good case that if pattern recognition weren't a fun game for hominid brains to play, music itself would never have come into existence.
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The ability of the human brain to recognize patterns is the basis for almost all music, from Barry Manilow to the Sex Pistols. When it changes, we recognize the changes by comparing them mentally to the earlier version. When a pattern repeats, we recognize it because we've heard it before. As we listen to music, we notice the patterns. It's more like boom-bidda-boomity-boom-(wait.)-ba-boom. But rhythm isn't just a monotonous boom-boom-boom. It also helps explain why computers have quickly become so important in the creative process of so many musicians. The close relationship between music and mathematics is unique, and speaks volumes about how we perceive music.
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If you're sitting close to the stage, sooner or later you'll hear the bandleader start a tune by counting it off: "One, two, three, four." That may not seem like an "aha!" moment, but I'll tell you something - painters don't count off their paintings. Here's a Little Number I'd Like to Play for You.