algorithmic composition

Nodal, a generative music application, has been updated to run on both Mac and Windows.

The video above features a live performance of music created using Nodal 1.1 by Peter Mcilwain.

Nodal uses a novel method for the notation and playing of MIDI based music. This method is based around the concept of a user-defined graph. The graph consists of nodes (musical events) and edges (connections between events). You interactively define the graph, which is then traversed by any number of players who play the musical events as they encounter them on the graph. The time taken to travel from one node to another is based on the length of the edges that connect the nodes.

Version 1.1 beta version of Nodal is now available for download. It’s free, but future versions will require a registration fee. Details below.

If you’ve used Nodal, leave a comment with your thoughts! Read more…

Electro-Music – a forum & site focusing on electro-acoustic music, has announced electro-music 2008, a three day conference/music festival to be held at the Renaissance Center in Kingsport Tennessee, August 14 – 16, 2008.

The program will include lectures, demos, jam sessions, and concerts.

The scope of this festival is very broad, covering all aspects of electro-music, experimental electronic music, including circuit bending, computer music, electro-jazz, modular synthesis, musique concrete, improvisation, algorithmic composition, multi-media, visual art and much more. The focus will be on participant involvement, sharing, community development, audience education, and great music.

A three day pass is available for purchase online for only $50. Tickets for individual concerts/events will be available at the door.

If you would like to participate in electro-music 2008 by giving a musical or visual performance, seminar, workshop, or demonstration, please follow the instructions here. Note that in order to cover the expenses, all participants are required to purchase tickets for the event.

Wolfram Research Labs has created a new site, WolframTones, that explores applying Stephen Wolfram’s mathematical theories to the creation of music.

The site is based on ideas from Wolfram’s book, A New Kind of Science.

At the core of A New Kind of Science is the idea of exploring a new abstract universe: a “computational universe” of simple programs. In A New Kind of Science, Wolfram shows how remarkably simple programs can capture the essence of the complexity and beauty of many systems in nature.

WolframTones works by taking simple programs from Wolfram’s computational universe, and using music theory and Mathematica algorithms to render them as music. Each program in effect defines a virtual world, and WolframTones captures it as a musical composition.

It’s all original music, created dynamically. And, as you might imagine, most of it sounds terrible.

But some of it sounds interesting – so check it out and let me know what you think.

Fractal Music Lab provides examples and explanations of fractal music, music composed using the same types of iterative or recursive processes that are used to create fractal images.

It includes discussions of algorithmic composition, random music, Voss music, chaotic attractor music, Mandelbrot music and more. Each section provides a short explanation of the idea behind the technique, a little bit of theory, and a Java-based applet that automatically generates music using the technique.

There’s also a library of music that uses these techniques. Check out Guiseppi Mendoza’s Impositive Increments. It’s generated with a program of his own design that creates sequences that drive synthesizer arpegiators. If you’re interested in getting into this type of composition, there is software available on the site for download.