algorithmic music

Shuriken.se has released Eckel – a MIDI-generating VST that creates rhythmic music based on the Euclidean algorithm:

The Euclidean algorithm (which comes down to us from Euclid’s Elements) computes the greatest common divisor of two given integers. The structure of the Euclidean algorithm may be used to automatically generate, very ef?ciently, a large family of rhythms used as timelines (rhythmic ostinatos), in traditional world music. These rhythms, here dubbed Euclidean rhythms, have the property that their onset patterns are distributed as evenly as possible in a mathematically precise sense, and optimal manner.

Euclidean rhythms are closely related to the family of Aksak rhythms studied by ethnomusicologists, and occur in a wide variety of other disciplines as well. For example they characterize algorithms for drawing digital straight lines in computer graphics, as well as algorithms for calculating leap years in calendar design. Euclidean rhythms also ?nd application in nuclear physics accelerators and in computer sci%nce, and are closely related to several families of words and sequences of interest in the studq of the combinatorics of words,`such as mechanical words, Sturmian words, two-distance sequences, and Euclidean strings, to which the Euclidean rhythms are compared.

More on Euclidian music here&

via MakingMusic

There’s a been a lot of interesting synth and electronic music news this week, but it’s always hard to predict what people are going to find interesting.

Here are the stories that got people talking this week, along with some of the most interesting comments:

• What do you think of Holy Fuck? – a lot of discussion about whether or not Holy Fuck is really electronica, with BlueBrat lamenting “I don’t know what electronica means anymore. You look under electronica in any catalog or store and you get a huge mish-mash of everything, it’s a really useless genre tag anymore.”
• 8.5GB of Free Audio Samples from the One Laptop Per Child project. Jon says “That is damn awesome. Looks like I have some downloading to do!”
• With a goddess delivering a synth from on high and a naked keytarist, You can’t ignore my techno delivers what it promises. “Just quirky enough for me to love,” says Claudio.
• Wolfram’s Algorithmic Music Composer generates dance, ambient and hip-hop tracks automatically. And they sound pretty crappy! “Like it or not, Wolfram’s mathematics are highly influential in the world of music,” says A Synth Fan From BC. “I’m willing to bet if some musicians took the time to understand his work it would be a different ball game.”

I appreciate the comments – it’s great to get other perspectives on synth news.

And if you’ve been lurking, take the time to weigh in on these stories and other!

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.