3 ms·

It still seems inherently sequential or loop-based and generative/reactive to me. My own favorite parts of time-based works of art are when a transformation ha

It still seems inherently sequential or loop-based and generative/reactive to me. My own favorite parts of time-based works of art are when a transformation happens that is surprising in the moment, but satisfying when you realize how inevitable it was in hindsight, or a development that simultaneously communicates planning and restraint. Composers have been able to wring so much creativity and artistry out of an extremely standard set of symphonic instruments for centuries - when I compare the playfulness of the Turkish March in Beethoven's 9th, or the drawn-out and crashing inevitableness of the big moment in the 1st movement of Sibelius' 5th symphony, or the freakishly satisfying conclusion of Respighi's Pines of Rome, it kind of encompasses what music actually means to me, and it seems we are a very long way away from algorithmic composition being able to reach that kind of artistry.

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
I agree. A good heuristic for interesting music: create an expectation model, and exceed it with an unexpected but inventive twist that's consistent with the surrounding grammar but adds unexpected entropy. Building representational models of that process is hard. So most people don't bother - they mush stuff up at random and keep the bits they like. Like this. Unfortunately this music prof is ignoring 60-odd years of computer music history and reinventing the glitch-with-Max thing that was big 10-15 years ago. Autechre, Amon Tobin, and many many others have been making music like this for a while now. The sound/sample world is different, but the techniques are very similar.
- throwawayaway 12y ago
  10-15 years ago? Absolute poppycock, Autechre, Amon Tobin you'll be saying Aphex Twin next. Why no, American born electronic artist Brian Transeau "developed" the technique as recently as 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stutter_edit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stutter_edit
  - coldtea 12y ago
    He developed nothing of the kind. The "Stutter edit" effect has been used in electronic music even before Autechre and the rest, in the eighties electronic bands. If this guy created anything, it's the plugin with the same name that automates the process (and even that is debetable for 2011 -- similar plugin tools existed way before). In essense: don't trust anything your read on the internet. This Wikipedia page is an example of the worst BS on Wikipedia, it should be taken down.
    - throwawayaway 12y ago
      your sarcasm detector is way off :)
      - coldtea 12y ago
        Really? Faith in humanity restored. Now I wonder how that Wikipedia article survives...
        throwawayaway 12y ago
        It's possibly the greatest outrage of our times.
- BFay 12y ago
  That's how I feel - the tone of this writing irks me a bit. I don't want to detract at all from the work these authors did, I like it a lot. But the text here is fluffy and frankly somewhat narcissistic. Lejaren Hiller showed that computers can compose competent music in 1957 with the Illiac Suite. Since then there have been countless other using computers doing things like the project in this article (Autechre is a PERFECT example). I love that people are doing work like this and sharing it (full disclosure, this is a hobby of mine), but I wish it were presented in a less pretentious way (although admittedly this comment could probably also be a lot less pretentious).

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago

I agree. A good heuristic for interesting music: create an expectation model, and exceed it with an unexpected but inventive twist that's consistent with the surrounding grammar but adds unexpected entropy. Building representational models of that process is hard. So most people don't bother - they mush stuff up at random and keep the bits they like. Like this. Unfortunately this music prof is ignoring 60-odd years of computer music history and reinventing the glitch-with-Max thing that was big 10-15 years ago. Autechre, Amon Tobin, and many many others have been making music like this for a while now. The sound/sample world is different, but the techniques are very similar.

throwawayaway 12y ago
10-15 years ago? Absolute poppycock, Autechre, Amon Tobin you'll be saying Aphex Twin next. Why no, American born electronic artist Brian Transeau "developed" the technique as recently as 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stutter_edit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stutter_edit
- coldtea 12y ago
  He developed nothing of the kind. The "Stutter edit" effect has been used in electronic music even before Autechre and the rest, in the eighties electronic bands. If this guy created anything, it's the plugin with the same name that automates the process (and even that is debetable for 2011 -- similar plugin tools existed way before). In essense: don't trust anything your read on the internet. This Wikipedia page is an example of the worst BS on Wikipedia, it should be taken down.
  - throwawayaway 12y ago
    your sarcasm detector is way off :)
    - coldtea 12y ago
      Really? Faith in humanity restored. Now I wonder how that Wikipedia article survives...
      - throwawayaway 12y ago
        It's possibly the greatest outrage of our times.
BFay 12y ago
That's how I feel - the tone of this writing irks me a bit. I don't want to detract at all from the work these authors did, I like it a lot. But the text here is fluffy and frankly somewhat narcissistic. Lejaren Hiller showed that computers can compose competent music in 1957 with the Illiac Suite. Since then there have been countless other using computers doing things like the project in this article (Autechre is a PERFECT example). I love that people are doing work like this and sharing it (full disclosure, this is a hobby of mine), but I wish it were presented in a less pretentious way (although admittedly this comment could probably also be a lot less pretentious).