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Swarm Theory Applied to Music

Posted by timothy on from the fire-ants dept.

JoeCotellese writes "There is an article in Discover magazine about computer scientist/musician Tim Blackwell and his Swarm Music software. This software creates improvisational music based on models of swarming and flocking. The observation was made that interaction among musicians is interdependent and yet independent and this dynamic parallels flock dynamics. Computer generated music has been around for a while but according to his web site, this project was the first application of swarm theory to music. Sample MP3s are available on his website."

4 of 26 comments (clear)

  1. Douglas Adams would be proud! by hdurdle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Fantastic! The main character in "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", Richard MacDuff, is a programmer whose current project is converting numerical data into sounds. He discusses this in some mathematical detail at times. And MacDuff has written an article on the relationship between music, mathematics, and beauty, and which gets quoted extensively.

    1. Re:Douglas Adams would be proud! by Drakon · · Score: 4, Informative

      He discusses this in some mathematical detail at times.

      he specifically mentions the conversion of a flock of birds to sounds ... :-)

      On a side note... that link should goto: http://www.iblist.com/book.php?id=252
      here?

      SUPPORT THE INTERNET BOOK LIST! SUBMIT A BOOK! :-)

      --
      Buttsex.
  2. Re:MP3? by jpsst34 · · Score: 4, Informative

    You have to look for the (mp3).wav file. (I don't get it, either.)

    --
    How are you going to keep them down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus?
  3. Similar Project by mattlary · · Score: 5, Informative

    Al Biles from RIT has been working with genetic algorithms to do jazz solos.
    Here's a link to information on his genetic algorithm, GenJam.

    -Matt