New Directions In Music Tech At Siggraph

Cyrrin writes "The 2003 Siggraph conference is under way in San Diego, and the Emerging Technologies booth is showcasing several noteworthy projects in the field of human-computer interaction in music production. First, The Continuator system, from Sony Computer Science Laboratory, Paris which learns in real-time the style of a performing pianist, taking into account chord structures, rhythm, and melody, and then renders a musical performance in a similar style. Next is The Augmented Composer Project which uses real-time image processing to read the arrangement and orientation of symbolic cards on a table to allow a composer to assemble components of a musical phrase. Finally, those wizards at the MIT Media Lab bring you Hyperscore, a visual composition program which is intended for childen to be able to easily create complex and fantastic music sequences. (And it's fun for adults too!) Hyperscore is part of the Toy Symphony project and is available for download by going to the Musictoys->Hyperscore-> Showcase page (Windows-only though)."

Comments

Such promises wiped out be copyright.

[Thinkit3]

Moreso really by the notion that people can create ideas. When we realize that ideas exist outside of time, and get rid of these dumb laws, we can truly discover music. But it'll happen.

Old news...

[JaredOfEuropa]

"I guess musicians should prepare to be replaced by the machines."

They've been doing that for years already. Haven't you been listening to any of today's hit songs?

What about creativity

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

"The Continuator system [...] which learns in real-time the style of a performing pianist [...]"

"[...] to allow a composer to assemble components of a musical phrase"

"[...] Hyperscore, a visual composition program which is intended for childen to be able to easily create complex and fantastic music sequences"

So, with all those coming fantastic tools, and the ones we already have, how come the music market is flooded with inane Britney Spear-ish crap, bad techno and shitty teenage bands?

I'm not a great fan of rock-whatever, but I notice a great portion of radio air-time is filled with oldies, and also new releases, from long-established bands that happen to play actual instruments with (supposedly) their talent and hard work as primary source of arrangements, musical phrases and fantastic music sequences. Maybe old-timer know something newer "artists" don't ...

Shouldn't the so-called "artists" learn to read and write scores first, lean to play an instrument, then work and work at their art to get better before using all the gimmicks? A gold-plated turd is still a turd, and I have the distinct feeling that many mediocre artists think electronic gadgetry will make them better, when really the gadgetry only does its best to presents the bad music better in the end.

Re:What about creativity

[isotope23]

I take issue with you idea that artists should learn to read music first.

Alot of traditional music, i.e. folk, blues, etc was made by people who probably could not read let alone read music.

In addition, music in its current written form is not necessarily the best way to represent music. Just as there are a number of alphabets, and or different ways to use them, (pencil, typewriter, computer) the computer allows different ways to explore and create.

Re:What about creativity

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

Shouldn't the so-called "artists" learn to read and write scores first, lean to play an instrument, then work and work at their art to get better before using all the gimmicks?

... and I bet you want babies to learn the anatomy and physiology of their legs before they are allowed to walk. These are exploration tools so that the kids don't get so bogged down in the mechanics of reading and writing musical notation that they learn to hate music.

The most effective way to get a high level of fluency in a foreign language is NOT to formally study it, it is to just use it as much as possible and figure out the rules later. Same thing with music ... and if you took a poll, you would be surprised at all the excellent musicians who play by ear, not by sight.

Re:What about creativity

[edverb]

"Birds don't read music." -Charlie Parker

Re:Musicianship is still the key

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree wholeheartedly that attempting to replicate the way a human being makes music, within the confines of a digital system, is at best an academic task; it will not, by and large,produce "beautiful music".

However, there is a universe of sound (quite literally), that humans could not possibly create in the traditional way. This ranges from every 'natural sound' that occurs, to every conceivable way of shifting bits in a digital system. Your experience of this music (yes, I call it music, but lets not do the "what is art" thing here...) may be quite different from your experience of a classical composition, or a jazz band, but it will be a unique and totally valid experience. You may feel things you would never have felt listening to human-composed music. You might even take some of this experience and put it back into your own "human" music.

Why deny yourself this experience?