Slashdot Mirror
Chess Games Translated To Music
An anonymous reader writes "Blogger Jonathan W. Stokes used algebra to map famous chess games onto a piano, and then outputted the results as MP3s. The tunes created are surprisingly listenable."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
Victor Borge and Bobby Fischer will perform "In the Hall of the Mountain King's Gambit Accepted."
That would have been funnier if you had adjusted it even slightly to the topic, such as 'Rock out with your rook out!' However I suspect for you it would 'Rock out with your pawn out!' Poor AC.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
Seems to me the first thing you'd want is a control game. Convert a game played by two amateurs to music. Or two computers making random legal moves. Do they sound any less listenable?
Or have you just rediscovered basic music theory that random notes in the same key end up sounding like music?
It's pretty clear from listening that it's not following any time pattern; it's got no beat.
Or is it the program that interpreted the chess game into music? That is, would a bunch of random numbers being fed into the program produce just as good of a sound? Sometimes I wonder about these things.
A unique way to learn a language: http://languageloom.com
I've actually found a strong correlation between the sectors of the lawn my dog chooses to piss in and the stock exchange. And I don't even have a dog.
What's being done is starting with a chess game, throwing out most of the information (the positions of non-moving pieces, which piece is moving, and one of the two dimensions of movement), converting (deterministically) what little is left into a sequence of notes, deciding (creatively/non-deterministically) what rhythm to put them in, and deciding (creatively/non-deterministically) how to harmonize them. It's only a mapping between maybe 10% of the game and maybe 20% of the music.
It's a mildly interesting way to "seed" the creative process, but it's neither an impressive intellectual accomplishment (from a musical or mathematical perspective) nor a testament to hidden order in the universe. Most people seem to be misinterpreting it as one (or paradoxically both) of those.
This is what I hate about fellow nerds. As soon as someone in the community accomplishes something, they have to shit on whatever they accomplish and bitch about everything they do wrong and explain how they could do it much better without actually producing actual results. All this guy wanted to do was create something fun out of something most people thing is boring and I think he succeeded beautifully. If this leads to increased appreciation for what we nerds do then we all win. Put up or shut up. You probably couldn't reproduce what this guy has done if your life depended on it. If you don't want to produce something better, then quit talking out of your ass.
However I suspect for you it would 'Rock out with your pawn out!' Poor AC.
Yeah. Always gets the check, never gets to mate.
Now we need algorithms to convert code into music. Take the source code for popular programs and convert it to music.
Geek Radio Network announcer:
Next up we have the source code for Internet Explorer rendered as a piece titled "Atonal Nightmare in C#"
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Back in 2009, I did something very similar with one of the 1997 Kasparov vs. Deep Blue games.
One difference is that I used a chess engine, and made the search tree audible, so you can hear the chess computer "thinking". Here's my original blog article: http://www.krazydad.com/blog/2009/05/musical-chess/ and here's video from the concert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42G6P0b72Gk
I've been listening to these so long, I don't even hear the music anymore. All I see is pawn, knight, redhead.