May 30, 2004

Live Generative Music. Viragelic generates a soothing musical piece for you randomly using moving squares traveling random paths. It seems a little dull at first, but it slowly becomes quite entrancing and fascinating.
posted by wo mu si 20 years ago
  • Awesome shizzle. Reminds me of (hip band) and some of (hip band 2)'s earlier work before they went all dodgy.
  • Generated music is nifty. It questions core definitions of music while creating combinations no rational person would think of, but still makes for interesting tunes. Well, sometimes. Mac OSX users might enjoy Voice of the Goat Cactus. It takes a little work to coax decent sounds out of it, but the results can be splendid.
  • We-ell, I wouldn't say that most of it questions core definitions of music as such, as most things (including this) use core definitions of music as the basis for their algorithms (eg. in this case, the four-four rhythm and the fact that everything was in the same key). I'd say that the most interesting music in this respect is made by humans.
  • I'd say that the most interesting music in this respect is made by humans. Well, yeah, of course. Machines can't do creativity. My (very poorly expressed) point was that the random element of generated music could inspire composers to try new directions with their music, which could be a Good Thing.