Digital Commons Network^™

Algorithmic Composition In Contrasting Music Styles, Tristan Mcauley, Philip Hingston

Research outputs pre 2011

The aim of this research was to automate the composition of convincingly “real” music in specific musical genres. By “real” music we mean music which is not obviously “machine generated”, is recognizable as being of the selected genre, is perceived as aesthetically pleasing, and is usable in a commercial context. To achieve this goal, various computational techniques were used, including genetic algorithms and finite state automata. The process involves an original, top down approach and a bottom up approach based on previous studies. Student musicians have objectively assessed the resulting compositions.