Audio & Educational Technology

I decided to explore the options given to us by Noatikl, by Intermorphic, for generative music first (since I’m waiting for my copy of Spore to arrive).  (By the way, in case you were wondering “Noatikl” is pronounced: “No-ti-cul”, emphasis on the first syllable.) What I found interesting about this software was it’s apparent ability to serve as both a stand-alone application as well as a VSTi (Virtual Studio Technology instrument) in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).  Noatikl apparently allows for Cubase, Garage Band, or Logic users to load Noatikl as a VSTi.   Although VSTi integration is standard for virtual instruments, what’s interesting about Noatikl is how it works as a VSTi.  When you instantiate Noatikl, you then have the ability to set the midi input of your tracks to come from Noatikl, using Cubase’s input transformer to filter for the correct channel.  There’s a brief tutorial on this integration @ http://www.vimeo.com/kantudok/.

Noatikl apparently also works as a “hyperinstrument” that can receive text/mouse input as well as midi cc events.  Noatikl claims to harmonize its voices based on midi data.  See: http://www.intermorphic.com/tools/noatikl/doc/noatiklUG_scripting_2.html for more of an explanation.

Although I have Cubase 4 running on Windows, my initial attempt at installing Noatikl was problematic.  Cubase doesn’t recognize the Noatikl VSTi, nor does the stand-alone version recognize incoming midi data.  I’ve reported the problem to Intermorphic, who has responded in a timely fashion, so I’m hoping to get the technical issues resolved when I can return to the problem.

Although Pd is certainly occupied my recent interest, there are other tools that support generative music that are also on my list.  These include:

Intermorphic’s Noatikl: the original progenetor of this software was Koan–which was pioneered by Brian Eno and written by SSEYO in 1996.  Intermorphic eventually acquired the rights to Koan.  Noatikl is promising since it works as a VSTi.

Intermorphic’s Mixtikl:  although this software is not yet released, it promises to offer support for mobile devices–including the iPhone.

Cycling 74’s Max/MSP: Max/MSP is a commercial analog of Pd, and has a long history in computer music creation.

Musigenesis: A fun-looking, shareware application that lets people of non-musical background create music.

Nodal: This promising music creation tool generates music in midi form, and is designed for the Apple.  The screenshots display a ‘circuit-diagram’ view of musical “events” and the “connection between events”.  This software appears to also let multiple people play music simultaneously.

It would seem that Pure Data (Pd) has been used to build the dynamic soundtrack behind the ’soon-to-be-smash-hit’ Spore.  Brian Eno led this effort (as he led the generative music movement in the mid-90’s with Koan) and designed a tool that he calls, “The Shuffler” in Pd.  Apparently, this technology ensures that the player will never hear the same composition twice. In fact, we take a look at this Gamespy article, we can see a photo of the Pd script used in the game!

According to an MTV blog posting & video demo, as the player ‘builds’ parts of their environment (in the demo they show the building of a spaceship), the user’s choices drive the music they hear.  The team is calling this kind of music “procedural music”.  The presenter even references how user choices influence the use of counterpoint.  Take a look at a demo on the MTV blog to hear more.

Spore comes out next week–so of course my research will compel me to check it out.

Much has been done in the field of generative music.  The early work done with Pd in the mid-90’s continues to this day, and is one pillar of the technology systems that support generative music and algorithmic composition.

Although the technology that drives this next example is unclear, one example of a site that demonstrates algorithmic composition is Wolfram Tones, which takes computational algorithms (from Mathematica) and combines them with music theory to produce an interface that lets people “make” music in a variety of styles.  It would appear that Wolfram takes visual patterns as represented by “cellular automation”, flips the pattern on its side and represents the relationship between cells through musical ideas such as pitch.  This is, of course a gross-oversimplification, so please consult Wolfram for the details.

One interesting thing about Wolfram is that users can use the tool to create their own midi–which can either be saved on the site, emailed as a midi file–and even sent directly to your cell phone as ringtone.  How’s that for sharp?

Another interesting feature is that Wolfram builds in compositional controls that include not only pitch-mapping, instrumentation, meter & tempo, but also a “generator” that allows users to change the computational “rules” used to derive music from the pattern seen.

Of course, the next best feature of the software is that it’s free.

I will begin by examining style-based automated music composition, and how the ability to create this form of music can be applied to designing immersive educational technology.  I will be examining technologies such as Pd (Pure Data) and Max/MSP with the hope of understanding enough of the mechanics to assess their transportability to virtual environments.