Audio & Educational Technology

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.