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.

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.