Works and Applications
Algorithmic techniques have also been employed in a number of systems intended for direct musical performance, with many using algorithmic techniques to generate infinitely-variable improvisations on a predetermined theme. An early example was Lucasfilm Games' 1982 computer game Ballblazer, where the computer improvised on a basic jazz theme composed by the game's musical director Peter Langston; later in the life of that company, now rechristened LucasArts, an algorithmic iMUSE engine was developed for their flagship game, Dark Forces.
Similar generative music systems have caught the attention of noted composers. Brian Eno has produced a number of works for the SSEYO's Koan generative music system, which produces ambient variations for web-pages, mobile devices, and for standalone performance. The copyright status of these "generative" works is unclear, although the original "composition" is supplied by the composer and the "performance" is largely the result of the user's computer's own algorithms.
Read more about this topic: Algorithmic Composition
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“I look on trade and every mechanical craft as education also. But let me discriminate what is precious herein. There is in each of these works an act of invention, an intellectual step, or short series of steps taken; that act or step is the spiritual act; all the rest is mere repetition of the same a thousand times.”
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