“…there is no reason why it should ever stop”: Large-scale Algorithmic Composition

Collins, Nick

“…there is no reason why it should ever stop”: Large-scale Algorithmic Composition

Collins, Nick

Authors

Professor Nick Collins nick.collins@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

This article surveys some new directions in algorithmic composition, with a special focus on the mass scale of content generation now within reach. Interest in algorithmic composition has recently flourished, including a fashion for deep learning, and commercial offshoots in apps and browser software. Whilst there is much to be excited about in recent developments, we critically survey some current directions, and likely future initiatives, of the field. In particular, the influence of and potential within music information retrieval research is highlighted, corresponding to attempts to bridge between audio machine listening and large corpus training for algorithmic composition. The scenario of mass generation is further considered, including a practical experiment in creating a billion melody data set with accompanying source code.

Citation

Collins, N. (2018). “…there is no reason why it should ever stop”: Large-scale Algorithmic Composition. Journal of Creative Music Systems, 3(1),

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 26, 2018
Online Publication Date	Nov 26, 2018
Publication Date	Nov 26, 2018
Deposit Date	Jul 19, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Nov 28, 2018
Journal	Journal of Creative Music Systems
Publisher	University of Huddersfield Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	3
Issue	1
Publisher URL	https://www.jcms.org.uk/article/doi/10.5920/jcms.525/