AI Methods in Algorithmic Composition: A Comprehensive Survey

Algorithmic composition is the partial or total automation of the process of music composition by using computers. Since the 1950s, different computational techniques related to Artificial Intelligence have been used for algorithmic composition, including grammatical representations, probabilistic methods, neural networks, symbolic rule-based systems, constraint programming and evolutionary algorithms. This survey aims to be a comprehensive account of research on algorithmic composition, presenting a thorough view of the field for researchers in Artificial Intelligence.This study was partially supported by a grant for the MELOMICS project (IPT-300000-2010-010) from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, and a grant for the CAUCE project (TSI-090302-2011-8) from the Spanish Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio. The first author was supported by a grant for the GENEX project (P09-TIC- 5123) from the Consejería de Innovación y Ciencia de Andalucía

Orchestrating Game Generation

The design process is often characterized by and realized through the iterative steps of evaluation and refinement. When the process is based on a single creative domain such as visual art or audio production, designers primarily take inspiration from work within their domain and refine it based on their own intuitions or feedback from an audience of experts from within the same domain. What happens, however, when the creative process involves more than one creative domain such as in a digital game? How should the different domains influence each other so that the final outcome achieves a harmonized and fruitful communication across domains? How can a computational process orchestrate the various computational creators of the corresponding domains so that the final game has the desired functional and aesthetic characteristics? To address these questions, this article identifies game facet orchestration as the central challenge for AI-based game generation, discusses its dimensions and reviews research in automated game generation that has aimed to tackle it. In particular, we identify the different creative facets of games, we propose how orchestration can be facilitated in a top-down or bottom-up fashion, we review indicative preliminary examples of orchestration, and we conclude by discussing the open questions and challenges ahead

Biological Nanowires: Integration of the silver(I) base pair into DNA with nanotechnological and synthetic biological applications

Modern computing and mobile device technologies are now based on semiconductor technology with nanoscale components, i.e., nanoelectronics, and are used in an increasing variety of consumer, scientific, and space-based applications. This rise to global prevalence has been accompanied by a similarly precipitous rise in fabrication cost, toxicity, and technicality; and the vast majority of modern nanotechnology cannot be repaired in whole or in part. In combination with looming scaling limits, it is clear that there is a critical need for fabrication technologies that rely upon clean, inexpensive, and portable means; and the ideal nanoelectronics manufacturing facility would harness micro- and nanoscale fabrication and self-assembly techniques. The field of molecular electronics has promised for the past two decades to fill fundamental gaps in modern, silicon-based, micro- and nanoelectronics; yet molecular electronic devices, in turn, have suffered from problems of size, dispersion and reproducibility. In parallel, advances in DNA nanotechnology over the past several decades have allowed for the design and assembly of nanoscale architectures with single-molecule precision, and indeed have been used as a basis for heteromaterial scaffolds, mechanically-active delivery mechanisms, and network assembly. The field has, however, suffered for lack of meaningful modularity in function: few designs to date interact with their surroundings in more than a mechanical manner. As a material, DNA offers the promise of nanometer resolution, self-assembly, linear shape, and connectivity into branched architectures; while its biological origin offers information storage, enzyme-compatibility and the promise of biologically-inspired fabrication through synthetic biological means. Recent advances in DNA chemistry have isolated and characterized an orthogonal DNA base pair using standard nucleobases: by bridging the gap between mismatched cytosine nucleotides, silver(I) ions can be selectively incorporated into the DNA helix with atomic resolution. The goal of this thesis is to explore how this approach to “metallize” DNA can be combined with structural DNA nanotechnology as a step toward creating electronically-functional DNA networks. This work begins with a survey of applications for such a transformative technology, including nanoelectronic component fabrication for low-resource and space-based applications. We then investigate the assembly of linear Ag+-functionalized DNA species using biochemical and structural analyses to gain an understanding of the kinetics, yield, morphology, and behavior of this orthogonal DNA base pair. After establishing a protocol for high yield assembly in the presence of varying Ag+ functionalization, we investigate these linear DNA species using electrical means. First a method of coupling orthogonal DNA to single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is explored for self-assembly into nanopatterned transistor devices. Then we carry out scanning tunneling microscope (STM) break junction experiments on short polycytosine, polycationic DNA duplexes and find increased molecular conductance of at least an order of magnitude relative to the most conductive DNA analog. With an understanding of linear species from both a biochemical and nanoelectronic perspective, we investigate the assembly of nonlinear Ag+-functionalized DNA species. Using rational design principles gathered from the analysis of linear species, a de novo mathematical framework for understanding generalized DNA networks is developed. This provides the basis for a computational model built in Matlab that is able to design DNA networks and nanostructures using arbitrary base parity. In this way, DNA nanostructures are able to be designed using the dC:Ag+:dC base pair, as well as any similar nucleobase or DNA-inspired system (dT:Hg2+:dT, rA:rU, G4, XNA, LNA, PNA, etc.). With this foundation, three general classes of DNA tiles are designed with embedded nanowire elements: single crossover Holliday junction (HJ) tiles, T-junction (TJ) units, and double crossover (DX) tile pairs and structures. A library of orthogonal chemistry DNA nanotechnology is described, and future applications to nanomaterials and circuit architectures are discussed

Algorithmic Compositional Methods and their Role in Genesis: A Multi-Functional Real-Time Computer Music System

Algorithmic procedures have been applied in computer music systems to generate compositional products using conventional musical formalism, extensions of such musical formalism and extra-musical disciplines such as mathematical models. This research investigates the applicability of such algorithmic methodologies for real-time musical composition, culminating in Genesis, a multi-functional real-time computer music system written for Mac OS X in the SuperCollider object-oriented programming language, and contained in the accompanying DVD. Through an extensive graphical user interface, Genesis offers musicians the opportunity to explore the application of the sonic features of real-time sound-objects to designated generative processes via different models of interaction such as unsupervised musical composition by Genesis and networked control of external Genesis instances. As a result of the applied interactive, generative and analytical methods, Genesis forms a unique compositional process, with a compositional product that reflects the character of its interactions between the sonic features of real-time sound-objects and its selected algorithmic procedures. Within this thesis, the technologies involved in algorithmic methodologies used for compositional processes, and the concepts that define their constructs are described, with consequent detailing of their selection and application in Genesis, with audio examples of algorithmic compositional methods demonstrated on the accompanying DVD. To demonstrate the real-time compositional abilities of Genesis, free explorations with instrumentalists, along with studio recordings of the compositional processes available in Genesis are presented in audiovisual examples contained in the accompanying DVD. The evaluation of the Genesis system’s capability to form a real-time compositional process, thereby maintaining real-time interaction between the sonic features of real-time sound objects and its selected algorithmic compositional methods, focuses on existing evaluation techniques founded in HCI and the qualitative issues such evaluation methods present. In terms of the compositional products generated by Genesis, the challenges in quantifying and qualifying its compositional outputs are identified, demonstrating the intricacies of assessing generative methods of compositional processes, and their impact on a resulting compositional product. The thesis concludes by considering further advances and applications of Genesis, and inviting further dissemination of the Genesis system and promotion of research into evaluative methods of generative techniques, with the hope that this may provide additional insight into the relative success of products generated by real-time algorithmic compositional processes

Contextualizing generative design

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-[110]).Generative systems have been widely used to produce two- and three-dimensional constructs, in an attempt to escape from our preconceptions and pre-existing spatial language. The challenge is to use this mechanism in real-world architectural contexts in which complexity and constraints imposed by the design problem make it difficult to negotiate between the emergent output, the context, and the controllability desired by the human designer. This thesis investigates how generative systems address contextual parameters, including the designer, client, user, meaning, aesthetics, environment, and function. This is demonstrated through my case studies, in which my aim was to avoid computerized unprocessed formalism that does not implicitly allow for any contextual and cultural content. I sought to extend simple algorithmic form-generation processes to allow for the subtleties of a given context to be effectively addressed. Some challenges and questions arose from these case studies. By interrogating different generative machines, common threads and challenges, similar to mine encountered in the case studies, were found. All of the processes that strove towards the creation of a generative system struggled with similar issues: How can we use rule-based systems without sacrificing meaning or function or the humanistic touch? How can we address contextual parameters without a loss?by Saeed Arida.S.M

Agent-Based Graphic Sound Synthesis and Acousmatic Composition

For almost a century composers and engineers have been attempting to create systems that allow drawings and imagery to behave as intuitive and efficient musical scores. Despite the intuitive interactions that these systems afford, they are somewhat underutilised by contemporary composers. The research presented here explores the concept of agency and artificial ecosystems as a means of creating and exploring new graphic sound synthesis algorithms. These algorithms are subsequently designed to investigate the creation of organic musical gesture and texture using granular synthesis. The output of this investigation consists of an original software artefact, The Agent Tool, alongside a suite of acousmatic musical works which the former was designed to facilitate. When designing new musical systems for creative exploration with vast parametric controls, careful constraints should be put in place to encourage focused development. In this instance, an evolutionary computing model is utilised as part of an iterative development cycle. Each iteration of the system’s development coincides with a composition presented in this portfolio. The features developed as part of this process subsequently serve the author’s compositional practice and inspiration. As the software package is designed to be flexible and open ended, each composition represents a refinement of features and controls for the creation of musical gesture and texture. This document subsequently discusses the creative inspirations behind each composition alongside the features and agents that were created. This research is contextualised through a review of established literature on graphic sound synthesis, evolutionary musical computing and ecosystemic approaches to sound synthesis and control

Automated manipulation of musical grammars to support episodic interactive experiences

Music is used to enhance the experience of participants and visitors in a range of settings including theatre, film, video games, installations and theme parks. These experiences may be interactive, contrastingly episodic and with variable duration. Hence, the musical accompaniment needs to be dynamic and to transition between contrasting music passages. In these contexts, computer generation of music may be necessary for practical reasons including distribution and cost. Automated and dynamic composition algorithms exist but are not well-suited to a highly interactive episodic context owing to transition-related problems including discontinuity, abruptness, extended repetitiveness and lack of musical granularity and musical form. Addressing these problems requires algorithms capable of reacting to participant behaviour and episodic change in order to generate formic music that is continuous and coherent during transitions. This thesis presents the Form-Aware Transitioning and Recovering Algorithm (FATRA) for realtime, adaptive, form-aware music generation to provide continuous musical accompaniment in episodic context. FATRA combines stochastic grammar adaptation and grammar merging in real time. The Form-Aware Transition Engine (FATE) implementation of FATRA estimates the time-occurrence of upcoming narrative transitions and generates a harmonic sequence as narrative accompaniment with a focus on coherent, form-aware music transitioning between music passages of contrasting character. Using FATE, FATRA has been evaluated in three perceptual user studies: An audioaugmented real museum experience, a computer-simulated museum experience and a music-focused online study detached from narrative. Music transitions of FATRA were benchmarked against common approaches of the video game industry, i.e. crossfading and direct transitions. The participants were overall content with the music of FATE during their experience. Transitions of FATE were significantly favoured against the crossfading benchmark and competitive against the direct transitions benchmark, without statistical significance for the latter comparison. In addition, technical evaluation demonstrated capabilities of FATRA including form generation, repetitiveness avoidance and style/form recovery in case of falsely predicted narrative transitions. Technical results along with perceptual preference and competitiveness against the benchmark approaches are deemed as positive and the structural advantages of FATRA, including form-aware transitioning, carry considerable potential for future research

AN APPROACH TO MACHINE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICAL ONTOGENY

This Thesis pursues three main objectives: (i) to use computational modelling to explore how music is perceived, cognitively processed and created by human beings; (ii) to explore interactive musical systems as a method to model and achieve the transmission of musical influence in artificial worlds and between humans and machines; and (iii) to experiment with artificial and alternative developmental musical routes in order to observe the evolution of musical styles. In order to achieve these objectives, this Thesis introduces a new paradigm for the design of computer interactive musical systems called the Ontomemetical Model of Music Evolution - OMME, which includes the fields of musical ontogenesis and memetlcs. OMME-based systems are designed to artificially explore the evolution of music centred on human perceptive and cognitive faculties. The potential of the OMME is illustrated with two interactive musical systems, the Rhythmic Meme Generator (RGeme) and the Interactive Musical Environments (iMe). which have been tested in a series of laboratory experiments and live performances. The introduction to the OMME is preceded by an extensive and critical overview of the state of the art computer models that explore musical creativity and interactivity, in addition to a systematic exposition of the major issues involved in the design and implementation of these systems. This Thesis also proposes innovative solutions for (i) the representation of musical streams based on perceptive features, (ii) music segmentation, (iii) a memory-based music model, (iv) the measure of distance between musical styles, and (v) an impi*ovisation-based creative model

Emergent Rhythmic Structures as Cultural Phenomena Driven by Social Pressure in a Society of Artificial Agents

This thesis studies rhythm from an evolutionary computation perspective. Rhythm is the most fundamental dimension of music and can be used as a ground to describe the evolution of music. More specifically, the main goal of the thesis is to investigate how complex rhythmic structures evolve, subject to the cultural transmission between individuals in a society. The study is developed by means of computer modelling and simulations informed by evolutionary computation and artificial life (A-Life). In this process, self-organisation plays a fundamental role. The evolutionary process is steered by the evaluation of rhythmic complexity and by the exposure to rhythmic material. In this thesis, composers and musicologists will find the description of a system named A-Rhythm, which explores the emerged behaviours in a community of artificial autonomous agents that interact in a virtual environment. The interaction between the agents takes the form of imitation games. A set of necessary criteria was established for the construction of a compositional system in which cultural transmission is observed. These criteria allowed the comparison with related work in the field of evolutionary computation and music. In the development of the system, rhythmic representation is discussed. The proposed representation enabled the development of complexity and similarity based measures, and the recombination of rhythms in a creative manner. A-Rhythm produced results in the form of simulation data which were evaluated in terms of the coherence of repertoires of the agents. The data shows how rhythmic sequences are changed and sustained in the population, displaying synchronic and diachronic diversity. Finally, this tool was used as a generative mechanism for composition and several examples are presented.Leverhulme Trus