Sjeltur

Earlier this blog brought you a story about possible developments in computer technology and music in the future. With increasing computer capabilities it might be possible one day the computer produces music that’s good by human standards. It was mentioned that new algorithms inspired by nature might be used for this, evolutionary techniques improving the quality of a new music piece over time. There is already an example of this approach on the web and you can participate!

It’s called Evolectronica, breeding electronic music. Here it’s not about evolving new sounds, but the evolution of the music itself. Evolectronica starts by building audio loops from randomly chosen sounds and effects. These loops are streamed over the internet to the audio player of a listener. Because the computer is not capable (yet) to determine what’s really good or not, the listener can give his or her opinion which loops are liked or disliked. Loops that are liked have a bigger chance to reproduce, to make new baby loops. Over time the music gets better. Give it a try, you can find Evolectronica here.