[JPL] A computer composing and playing jazz

[Dr. Jazz]

        November 23rd, 2008


  A computer composing and playing jazz
  <http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1100>

Posted by Roland Piquepaille @ 9:21 am

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has some 
unusual teaching programs. One PhD student, Øyvind Brandtsegg, is a 
graduate of the jazz program and this article 
<http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/2008-english/24-25.htm> describes how has 
developed a computer program and a musical instrument for improvisation. 
The PhD student is 36 years old and is at the same time a composer, a 
musician and computer programmer. His 'computer instrument' can take any 
recorded sound as input and split it into a number of very short sound 
particles that can last for between 1 and 10 milliseconds. 'These 
fragments may be infinitely reshuffled, making it possible to vary the 
music with no change in the fundamental theme.' Read more...

You can see above Øyvind Brandtsegg giving a public demonstration of his 
'computer instrument' in February 2008. (Credit: Department of Music at 
NTNU 
<http://www.ntnu.no/portal/page/portal/ntnuno/tre-spalter?selectedItemId=26434&rootItemId=25703&sectionId=5308&_piref36_794797_36_794780_794780.artSectionId=5308&_piref36_794797_36_794780_794780.articleId=88920&_piref36_794799_36_794780_794780.sectionId=5308>) 
Brandtsegg who is a graduate of the Jazz at NTNU program 
<http://www.ntnu.no/research/research_excellence/jazz>, worked with 
scientists at the Department of Computer and Information Science 
<http://www.ntnu.no/idi/english> for the software architecture and with 
the acoustics group at the Department of Electronics and 
Telecommunications <http://www.iet.ntnu.no/en> for the development of 
the particle synthesizer.

This project has been described by Gemini, a quarterly magazine about 
research news from NTNU and SINTEF. Here is a link to Gemini 
<http://www.ntnu.no/gemini/2008-english/>. And here is a short excerpt 
from the article mentioned above. "'It's easy to change a bit of music 
into something that can't be recognized. It's the opposite that is the 
challenge: to create variations in which the musical theme remains 
clear,' says Brandtsegg. Brandtsegg has created a new link between 
composition and improvisation with his new instrument. In a way, he's 
rediscovered the energy of a piece in a new and much better form. What 
he's doing is something that jazz musicians have always done --- they 
have a composition as the foundation, and then they go up on the podium 
and play variations on the basic theme."

Of course, Brandtsegg's computer instrument is not capable of miracles. 
"There are limits to what even Louis Armstrong can coax out of a 
trumpet. 'This instrument allows me to expand the musical palette with 
new tonal variations and timbres. It is also the first time that the 
actual composition process can be controlled in real time,' Brandtsegg 
says."

The jazz graduate student has also developed ImproSculpt, an open source 
software that make it possible to sample surroundings during a 
presentation and to control the process using a body sensor. Here is a 
link to the SourceForge.net <http://sourceforge.net/> page about 
ImproSculpt <http://sourceforge.net/projects/improsculpt/>. You can 
download the software and 'play' with it if you wish.

/Sources: Tore Oksholen, Gemini, Research News from Norwegian University 
of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF, November 21, 2008; and 
various websites/

http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1100#

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