Looking Outwards 10: Computer music

Computer-generated music is not revolutionary, or well known in any way. Music is generally known as an artform, something people make to express themselves – something unique to human nature.

However, computer-generated music, more specifically procedural music, is widely utilized in today’s world; mostly to improve adaptive/dynamic soundtracks in video games. In many games released in the past 2 years, procedural music technology has been a staple for the Triple-A gaming industry. No one ever notices the procedural music because it does its work so seamlessly and subtly. Nowadays, every time a peaceful, ambient, background soundtrack switches to an intense, high-tempo, adrenaline-inducing beat in a game, you never really notice it. The software automatically generates extra notes, extra percussion beats, and even background vocals to make the transition between one soundtrack to another so smooth that almost no one notices.

The technology and intelligence required for a computer to interpolate one piece of music into another on-the-go, depending on the events taking place on-screen is actually quite impressive. Machine learning is used to train the AI by making it analyze many different soundtracks. This results in an AI that can compose a very limited amount of music, but just enough to make the transition between one soundtrack and another sound non-existent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_music

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