mGen Sample 2

Believe it or not, the program has undergone many changes since the last sample. I created a brand new structure plugin based around the idea of a smooth, contoured intensity structure. I also injected a few lines into most of the other plugins to give them a primitive obey-the-structure rule. Most of the instruments now actually pay attention when the structure module tells them to play loud versus when to play soft. Some, however, still don't have this capability, and most lack any real sense of volume other than the most basic loud and soft abilities.

Still, these improvements constitute serious advancements in mGen. I find this sample to be moderately pleasing. Although it gets repetitive in some places, I'm very pleased with the dynamics. I'm aware that they are still laughably lacking, but at least there ARE dynamics in this sample, unlike the last.

And yes, I know that it sounds very similar. That's due to the lack of rendering options that I have given the program to this point. I'm more concerned with the scoring than the rendering at the moment, but I'll get around to expanding the instrument catalog eventually.

Oh, and a little side note - the drum "solo" at the end was actually a very unintentional and very strange glitch. I've no idea why the drums played a whole extra measure...I'm still trying to figure it out. Three months in and the program already has a mind of its own - I guess I should be proud and worried at the same time!

mGen Sample 1

Well, here it is (the clip should be playing when you load the blog).

Eighty-nine hundred lines worth of code, embodied in a single audio clip. Yes, I know it's bad, probably pretty much intolerable by the standards of any of you guys. So am I wasting my time? Thousands of lines and all you get is an overly simplistic, predictable drum beat and uninspiring arpeggiations layered on top of overly simplistic chord progressions? No, not at all. Most of the coding so far has been dedicated to creating the framework for mGen, not the actual generative modules. The real work so far was getting a progression, getting arpeggiations, getting a drum beat, and pulling them all together into the same mp3 file and rendering them all automatically (everything in this sample was done automatically, I was literally one button click away from my rendered mp3 file).

I'd say I'm pretty much on target for my goal. For starters I've already achieved the one-click philosophy cited in my proposal. My system has now effectively demonstrated its ability to go from nothing to a finished mp3 file in only a single button click. Also, when one considers briefly the complexity of computer music, the fact that mGen's first sample sounds even remotely close to rhythmically and harmonically sound is quite an impressive feat. There are no chords that sound bad, most of the progressions actually sound good. The arpeggiations sound relatively good too. Both of those items were non-deterministic, meaning mGen completely determined each chord in the progression and each note in the arpeggios (actually it also individually determined the notes in each chord of the progression).

So, in defense of my somewhat-lacking first sample, I have clearly shown that what I am wanting to do is possible. I have not spend too much time coding the actual generative part of my program, so I didn't expect a diamond on my first try. I poured in a lot of effort, and I think I reaped a fair reward.

From here, onward to better-sounding samples.