• Corpus ID: 6774846

Technologies Beyond the Cybernetic Jam Fantasy : The Continuator

@inproceedings{Pachet2003TechnologiesBT,
  title={Technologies Beyond the Cybernetic Jam Fantasy : The Continuator},
  author={François Pachet},
  year={2003}
}

• F. Pachet
• Published 2003
• Art, Computer Science

Published by the IEEE Computer Society 0272-1716/04/$20.00 © 2004 IEEE IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 31 Music-generation systems have traditionally belonged to one of two categories: interactive systems in which players trigger musical phrases, events, or effects, such as the Karma musical workstation, and systems such as Risset’s interactive piano, which allow for user input such as keystrokes or chords, but can’t learn and use preprogrammed musical styles. Most of these systems propose musical effects libraries (a term used in the Karma workstation meaning a generation of music material based on user input). Although some of these effects are musically impressive, these systems can’t be considered cybernetic musicians or even musical companions, because they use preprogrammed reactions and have no memory or facility for evolving. On the other hand, many musical learning systems reproduce music in the style of a given composer, such as those Cope describes. Here also, some results are impressive musically (music composed by Cope’s system has been successfully performed and recorded). These systems are intrinsically noninteractive, however, and usually require additional human input—indeed, it is difficult to jam with an automata. The Continuator project (http://www.csl.sony.fr/ ~pachet/Continuator) aims to fuse the two worlds— that is, to design interactive and usable musical instruments that can learn. As such, it can be seen as a realization of Kurzweil’s prophecy, which predicts that in the future, “Human musicians will routinely jam with cybernetic musicians.” The principle underlying the Continuator is also applicable to nonmusical interactive learning systems.