I spent the day doing some more Java programming on my melody project. I’m attempting to add some new features (with different algorithms) to the program so that it will work with music of any length, and with multiple melodic lines, thus different instruments and the emerging harmonies. But of course to say it is difficult is an understatement. The algorithms work; that is, they run. But they go far too slowly and take up a lot of memory. I think I can fix the memory problem by greatly reducing redundancy with some algorithmic improvements, but I’m still not sure how I can get it to go any faster; the algorithms simply have to do too much calculating. So I’ll probably have to abandon the algorithms altogether and try coming up with new ones. Since the program is going so slow now, I can’t get it to output anything but gibberish, and thus can’t really tweak the current algorithms to improve them. Anyway, if I can ever get it to work and create musical output that actually sounds musical, the musical mixing possibilities would be pretty cool. It’s just too bad computers aren’t faster and don’t have more memory; I could sure use it.

If I do get my musical-mixer-generator thing to work as well as I do in my daydreams, I can’t quite decide what I’ll do with it. Part of me would like to sell it and make $$$ off of it, but another part of me is quite tempted to keep the software a secret and use it to create hundreds of thousands of musical pieces under a pseudonym and not tell anybody my secret power. Both possibilities are still distant daydreams, of course, but I guess I’d probably sell it, since that seems more honest, and would probably result in a lot more $$$. But the other choice remains a temptation, and if I choose that road, I won’t blog about it, bwahahahaha!!


2 Comments

LanthonyS · December 16, 2009 at 11:26 AM

In the old days, they had theories about composers’ secrets for coming up with infinite melodies and such. I think one of them that was mentioned in Musicophilia was a fellow who had a piece of shrapnel blown into his head (or something more plausible?) but opted not to have it removed because whenever he tilted his head he heard new and awesome melodies. Later debunked, but imagine the interested proletariat of today: “I bet he had an amazing app that generated melodies based on simple input. Wow, man.” And they’d be right!

S P Hannifin · December 18, 2009 at 5:00 AM

I’ve been wanting to read that book, Musicophilia… anyway, yes, an app that generated melodies (that sound better than my current app’s output) would be awesome, I think, just from a melody-lover’s point-of-view. But if people knew I was using an app, then i’d really have to release it, or face my work possibly being descredited… “ah, he didn’t really write that…”

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