CC2 - Week 12 - Composition Preproduction

In a nutshell, I'll be making a tonally pleasant music generator. As a part of my preproduction I created a prototype for my idea (or the prototype created the idea) which uses my AutoPlay patch from Term 1, and incorporates a probability chord generator (or "KORD GenR8R", where KORD stands for "Killmatic Oblivion Radiation Deathmaker). This works, for example, by playing a I chord, which then uses a probability table to decide what chord to go to, and depending on probability strength plays either a V,vii,IV,ii or vi (being strongest to weakest). Thus the chosen chord then goes through the same process, eg. a vii chord will either go to a iii or back to I. I selected these probabilities using a theory hand-out from last year of a 'chord gravity' chart. It had a tonic in the centre, with all the other chords orbiting around it at different distances. The closer each chord was, the stronger the pull was to one another. To spice things up I also added an arpeggiator for the chords, which sounds almost deliriously happy. Here is an example of the prototype KORD GenR8R+AutoPlayer in motion. ~MP3 371KB~

Here is a hypothetical monologue to illustrate my plans.

"Have I eaten today? Oh yeah, I went to Knoodle Junction. I should probably go home before it gets too cold outside, plus I have that stupid Primary School performance tomorrow. Okay, Max time. As the GenR8R plays each cadence, the chance of that cadence happening again falls. As other cadences are played, the chance of the cadence occurring increases. As time passes, the chance of a key change slowly increases, and each chord will have its own pivot direction(s) to a new key. The chance of a V chord pivoting to a new key is higher than that of a iii key, just because that's how Western harmony works. Who makes these rules? In any case, there is still a chance that iii could be the pivot chord, just slightly less. Perhaps there could be a user defined pivot... nah, too much work. Bang, change of key. The new key could be in Major or Minor, luckily my AutoPlay already caters for both. As keys change the strength of the tonic key gets stronger, and the music will end up back there at some point. There is a Sonata-style progression, with melodic ideas being introduced in the Exposition, then played around with in the development (with key changes) then gets pulled back to the tonic for the recapitulation. Rhythmic variation is fairly random. Accelerando and ritardandos are loosely linked to velocity, where a quicker melody produces somewhat louder notes. Loud notes may also play very slow parts, heightening the emotion. There is an end rather than an eternal generation, so the use of form, eg. Sonata, is wise. Melodically there is repetition of motifs, even user entered motifs (!) and some very emotional changes from slow notes to fast, or quick trills and sudden pauses. No Vinny, I'm busy! Okay, give me a listen. Oh that sounds awesome! I hope SuperCollider is as good as they are all saying. I wonder if I have any Jasmine..."

At which point I lose my train of thought.

Prototype KORD GenR8R