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Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track

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Re: Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track

#161

Post by alexbainter »

spacemadness wrote: post #148

In knowing the original track very well, I find this version fascinating but also frustrating to listen to. It really emphasizes for me the importance of well thought out note placement and timing and the connection throughout, especially in minimalist pieces. This might sound pompous, but it's like the original seeks to tell a story, but this version is like pulling words and phrases out of a hat; the emotional payo…

I know what you mean and I don't find it discouraging at all. Your analogy is perfect. The way the original piece evolves and builds on its phrases over time is very noticeably lacking in the generative version. In my version, any emotional buildup from one phrase to the next can only happen in short spurts at best, and it happens completely by accident. Of course, if I was putting on music that I wanted to really focus on and enjoy, the original would always be my choice. For me, the appeal of an endless version was that I could turn the music into ignorable ambience for my environment. Since we're making analogies, to me it's a bit like seeing a painting you like and saying "Gosh I like that color," then painting your walls that color. It can't compare to the painting but it might remind you of it.

Re: Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track

#162

Post by pera »

tiben_ wrote: post #68
LeonM wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably my favorite album for programming and other work that require concentration. I still haven't encountered anything like it. I wish there was more.

Gerald Donald's work (alias Dopplereffekt, Arpanet, Japanese Telecom, was part of Drexciya) works well for me for programming for years. Especially the Album "Inertial Frame" from Arpanet. Calabi Yau Space from Dopplereffekt as well (which was released on Aphex Twin's own label Rephlex)

For those in San Francisco: he will be playing at the MUTEK festival in May.

Re: Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track

#163

Post by ssalazar »

haywirez wrote: post #4

For musicians and devs, it's a good hint that Markov chains are "good enough" for most interesting music applications, ML/AI doesn't typically yield better results. Happy to see this on the front page!

Hm, it works well for this particular song/the genre of generative music but it easily hits limits with many other types of music people might want to work with. More advanced ML/AI techniques are needed to reason about sound in a semantic/latent space, which a stock Markov model will not do.

Re: Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track

#164

Post by hrydgard »

na85 wrote: post #156
Jaepa wrote: post #155

Doom from 2016 had this really cool feature in it where the music was procedurally adaptive based on the context of the game. When you were getting into a battle the music would mutate and become a lot more aggressive. Small fights would be different from big hairy fights. Ending a fight on low health would be different from leaving it unscathed. For long time I've always thought it would be great to have something t…

I believe the first mainstream game with adaptive music like that was Half Life 2 in 2004.

Mario 64 did it in 1996. For example that early level with the shipwreck, the music morphs as you go into the water and dive around the wreck. If you go out of the water again the music morphs back to the original form.

Re: Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track

#168

Post by kbenson »

emzo wrote: post #151
kbenson wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I mean is they all repeat in cycles that are called incommensurable — they are not likely to come back into sync again. I remember a few years back there was some quick guide to visual design that I saw that recommended this. To provide what appeared to be randomness over repeating samples (or at least prevent easy pattern matching in the brain which is distracting), take three images that can of different pri…

Here's the article you're referring to - https://www.sitepoint.com/the-cicada-principle-and-why-it-ma...

I actually figured there was a good chance someone here would reply with it, since I believe I originally found it here either from a submission or a comment. Thanks!

Re: Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track

#169

Post by jimmcslim »

pcf wrote: post #147
twic wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an interview with Eno in Wired in 1995 [1] that i still think about sometimes. Amongst other things, he talks about lifting himself to the next meta-level of composition, where he doesn't write music, he writes rules for a box which makes music: Q: If I could give you a black box that could do anything, what would you have it do? A: I would love to have a box onto which I could offload choice making. A thin…

This should be doable? You could feed your entire catalogue into the machine, and have it start generating music. For every pass, you could listen to the created piece and tell it "I would not make anything like element X, because of [specific reason], so take that out." Enough of these passes and detailed removal of elements you wouldn't create, and you should get closer and closer to a machine that would be your mu…

How well would it cope with the evolution of an artist's ouevre; would it recognise that certain sounds are from a certain period?

Re: Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track

#170

Post by fb03 »

lostgame wrote: post #75
glitcher wrote: post #52

On a side note, saw a nice write-up celebrating the recent 25th anniversary of Selected Ambient Works Volume II: https://www.residentadvisor.net/reviews/23648 I feel like that album has a lot of potential for generative experiments. Admittedly, the album has an over-arching tone of eeriness throughout, which isn't something I want to listen to while I work most days. Maybe it would be inspiring to game developers wor…

Actually, speaking of games with Aphex Twin's music, I'm not sure how many folks here recall the Dreamcast classic 'Rez' - a synesthesic, psychedelic rail-shooter which actually featured a track of his, under his legal name 'Richard D. James'. If you guys haven't played it, seriously give it a shot. I believe there is a re-released version on XBOX and PC, though I can't speak to the quality of the ports, as I still p…

I played Rez on PS2 and it was amazing. Looking forward to buying Rez Infinite on PC.
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