Konversatorium on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 10:00

We explore the applicability of shape and split grammars from the field of computer graphics to the field of musical composition. Instead of manipulating and splitting shapes in spatial dimensions, we can manipulate musical entities along the dimensions time, pitch, and volume. An earlier system we developed provided evidence for the viability of the approach, but was only capable of generating monophonic pieces. Polyphony poses additional challenges, since individual voices should be able to influence each other and be affected by underlying control patterns. In such a system one needs to manage and synchronize access to local and global context between interdependent parts of the derivation structure. In this work we develop a musical grammar system capable of polyphony and implement an interactive web-based tool for exploring the generations of such grammars.