Mark Godfrey

A Real-Time Genetic Algorithm in Human-Robot Musical Improvisation

The paper describes an interactive musical system that utilizes a genetic algorithm in an effort to create inspiring collaborations between human musicians and an improvisatory robotic xylophone player. The robot is designed to respond to human input in an acoustic and visual manner, evolving a human-generated phrase population based on a similarity driven fitness function in real time. The robot listens to MIDI and audio input from human players and generates melodic responses that are informed by the analyzed input as well as by internalized knowledge of contextually relevant material. The paper describes the motivation for the project, the hardware and software design, two performances that were conducted with the system, and a number of directions for future work.

Creative collaboration between audiences and musicians in Flock

Flock is a full-evening work for saxophone quartet, dancers, audience participation, video and electronic sound. A computer vision system tracks the location of participants as they move around an open performance space, and custom software then uses that data to generate music notation, video animation and electronic sound. In this paper, we discuss the projects connection to previous work in large-audience creativity and multi-player gaming, and we outline the conception, design and implementation of its computer vision system, real-time notation architecture and collaborative structure. We evaluate the projects success as measured by audience surveys from performances at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami and the 01SJ Festival in San Jose, and we outline revisions to the work based on that feedback.

ZOOZbeat: mobile music recreation

ZOOZbeat is a gesture-based Music reCreation studio. It is designed to provide users with expressive and creative access to music making on the go. ZOOZbeat users can compose user-generated songs based on generic beats in different styles or remix and modify commercially licensed songs. To play notes or trigger musical loops, players can shake the phone or tap the screen. Users can also record voice or other audio input into their songs and utilize tilt and shake movements to manipulate and share the music in a group. Design goals of the project focused on creating intuitive metaphors for mobile music making and maintaining a balance between control and ease-of-use.