Student Research Project

Concept and Realization

of a User Adaptive System of Musical Agents

for Composing Simple Melodies

Download the thesis (sa.pdf, 882 kB, in german) here!

Abstract

In this thesis a multiagent system for composing music is designed. The design is based on an analysis of basic construction principles of music. The agent system consists of musical agents which are able to create unisonous melodies. For that purpose the agents use an expert system that is also implemented in the context of this work. The main focus is on the agents' ability to learn from the user's rating to approximate his taste in music. Several methods of learning are developed and compared.

Some sample melodies (in MIDI format) created by my system:

Melodies without training:
- Melody 1: Very simple, minimalistic, boring
- Melody 2: Rhythmically fast, with interesting harmonies
- Melody 3: Random, like twelve-tone music
Melodies with training:
- Melody 4: Simply structured, like a nursery rhyme
- Melody 5: Tonally complex, clear rhythm and structure
- Melody 6: Delightful, shifted repetition of middle part
- Melody 7: Three four time, in minor, suitable for a canon

Christoph Koutschan