@lgrohn said:
My software is not using random numbers and the photos used have structure. I guess we are missing the proper word, aleatoric is not right.
You're quite right that it isn't random - perhaps a better word would be unpredictable? Rolling dice is unpredictable, but it is also a deterministic process - it's just that we can't measure or control the factors that influence the result to the degree required to influence the result. Hence it appears random but actually isn't - it's just unpredictable.
The problem I have with a user of Synestesia calling themself a composer is that they have little direct control over the end result - it's unpredictable. They can influence it of course, but this leads back to my question about aleatoric music. How much unpredictibility is allowable before a composer ceases to be a composer?
Arguably the composer of the music generated by Synestesia is the program itself, and yet here we hit a snag because the program only does what it is told and by that extension is nothing more than an instrument - an exotic player piano.
So we go beyond the instrument to look at what is on the 'page', who created it and by extension could be the composer? Once again - a problem. If you take pictures you're a photographer. The artistic criteria that you apply to taking pictures have nothing to do with the notes that will be generated when the picture is fed through Synestesia.
Even if someone could learn that a certain picture gives a certain result when fed through the program, and they could thus predict the outcome and create images to that end, does that make them a composer? I suppose in theory that's not much different to imagining music, writing it on paper, and having it performed. But doesn't that remove the need for Synestesia? Why not just write it down or record it? The unpredictabilty factor is surely the sine qua non of the program. So that leads us back to my question about aleatoric music.
This is the crux of the question - is someone, as a user of this software, a composer who uses samples for art?
Sorry for the ramble - like Nick I find this subject interesting!
Regards,
Martin