4. Generate Music

How to Generate Music

Generating musical content largely depends on the generator being used, because legacy generators (namely Atonal Line and Atonal Harmony) had more limited access to the Score than the Multiline Generator has. Therefore, the procedure varies slightly.

Generating with legacy generators

If you want to generate content using Atonal Line or Atonal Harmony you need to first prepare the score, because these generators can only access (and write to) the top-most Part of the score. Do the following:

1. Prepare the score:
   1. in the Score, select the Part name that you will be generating into; make sure the Editor's header now reads Part;
   2. use the Nudge element before button in the Toolbar as needed, to (temporarily) move the selected Part at the very top of your score's instruments list; do it even if it contradicts music theory (e.g., go ahead and place the Piano above all strings in a piano quartet score);
2. Prepare the generator:
   1. in the Score, click the name of a Section you want to generate in; in the Project UI, take note of the linkage ID that section has. The linkage ID is the number to the left of the selected section's label (it is preceded by a link symbol);
   2. in the Project UI, add a new node under generators (select the generators node, then in the Toolbar, click on the Create element button). Make sure the Editor's header now reads Generator;
   3. in the Editor , from the Binding dropdown, select "Atonal Line (legacy)" or "Atonal Harmony (legacy);
   4. under Output connections, click the Open Editor button (the only one that should be active) and in the picker window that opens, move from left to right the linkage ID that you previously took note of. In the floating window, click the Apply changes button (the one that looks like a check mark); after the windows closes you should see your selection under Output connections, in the Editor;
3. Generate:
   1. (optional) in the Editor, under Actions, click Configure... and tweak the generator's settings as you see fit for a starting point. Click Apply changes when done. You may use these references as a guide:
      • The Atonal Line Generator;
      • The Atonal Harmony Generator;
      • How to use Atonal Line;
      • How to use Atonal Harmony;
   2. in the Editor, under Actions, click Generate. After processing, the generated content will show in the Score, in its designated Part and Section;
   3. (optional) generate again using the same configuration: make sure the Generator node is selected and click its Generate button in the Editor;
   4. (optional) generate again using changed configuration: make sure the Generator node is selected and click its Configure... button. Then proceed as previously instructed.

Generating with the Multiline Generator

There is no score preparation involved when using the Multiline Generator to synthesize music. It will automatically distribute generated content among all available instruments, observing their range and relative pitch. Therefore, the order of Parts in the score is also irrelevant: the Multiline Generator is built with enough musical intelligence to know that, e.g., if you place the Trombone above the Flute in your score, the higher notes still need to go to the Flute, not the Trombone. You should however observe the number of instruments in your score. If you restrict the Multiline Generator's range allowance, yet you give it a score with lot of instruments to generate in, the top most instruments might not get any content (because the Multiline Generator computes and allocates pitches from bottom up).

The remaining procedure is essentially the same as described for legacy generators (see above), except:

• in the Editor's Binding dropdown, you select "Multiline Generator" instead;
• the Multiline Generator opens a new and improved configuration UI, one that lets you program how a parameter value evolves across the generated content's timespan. It also has built-in presets support, so instead of starting from scratch, you can initialize your settings from a stock or previously saved preset. You may use these references as a guide:
  • The Multiline Generator;
  • Configuration UI (New);
    • Parameters;
    • Envelopes Editor;
    • Envelopes Manager;
  • Presets-Manager;
  • How to use the Multiline-Generator.

Regardless of the selected Generator, generating new content wipes out the target Section before proceeding; the only way to overlap new and old generated music is currently via Copy/Paste.

Generating times can vary, based on the chosen Generator, the amount of music to generate, the chosen configuration and the speed of your CPU; also, while the The Multiline Generator provides a dialog that lets you monitor or abort a music generation session, the legacy generators do not.

There is currently no built-in versioning mechanism; the next best thing to do would be to click Generate several times in a row, then use Undo/Redo and Play to select the most satisfying version. When you land on a variant that you like, you should immediately save and/or export it, because it might not come out again (as all generators are rather stochastic than deterministic).