AI Usage In Music

Two recent articles about Artificial Intelligence creating music caught my eye + ear :
1. This one about software that emulates (mostly dead) performers : http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/virtual-musicians-real-performances
2. And this one about software that composes : The real Tin Man : http://bit.ly/cGunrQ

Firstly, these are both impressive pieces of code - as a developer and a musician this is clear. But secondly, the doom-sayers predicting these replacing humans is garbage. Why? Let's look at each in turn.

1. This is amazing, modelling the characteristics of a performer from dusty old recordings - presumably how loose their timing was etc, and - given a decent quality midi file of a song - plays that song (on a real, MIDI'ed up instrument) in the style of that performer. You can never second guess what a real person is going to do. If I'm well pissed off one night, that will affect the performance. Similarly, when I'm chilled out, and different "me" is seen. You cannot model real artists' art, without modelling the whole artist.

2. The same affects composition too. A computer may be able to model Bach-esque compositions following the rules that Bach himself created, but it will never come up with a NEW, fully creative something. Would a computer have ever have taken the inputs of 70s prog and disco and come up with Punk??? In fact, this should be the new Turing test for AI Music - can a machine create something as emotionally charged and fresh as "Anarchy in the UK"?

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