Hoffmann: Mapping Mathematics to Sound: The Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis by Iannis Xenakis

Computer Music is intricately linked to mathematics. All computer action is conditioned by mathematical logic. However, most computer composers tend to "humanize" their algorithmically produced sound material and time structures through manual "post-processing". In constrast to this main-stream approach, Xenakis confronts us with the pure result of algorithmic action directly mapped to the physical sound signal. In 1991, he completed a computer program that generates an entire musical piece, i.e. all sound and structure, "from nothing", by algorithmic computation only. It is thus a rare instance of what could be called a "computable music". It will be shown how the formal models of the Xenakis algorithm and the musical phenomena of GENDY3 match against each other, i.e. how a special musical effect comes about as the result of a specific choice in the algorithmic design. But even more interesting are the cases where formal thinking and artistic design diverge, where "bad" random number generators producing better music than "good" ones, where chaotic fluctuations yield more interesting results than equilibrum states, and where the deliberate violation of established engineering techniques proves artistically beneficial.

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Last modified: July 21, 1998