One, Two, Many

This piece asks two human players to co-create a performance with an AI inspired system. The over-arching principle driving the AI system is the metaphor of an impatient listener, one who seeks novelty. First, MIR features are extracted in real-time from the audio signal of each flute, in the next step the computer tries to estimate stability vis. change in those features at different time scales. Stable input – estimated through predictability and similarity – results in an increase of ‘boredom’ when this gets over a defined threshold the computer activates or deactivates processing of the flute signals (there is some evidence for similar mechanisms in the brain). The computer, therefore, interprets an audio signal and changes it’s own musical behaviour based on this interpretation: a system that listens and responds. Premiered by Samantha Rowe and Rowland Sutherland at the AIMC 2023 conference Sussex University. 31/8/2023