Wolfram Tones

Stephen Wolfram has published (free, on the web) an application that uses some of his theoretical work to compose music. Not just synthesize a melody that a human wrote, but to actually compose the melody. The application will, on demand, compose new pieces in a specified style, and play them for you or let you download them as a ringtone.

I tried several different settings (there are many), and I was surprised at the results. Nothing I heard smacked of a Top 10 hit or an acclaimed symphony, but...all were at least pleasant to listen to, reminiscent of the requested style, and surprisingly not machine-like. An interesting exploration.

From the WolframTones web site (their "About" page):

When prominent scientist Stephen Wolfram published A New Kind of Science in 2002, it was immediately hailed as a major intellectual landmark. Today the paradigm shift that Wolfram's work initiated is starting revolutions in a remarkable range of areas of science, technology--and the arts. WolframTones is an experiment in applying Wolfram's discoveries to the creation of music.

At the core of A New Kind of Science is the idea of exploring a new abstract universe: a "computational universe" of simple programs. In A New Kind of Science, Wolfram shows how remarkably simple programs in his "computational universe" capture the essence of the complexity--and beauty--of many systems in nature.

WolframTones works by taking simple programs from Wolfram's computational universe, and using music theory and Mathematica algorithms to render them as music. Each program in effect defines a virtual world, with its own special story--and WolframTones captures it as a musical composition.

It's all original music--fresh from "mining" Wolfram's computational universe. Sometimes it's reminiscent of familiar musical styles; sometimes it's like nothing ever heard before. But from just the tiniest corner of the computational universe WolframTones can make everyone on Earth their own unique cellphone ringtone. It's a taste of what it's like to explore the computational universe--and a hint what's to come...

Tip of the hat to SlashDot.