rand()% realtime generative music

June 5, 2005 4:24 PM

rand()% is an automated net radio station streaming real-time generative music. All audio is generated by algorithmic software applications and programs written by sound artists and programmers.
posted by signal (18 comments total)

I like it.
posted by odinsdream at 4:27 PM on June 5, 2005

Is it art?
posted by stbalbach at 4:29 PM on June 5, 2005

So this is a radio station which is being honest about it then, right?
posted by nervousfritz at 4:31 PM on June 5, 2005

[This is awesome]
posted by greasepig at 4:35 PM on June 5, 2005

Since it is algorithmically generated, it seems that an
an application should be able to periodically download
parameters and run it without the bandwidth requirements
of an audio channel.
It's a little thin, as ambient music goes. I can hear all the
way through it.
posted by the Real Dan at 6:13 PM on June 5, 2005

What I'm listening to at the moment as I type this sounds less like music and more like there's a cellophane wrapper trapped in my sound card. It doesn't seem to want to get out though. It sounds like someone tried to record silence and failed a little bit. I almost can't tell when the buffer's kicking in, because there's not much change in the sound.

Are you sure this is a radio station? Maybe there's something wrong with the feed..? Maybe my winamp's broken? Maybe this is music only dog's can hear?
posted by ZachsMind at 6:24 PM on June 5, 2005

I almost can't tell when the buffer's kicking in, because there's not much change in the sound.

Isn't it great!?
posted by odinsdream at 6:33 PM on June 5, 2005

Great? If I wanted to listen to silence, I'd play a blank cassette tape.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:52 PM on June 5, 2005

Right now it's just like Metal Music Machine.
posted by sourwookie at 6:52 PM on June 5, 2005

And now it sounds like an angry R2-D2 cursing at a shortwave radio that can't lock onto a signal.
posted by sourwookie at 7:22 PM on June 5, 2005

Very cool. Reminds me of Eigenradio.
posted by sveskemus at 12:38 AM on June 6, 2005

I want the software that generates this stuff. It isn't listenable at times, but I can imagine that, mixed with human-generated music, it could provide an interesting layer of texture.
posted by eustacescrubb at 6:21 AM on June 6, 2005

Wasn't this predicted in the book 1984?
posted by eas98 at 9:48 AM on June 6, 2005

I agree with eustacescrubb that it would be interesting to experiment with software that does this kind of thing. Does anybody know of any such software that's any good?
posted by sveskemus at 10:08 AM on June 6, 2005

I agree with eustacescrubb that it would be interesting to experiment with software that does this kind of thing. Does anybody know of any such software that's any good?
posted by sveskemus at 10:10 AM on June 6, 2005

This is terrible. Well, the result, not necessarily the idea. The ten-minute segment I listened to could have been a compilation entitled The Best High-Pitched Squawking Spectrum Loading Noises EVER!
posted by blag at 12:06 PM on June 6, 2005

How is that terrible?
posted by sveskemus at 5:31 AM on June 7, 2005

eas98: "Wasn't this predicted in the book 1984?"


Actually, about 95% of our present day society was predicted by 1984.
The other 5% is from "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep".
posted by signal at 5:13 PM on June 7, 2005