Distributed musical decision-making in an ensemble of musebots: dramatics changes and endings
Arne Eigenfeldt, Oliver Bown, Andrew R. Brown, Toby Gifford · Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) · 2017
A musebot is defined as a piece of software that autonomously creates music and collaborates in real time with other musebots. The specification was released early in 2015, and several developers have contributed musebots to ensembles that have been presented in North America, Australia, and Europe. This paper describes a recent code jam between the authors that resulted in four musebots co-creating a musical structure that included negotiated dynamic changes and a negotiated ending. Outcomes reported here include a demonstration of the protocol’s effectiveness across different programming environments, the establishment of a parsimonious set of parameters for effective musical interaction between the musebots, and strategies for coordination of episodic structure and conclusion.