The thing about robot musicians is theyB次元官网网址檒l never trash a hotel room, show up to a gig drunk or break up a band after meeting an eccentric performance artist.
At least not yet.
The music-computer lab of George Tzanetakis at the University of Victoria is ground zero for the rise of robot musicians. But donB次元官网网址檛 think of it like anthropomorphic C-3PO strumming a mandolin B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 more like a series of mallets linked to solenoids on a drum, backed by sophisticated software. Tzanetakis effectively wants to teach music to a computer, and for the computer to pick up on musical cues while jamming with humans.
B次元官网网址淲hen you play sound, a musician hears what is happening. We are trying to add the ability to understand music to an artificial agent that performs,B次元官网网址� says Tzanetakis, an assistant professor in the department of computer science, and in the department electrical and computer engineering B次元官网网址� and the school of music.
B次元官网网址淭he idea is to make the system musically intelligent, to have robotic musicianship.B次元官网网址�
It remains early days for robot jazz bands. Mechanical musicians are largely limited to percussion instruments due to increasing engineering complexity as each mallet and its actuator is added to the mix, and to the software that crunches the music in real time to adjust the tempo and volume.
B次元官网网址淲e want the musicality of the system to learn how to slow down, speed up, understand if it is too loud. We are still working on making sure it doesnB次元官网网址檛 get drunk,B次元官网网址� Tzanetakis jokes.
Of course computers, even advanced learning systems, donB次元官网网址檛 understand music or sound or much of anything else B次元官网网址� they just crunch data in sophsticated ways. Gabrielle Odowichuk, who worked in UVic computer-music lab as a masters student, said completely computer-driven music seems unlikely. Computers still canB次元官网网址檛 connect on an emotional level.
B次元官网网址淵ou need a human component or its boring. All robots need a human component,B次元官网网址� says Odowichuk who worked on gestural control of sound. B次元官网网址淥ften you can program in more randomness to make it more human. But when it comes to conveying something and connecting with an audience, computers lack expressiveness.B次元官网网址�
Tzanetakis sees robots and computer musicality as the natural evolution in how technology influences how music is made. To him, itB次元官网网址檚 no different than the person who first strung wires and called it a piano, or plugged in a wah-wah pedal.
B次元官网网址淯sing computers and robots is the same process,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淢usicians accept synthesizers, drum machines and DJ sets. If anything a robot is more innocent than a drum machine. ItB次元官网网址檚 just another technical dimension.B次元官网网址�
How this work will eventually influence the broader music world is hard to predict. Tzanetakis, a 37-year-old native of Greece who earned his PhD in computer science from Princeton University in 2002, tends to be about five years ahead of current popular technology.
TzanetakisB次元官网网址� early work on acoustic signal processing laid the groundwork for popular apps such as Shazam, which can recognize songs by holding a smartphone up to a speaker. HeB次元官网网址檚 helped develop melody-matching systems that identify songs by users humming or singing. His music sensing algorithms are at the heart SmuleB次元官网网址檚 AutoRap app, which creates a rap song out of any set of sounds, and the Ocarina app, which transforms an iPhone into a flute.
Of course, when he began working on whatB次元官网网址檚 called audio fingerprinting B次元官网网址� systems that analyze, dissect and find patterns in acoustic signals B次元官网网址� smartphone technology didnB次元官网网址檛 exist.
B次元官网网址淚f I do my job right, stuff IB次元官网网址檓 doing now will be commercial in about five years,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淲hat is commercial now is stuff myself and others were doing 10 years ago. Ten years ago there was no iPod, no iTunes. The world was a different place.B次元官网网址�
Tzanetakis expects the next big creative leaps to involve computer systems that can analyze and extract individual instruments and voices from complex music scores. The human ear can pick our individual conversations in a noisy party B次元官网网址� computers cannot.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 really a hard problem, far from being solved, but is actively researched,B次元官网网址� he said.
Despite being at the forefront of intertwining computers and music, Tzanetakis, a jazz musician and pianist before he became a computer scientist and engineer, admits he doesn't always practice what he preaches.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 a sax player. I have typically avoided playing with technology.B次元官网网址�
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