I’m lucky to be a part of a research team led by Dr Sam Whiting and with John Oestmann exploring the potential of automation for composers and musicians in games music, with funding support from the Digital Futures Initiative. The $20,000 grant is provided in partnership by music rights management organisation APRA AMCOS and the Australia Council for the Arts.
Project overview:
In today’s world of new frontiers in automation and generative AI, artists are left wondering whether this automation is their friend or foe. Musical automation has the potential to make significant contributions in empowering composers and musicians – but the question relates to “how?”. While much of the current discussion has been on generative AI in design and text-based communication, musical automation contains a huge amount of potential, with most of the R&D in this area having been developed by the film industry. Musical automation in games, however, could make a significant contribution in empowering composers and musicians.
This project will produce a video game in which all audio is generated live, from scratch, by a human-designed digital synthesis system. This audio will change and adapt, based on the actions of the human playing the game. The design framework, developments, and critical reflections will be shared freely to empower other composers who are excited to create in this unfolding space, and contemporary industry research will provide important context for the creative project.
You can read more about the project here: https://www.apraamcos.com.au/about-us/news-and-events/digital-futures-initiative-recipients-2023