I think you have a point that there is a certain type of music fan that really does want to make a human connection with the artist through the music, and algorithmic composition may never really be enough for those fans.
But it's also the case that one of the things that makes electronic music appealing to a lot of people is that it generally doesn't have the cult of personality that exists in other genres. For sure, some parts of the scene ended up idolizing DJs instead, but I'd say a significant subset of techno fans are specifically not interested in the artistic motivation behind a piece and are instead just looking to hear some cool sounds.
That's why electronic music is a great place to experiment with algorithmic composition, and that's why all these people joking about ravers dancing to washing machines because they're so drugged up kinda missed the point of what we liked about the music in the first place. It's not about telling a story, or communicating an emotion, it's just about creating a cool sound. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that. If a piece of machinery can create a cool sound incidentally, why wouldn't we dance to it?
Of course, as I commented elsewhere, I don't think this particular example is especially notable. The music it generates is not much more interesting than what you'd get if you anyway just hit a "random pattern" button on a 303 clone that lets you constrain the result to a scale. But that doesn't matter, because it's still a nifty project and a bit of fun.
If you really are searching for the true intent of the artist, then you have that with algorithmic composition too. Click round the rest of this developer/artist's site and you'll find lots of little projects and experiments with music and software creations that - even if you don't see them as art, are at the very least the product of a creative hobbyist. There's your passion!
> What do you actually get for creating an intelligence that wins a Turing test?
> it's just about creating a cool sound.
I specifically want to create novel hard/dark/minimal techno bangers with similar effort to curating a playlist.
I want a toy that makes music that will keep me and my friends up into the wee hours, without the toil, without the bleeding egoic labor.
And I want people with good taste to have the same ability without putting thousands of hours into learning music theory and arcane details about DAWs and synthesizers and other... Traditional... Tools.
I want to twist the nips of a sexy thump machine and get a good feedback loop[0] going between jerky knees and the stupid-smart NPC musician in my laptop.
I want to spend the night in a tent with eyes that digests my tribe with its acid colors and plays us like so many marionettes until, exhausted, we cut the power and go home. And there wasn't a Guru making it happen, no Chad waiting his turn on the deck, just sound, lightning, and loving this f'n party, man.
The other points about writing songs that express humanity, and the inventor's hubris and all that hit the mark. But deleting the boundary between bedroom production and the rave itself... I'd be hard pressed to imagine anything more fun and exciting.
But it's also the case that one of the things that makes electronic music appealing to a lot of people is that it generally doesn't have the cult of personality that exists in other genres. For sure, some parts of the scene ended up idolizing DJs instead, but I'd say a significant subset of techno fans are specifically not interested in the artistic motivation behind a piece and are instead just looking to hear some cool sounds.
That's why electronic music is a great place to experiment with algorithmic composition, and that's why all these people joking about ravers dancing to washing machines because they're so drugged up kinda missed the point of what we liked about the music in the first place. It's not about telling a story, or communicating an emotion, it's just about creating a cool sound. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that. If a piece of machinery can create a cool sound incidentally, why wouldn't we dance to it?
Of course, as I commented elsewhere, I don't think this particular example is especially notable. The music it generates is not much more interesting than what you'd get if you anyway just hit a "random pattern" button on a 303 clone that lets you constrain the result to a scale. But that doesn't matter, because it's still a nifty project and a bit of fun.
If you really are searching for the true intent of the artist, then you have that with algorithmic composition too. Click round the rest of this developer/artist's site and you'll find lots of little projects and experiments with music and software creations that - even if you don't see them as art, are at the very least the product of a creative hobbyist. There's your passion!