Music in Images

[arjun]

Hi Guys,

I am new here, and I have a project that I have developed as part of my Masters thesis that I wanted to show and request some feedback.

Its called Music in Images

This project presents a new approach towards algorithmic music composition where the music is composed using the pixel values of digital images.

Application Info:
The application makes use of image data, such as: pixel Color, Saturation, Brightness, and qualities like: Overall Image Brightness, Color Variation and Prominent Colors.

Each of the above properties contribute towards composition of the music. The song attributes controlled by them include: Melody generation, Durations, Cord Generation, Chord Progression, Tempo,Scale and Transposition.

The theory behind the translation of image attributes to music attributes is based on previous works done in the field of psychology, in the topic: perceptual associations of audio frequency and music modes with hue, saturation and brightness. In addition to this, there are certain translation techniques which are based on the my artistic sense.


The analogy for Image to Music translation used here is:

Pixels : Similar Color regions : Overall Image
Notes : Chords : Scale

You might find it interesting. Please do check it out here:

http://www.musicinimages.com

This application works best for abstract images. It tends to produce calmer music with smoother images, or with less color/brightness variation, and more complex music with high variation images. The overall brightness also adds an effect on the music.


I would really appreciate if you could give my your feedback on it.

These are a few main questions I need answers on:

1. You can try out different images and play them using the given instrument options. What are your impressions on the quality of the music produced ?

2. If you are a musician, can this application be useful to you ?

3. If you are a psychologist, do you think this application can be used for exploring relationships between images, computer generated music and human emotional interpretation?

Feel free to add any other questions/ comments that you might like.


Thanks!
Arjun

[DevilsAdvocate]

Ok, I would first like to say that I am a very blunt individual, so you might want to skip over my reply if you have sensitive feelings. Also, I am not trying to shoot you down and walk away. I love having a discussion about everyone's standpoints. So PLEASE comment back, even if to say that I sound like an imbecile. Alright... read on... if you dare!

I have played in ensembles for the last 12 or so years and I am not sure how I would benefit at all from that site. Not only is it not useful for a musician, but it doesnt seem to make much sense. From a musical standpoint, the music had no logic whats-so-ever. It would be the equivalent to having an 8 year old playing a grand piano. The quality of the music was really shaky on the "strings" settings and the "Dreambell" was (to say the least) obnoxious. Surely you would not upload an image and let it play from beginning to end, right? You would click around to listen to what certain parts "sounded" like?

Im sorry for ripping your site down so harshly, but it upset me a smidgen. What is your musical background? In what format would you use such a program?

[arjun]

Ok, I would first like to say that I am a very blunt individual, so you might want to skip over my reply if you have sensitive feelings. Also, I am not trying to shoot you down and walk away. I love having a discussion about everyone's standpoints. So PLEASE comment back, even if to say that I sound like an imbecile. Alright... read on... if you dare!

I have played in ensembles for the last 12 or so years and I am not sure how I would benefit at all from that site. Not only is it not useful for a musician, but it doesnt seem to make much sense. From a musical standpoint, the music had no logic whats-so-ever. It would be the equivalent to having an 8 year old playing a grand piano. The quality of the music was really shaky on the "strings" settings and the "Dreambell" was (to say the least) obnoxious. Surely you would not upload an image and let it play from beginning to end, right? You would click around to listen to what certain parts "sounded" like?

Im sorry for ripping your site down so harshly, but it upset me a smidgen. What is your musical background? In what format would you use such a program?

Hey devilsAdvocate!

First of all there is no need to worry about my feelings here. There is absolutely nothing that you could say that would hurt my feelings, even if you tried really hard. And most of all, you don't have the credibility to "rip" my site down. What you have is an opinion. Different people have different opinions, and I am just here for that.

So, let me elucidate in more detail what this project is all about.
It is an experimental project that presents an approach where visual art (or visual data) is transformed into music art (or audio data). To achieve this transformation, there are certain rules that have been applied on the image reading side that mimic the way humans read images and perceive colors. While on the music production side, rules have been taken from the western music theory to compose the music (a few of them). In addition to these, there are certain decisions which are based on my artistic sense, the main one being 'the usage of image pixel data' for reading of the images.
I am a music composer, designer and a programmer. For my music background I am more into electronic music and keyboard playing- I hope this answers your question.
You obviously seem to be more on the classical music side considering you have been playing in ensembles. This is completely fair, but the kind of music produced by this application is not based on classical music so its better to not compare it with that.

As a general view point on the music produced I have received many different opinions. However, the most common opinion out of these has been that some images sound better than others. Like I said before this application is designed for abstract images as it makes use of color and brightness information for producing the music.
Here is one example image link that I received on another fourm:
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/7863/distentedaura.jpg
I do not expect 'you' to like it. But, just showing an image that a couple people played and liked.

People will use this application for music listening and experimenting if they like it. And ofcourse if they don't like it, they will not.

Now, the main reason for me posting this link on the psychology form is that I am trying to request opinions from psychologists on whether this application could potentially be used for exploring relationships between images, computer generated music and human emotional interpretation. Again, I expect there will be different opinions here as well.

I hope this makes it a bit clear, this is not me trying to make you "like" my project. This is me trying to expand your thinking horizon in terms of the possibilities.

Your opinion is still usable for me and I do appreciate your taking time to write it.

Thanks!