I was looking about for prodecural level/music/etc design and came across footage of the
LongNow conference with Brian Eno and Will Wright.

The discussion reminded me of an old Amiga program called Algomusic (and also the random music that was in Poing {another Amiga program}).

As I couldn't find any algorithmic music generators that I liked, I thought I'd have a go at writing my own.

Download

• Mk V.56: http://www.marasmusine.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DuncsAlgomusicV56.zip
  • Mk IIIb: http://www.marasmusine.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DuncsAlgomusicIIIb.zip
  • Mk III: http://www.marasmusine.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DuncsAlgomusicIII.zip

Requirements: Some form of machine running some form of Windows, probably. Some speakers.

Source Code

• http://www.marasmusine.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DAMmusic.txt - the main bit
• http://www.marasmusine.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/DAMdemo.txt - the front end

It's in Blitz Basic. So, yeah, it's not pretty. Example: There's no dynamic arrays, so I store patterns in strings.

If you're daft enough to want to modify it, consider it to be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.

Versions

Mk V (2.9 Mb) - Completely different version with a different approach; is not intended to supercede MkIIIb

Mk IIIb (690kb) fixes two undocumented features (and is 2kb smaller, somehow):

• No longer mutates a drum channel to use an instrument sound (Occasionally produced interesting results, but was mostly annoying)
• Snares were usually off beat; they are now usually timed better (with an occasional fill-in)

Songs used in popular culture:

• "Doctor Ashen" (MkIIIb) - used by popular YouTube comedian and reviewer at the start of all his videos

MkIII (692kb)adds some drumbeats, minor volume effects, channels that echo other channels, user can name a track (names set the random seed, so the same title will generate the same song)
Two days work. This version has a few more sounds, chord variety, random titles.
This is one day's work, so it's not amazing, but still quite fun.

Testimonials

"Oh. Seems a bit useless" - Empty Space, Birdbath Social - http://s13.zetaboards.com/Birdbath/topic/354436/1/
Note: typing in "Oh. Seems a bit useless" (minus the quotes) in MkIIIb produces no sound at all! (however this is not true for later versions)

"You know, if someone decided to make a movie about BitTorrent, this would make a perfect soundtrack." - Supermikhail, bay12games forum - http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=48880.0

"Also, the IIIb version seems to mostly produce kind of creepy sounding music where the newer one is a bit more diverse. However, the newer one tends to produce multiple channels which do almost the same and often produces stuff which doesn't sound like music at all." - Nixitur, Voltron Army - http://voltronarmy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=762

"A funny little note, I was actually a member on the forum that is mentioned in the testimonials for the program. (the fourm with "oh. seems a bit useless," not the other one) That's where I found out about it as well." - DSiDewd, Buildism - http://buildism.net/forum/Thread-Dunc-s-Algomusic-is-quite-an-awesome-program

"this is amazing, it creates some pretty decent tunes. But it mutes when it isnt in the foreground, which is shit." - a-k-t-w, Facepunch - http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1122428/2

"Need a theme song for your character? Enjoy computer-generated music? Or maybe you just enjoy thinking of incredibly strange combinations of words. If so, Dunc's AlgoMusic is absolutely spiffing." - Gal-gamesH, The Temple Of Kraden - http://s9.zetaboards.com/The_Temple_of_Kraden/topic/563831/1/

"Quick music synchronized with the actual name of the sound piece. If you want a minute killed, consider this your time assassin." - Matt P. - http://vimeo.com/6000499