The First Robotic Musician 128
eldavojohn writes, "A new robot named Haile (pronounced hi-lee), which 'listens' to what musicians are playing and play along with them, has been developed at the [corrected] Georgia Institute of Technology. There are some videos at the GATech site. From the article: "If the musicians change the beat or rhythm, Haile is right there with them. 'With Haile there are two levels of musical knowledge... The basic level is to teach it to learn to identify music, to imitate,' Weinberg said. 'The higher level is stability of rhythm, to be able to distinguish between similar rhythms. In essence, Haile has the ability to recognize if a rhythm is more chaotic or stable, and can adjust its playing accordingly.' I don't know about the rest of Slashdot, but I can't wait for the day when I have my very own Robo Puente to play along with."
GA Tech != UGA (Score:5, Informative)
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Example college at GT: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering [gatech.edu]
Example college at UGA: School of Poultry Science(sic) [uga.edu]
You can't get an Engineering degree from UGA. Similarly, you can't get a Literature degree from Georgia Tech.
Time to continue ramblin'.
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I should also add that Computational Media, GaTech's version of a video game design bundled with a couple other design fields, has recently been added to LCC.
To Hell With Georgia!!!
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As a GT alumni, the comparison is almost insulting.
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Drummer != Musician (Score:2)
OLD NEWS (Score:2, Funny)
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Aiken [wikipedia.org]
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Don't DO THAT! I almost spewed lemonade out my nose....
:-D
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how long.. (Score:1, Funny)
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I guess it's all how you perceive it. I would always seen a person (or rather many people) behind that hardware/software combination, so ultimately it comes down to people just using different tools. A piano is a better instrument than punching yourself in the testes (presumedly), but there's still people using the piano (directly or indirectly) who are responsible for the music.
Re:how long.. (Score:5, Interesting)
And for the record, art/music is often about context, and the artist is a big part of what makes music "good". An unknown musician doesn't ever make it into the top 20 without the help of producers, promoters, radio spots, stories, etc. This is basic marketing. The product itself rarely sells--it's the story or the artist behind it or the context or just plain mob-consumer mentality that was initially triggered by one of those things that accumulates together to make the thing popular.
if a robot made cool music, and was intelligent, neat. it might be popular, but not because it is good music... more because it was ROBOT-made music.
Otherwise, I'd be a fangirl of the engineer who made the robot... just like I'm getting all woozy thinking about the people who made this software.
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Well, better than Britney Spears at least.
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Re:how long.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Could you imagine a digital device, maybe like an iPod, that composed music on the fly, which intelligently complemented your mood? I could see this being addictive for certain people and causing them to lose touch with human music. I mean, in my reality, not yours.
Anyway... if you could write a program that simulated heroin or acid (or even just pot), it would probably write some pretty cool stuff. But it wouldn't remember to save it and would get the munchies and fall asleep for half a day... and would still be an improvement on current mainstream music, most of which is just the results of marketing formulas anyway. But, no robot could fuzz down a guitar like Jimi Hendrix, or yelp like Kurt Cobain, or offend like Frank Zappa (or name your gangster rap artist).
Here's a question: what happens when you start jamming with two of these robots, and then you stop playing? Do they just duet until you unplug one of them or what?
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Deerhunter ;-) (Score:2)
Here's an idea!
You should give one of them a guitar, and the other one a banjo!
Then start playing C C F C and add a bit of yankee doodley into the mix...
RIAA! Who ya gonna call? (Score:5, Funny)
Any time a robot plays something, it is going to sound like something that the RIAA holds 'rights' to. So the robot is 'infringing' on 'their' copyrights. But, uh, sueing a robot is hard. They don't respond to threats. They ignore injunctions. Robots don't give a shit about human law, man, they just wanna rock'n'roll.
So are they going after the programmer?
"Your Honor, Let it be known that after 2.345 hours of playing a 130 beats per minute tempo, in the key of G#, if the human misses the beat by 0.256 seconds, the robot under inditment will consistently and 'knowingly' play the first three notes of "Free Bird". This is a willfull violation of copyright. We want $100,000,000,000.00; payable in monthly installments."
But the great thing about robots is no only can they now play music, but, with a little tweaking, they can also tear the fingers and toes off of entertainment lawyers. Accidently, of course, but AI routines can get a little unpredictable when clogged with human legal chaos. Shit happens.
Personally, when I want to play along with a machine I use a Zoom 900x series guitar effects DSP with the early 1970's Rolling Stones fed into the analog mix channel. Mix your guitar with lots of reverb, overdrive, a touch of delay, and a dollop of attitude.
When you get a robot to do what Keith Richards does, let me know.
Re:When you get a robot to do what Keith Richards (Score:2)
I think I can build a coconut-harvesting robot that falls out of trees, are you interested?
Mal-2
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If a hard drive is loaded with lots of music from many genres, a program could analyze the scale and chord progression for every song. After the program is finished analyzing and categorizing all of the musical trends, pseudo-random output within a specified statistical variance could be presented as new music.
However, music is the result of priceless human creativity from the following genras: Med
Just what the RIAA needs... (Score:2)
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By the way, if a future society someday becomes ruled by compuers (or robots), I'm pretty sure we would call it "computer-assisted governm
Hooray for robots! (Score:4, Funny)
GA Tech, not UGA (Score:2, Redundant)
Randy Farmer
Atlanta, GA
There's trouble ahead (Score:1, Funny)
Wait, if the robotic drummer/bass guitar player invents a new riff, who takes the royalties? Maybe it could use the money for new servo motors or a replacement oil pan.
no chance (Score:2)
People want to see people playing instruments - we can hear a synthesizer anywhere... chances are about 10% of the people who read this will use some sort of synthesizer along with their guitar playing or whatever. I really don't feel the need to say more...
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Yeah, just like 80% of humans.
Had one when I was a kid (Score:3, Funny)
It's not a musician... (Score:5, Funny)
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A drummer.
Ba-roomp-boomp!
What do you call a robot who likes to hang out with drummers?
Plywood.
KFG
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Um, Haile?
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A: None! They have machines to do that now!
Q: What is the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?
A: A drum machine can keep a steady beat and won't steal your girlfriend!
Q: What do you call the girl that's always hanging on the drummer's arm?
A: A tattoo.
Q: Why do bands have bass players?
A: To translate for the drummer.
Q: What did the drummer get on his IQ test?
A: Drool.
Did you hear about the bass player who locked his keys in the car?
He had
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I think it would be much easier to create better synthesizers and just have the robots use the synths... I mean the guy says a lot of stuff about how its important that the robot is able to use audio and visual cues, but I dont think that has anything to do with actually playing the music mechani
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I don't think you could achieve the same type of expression using a synth to replicate string instruments.
Think about bending a note or sliding into the next note. Hard to do with a keyboard unless there are a variety of sliders/knobs/pedals etc. to allow those effects.
At that point it might be that the synth becomes so complex that you need a robot to operate all of the controls at once. But would that robot be able to supply his own expression or would have to be programmed in.
How dare you... (Score:1)
Moo (Score:1)
I heard Disaster Zone are using these (Score:2, Funny)
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Oh yeah? (Score:5, Funny)
They can't be REAL musician robots until those conditions can be fulfilled.
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Am I the only one (Score:1)
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first? well, maaaybe (Score:5, Informative)
Robert Rowe [nyu.edu] published a book on the topic in 1992, on his Cypher system. Here's another good article [uci.edu] on the topic by Chris Dobrian. For an open-source system, check out Bob van der Poel's MMA [xplornet.com].
Additionally, there's been plenty of work done on robotics for playing instruments, particularly for percussion.
So, admittedly, this is the first time I've personally heard of a project combining the two, so I'll give it that credit for innovation. But I'd be sorta surprised if it hasn't been done previously. When you think about it... all these musical accompaniment systems react in real-time to MIDI input. Simply make a couple of motors respond to MMA's ouptut, for example, adjust timing according to latency and inertia, and you could probably have this project done in a few days.
Not to play it down, I always love to see fun projects like this..
But "first".. well, give credit where it's due. I think the summary is over-reacting. (I scanned the article.. don't believe it makes any such claims.)
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But is it accurate..
Like I said, it might well be the first to actually combine robotics and musical accompaniment. I'm not sure. I guess I'll give the article the benifit of the doubt!
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Matt Ingalls, a clarinetist/improviser/composer in the SF Bay Area, did some work with computerized accompaniment that was pretty impressive. His "Recent Works" release had some tracks where you'd swear there was a live pianist following the clairinet improvisations.
Ah, and if you look under "Sounds" on his homepage, he has some mp3 samples up
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Minor nit-pick here... MIDI is by definition computer-generated, sometimes in response to direct human input (like a human playing a MIDI keyboard, for instance). SmartMusic [smartmusic.com], for example, takes microphone input from a live performer and "follows" the performer with a predefined accompaniment. If I play my saxophone into the microphone, MIDI is not the result, but the computer can somewhat follow me, so l
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Hofstadter is inspired by the links between the Music of Bach, Escher's art and Gödel's incompleteness theorems. IMHO, it should be on the required reading list for all computer science courses.
Re:first? well, maaaybe - no!! (Score:1)
This is certainly not the first. The CNN article even mentions LEMUR, who made GuitarBot years ago (~2003 from memory, their site doesn't say). In addition to performing many pieces composed for it, GuitarBot has also been controlled by interactive software. There were a few notable performances with violinist Mari Kimura in 2003, a few months after it debuted. Interactivity wasn't its specialty, but it's been done.
Still, though, Haile this is a neat thing. You could have it done in a few days - but not
A Long Time Ago... (Score:1)
Next stop Robot Devil! (Score:1)
oblig drummer (Score:2)
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A: You only have to punch the information into a drum synthesiser once.
The Rolling Stones? (Score:2)
I am always confusing robotized with fossilized.
Sorry.
Still, someday every band will be robotic...
Simpso^H^H^H^H^H^H Media Lab did it. (Score:2)
"We Are The Robots" - Kraftwerk (Score:3, Funny)
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Robot loops (Score:2, Interesting)
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It's called a "microphone."
. .
Like a digital tuner, some of which, yes, have metronome functions that will match a beat.
KFG
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Because they don't RTFAs.
I made the post before reading the article and watching the videos. .
Haven't been able to watch the videos myself.
. .
I would be more suitably amazed, but it's not, so arguments base
If I get my hands on one of these (Score:1)
First robotic musician, indeed! (Score:2, Insightful)
The First Robotic Musician?!?!? (Score:2)
To Hell with Georgia (Score:1)
Build something useful (Score:1)
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Well, did you listen to it? It does not sound anything like a drum machine from Yamaha. And it serves a totally different purpose than a drum machine from Yamaha. And it sounds, and interacts with the user in a totally different way than the 1800-era machine. And it serves a totally different purpose than the 1800-era machine.
Just because there have been other mechanical and/or electronic contraptions that serve the purpose of (or have part of their purpose to be) providing drum-like sounds, doesn't mean
It has to be said (Score:1)
I KNEW IT! (Score:2)
oh great... (Score:3, Funny)
Only the robotic aspect is new: check out Jamstix (Score:2, Informative)
For a really nifty AI drummer, see Jamstix [rayzoon.com]. It is a VST plugin that listens to what you play (either audio or MIDI input), and plays drums along with you.
It is incredible fun to play guitar with -- rock, jazz, blues stuff for me -- and the demos and songs that people have created with it are impressive. Rather than playing unlike a human, it has algorithms to mimic a human drummer's limb movements and such. The sounds and rhythms are all tweakable -- you can describe what you want, and leave the actual
Why is a robot drummer better? (Score:3, Funny)
2. he doesn't show up an hour late for practice, completely drunk.
3. he doesn't ask stupid questions when the rest of the band gets into strategy and show planning.
4. he won't eat all th efood i nthe fridge at the band house.
5. he won't choke to death on someone else's vomit.
But if he is using Sony batteries, he might spontaneously combust...
RS
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This sound like a perfect Spinal Tap drummer candidate
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I'm pretty sure a robot drummer would eat all the efood. Probably drink all the edrinks as well, at least if they contained ealcohol.
Oh, this brings sweet memories (Score:1, Interesting)
Well (Score:1)
Oh that's old news... (Score:1)
This already exists... (Score:1)
About the pun (Score:1)
To my best understanding it seems like a mixup between argentine comedian/actor "Rolo Puente" and musician "Tito Puente"... but that would be a mistake only an argentinian would make. Is there some other explanation for the pun?
Been there done that (Score:2)
Short Circuit did it (Score:2)
Good news for bass players everywhere! (Score:1)
Not quite what I call AI (Score:2)
This robot follows a rhythm section - and not much else. It still requires the human mind to lead it. It still requires the human mind to originate the rhythm or the music.
Most if not all musical AI experiments involve a robot using a preprogrammed piece of music. Human composers create the music and/or arrangement.
Humans create music when their emotions respond to life events. Blues music was an outlet for the oppressed or th
When robots can fall in love, maybe (Score:1)
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so technically (Score:1)
just wait until the RIAA finds out... not even bill gates will be able afford one of them
Not Useful To Me (Score:2)
Oh great... (Score:1)
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Let's all welcome Haile's first post on Slashdot!