I've made fractal music, and it's pretty good.

[crotafang]

I know there are a lot of people out there who say things like "Fractal music can't be made" or "Fractal music doesn't sound good".  But I've made fractal music, and it's on Newgrounds ( http://gleegleep.newgrounds.com/ ), although I also posted some fractal music on my Sheezyart page ( http://crotafang.sheezyart.com/ ).  And some of my tracks were considered pretty good.  I mainly use FMusic (Phil Jackson's software; his site is being updated, but here's the URL http://fractal-vibes.com/ ), but in one track I use Fractal Harmonies ( http://www.bmeijer.com/try_this/fractal_harmonies/index.html ).  In the future, I may use Overhead ( http://download.cnet.com/Overhead-Fractal-Music-Generator/3000-2170_4-10604330.html ).

So tell me what you thin, and if there are other fractal music programs you know of, let me know.  If there are no other fractal music programs out there that you know of, then I could just make a fractal music program in Perl when I get the chance; some stuff on that is on this page ( http://www.drdobbs.com/web-development/184415991 ).

[Tater]

[author=crotafang link=topic=3756.msg20112#msg20112 date=1280395279]
I know there are a lot of people out there who say things like "Fractal music can't be made" or "Fractal music doesn't sound good".  But I've made fractal music, and it's on Newgrounds ( http://gleegleep.newgrounds.com/ ), although I also posted some fractal music on my Sheezyart page ( http://crotafang.sheezyart.com/ ).  [\quote]

I think that is pretty good. How much was completely generated by fractals, and how much human intervention was there? What decisions did you make beforehand? What tools?

And some of my tracks were considered pretty good.  I mainly use FMusic (Phil Jackson's software; his site is being updated, but here's the URL http://fractal-vibes.com/ ), but in one track I use Fractal Harmonies ( http://www.bmeijer.com/try_this/fractal_harmonies/index.html ).  In the future, I may use Overhead ( http://download.cnet.com/Overhead-Fractal-Music-Generator/3000-2170_4-10604330.html ).

I'll check these out. You should also look at Fractal Tunesmithy. It has thousands of microtonal scales, making the music even more unusual.

So tell me what you thin, and if there are other fractal music programs you know of, let me know.  If there are no other fractal music programs out there that you know of, then I could just make a fractal music program in Perl when I get the chance; some stuff on that is on this page ( http://www.drdobbs.com/web-development/184415991 ).

Thanks for the post. I am interested in all these things.

Tater

[crotafang]

I think that is pretty good. How much was completely generated by fractals, and how much human intervention was there? What decisions did you make beforehand? What tools?

I only used FMusic to make the MIDI file.  It was all generated by fractals.  Then I converted that to MP3 format using Timidity++ ( http://timidity.sourceforge.net/ ).  The decisions you need to make beforehand varies from program to program.  With Overhead, you just have to zoom into a part of the Mandelbrot set.  With Fractal Harmonies, you basically zoom into a part of the Mandelbrot or Julia set and you draw a line.  FMusic is actually pretty complicated, but if you do things the right way, you can come up with something really good.

I'll check these out. You should also look at Fractal Tunesmithy. It has thousands of microtonal scales, making the music even more unusual.

I think I tried Fractal Tunesmithy once.  It's good, and I would've given it another try, but it's no longer available.  Thanks for the recommendation though.

Thanks for the post. I am interested in all these things.

Tater

You're welcome!

[Tex Arcana]

Have a look at Musinum - The Music In The Numbers by Lars Kindermann; you can get it from http://www.reglos.de/musinum/

It hasn't been updated for a long time now, but is still is capable of producing some very interesting results, which can actually sound quite musical - just don't go expecting too much instant gratification. 

I must admit I haven't played with it in a while and am not sure if it works on post-XP versions of Windows.  I should probably get a fresh copy, now that I own some synths.

[vishesh.l]

any mac software to generate fractal music?

[erstwhile]

If you're willing to write your own code you can always do fractal music in Supercollider - it's a cross-platform programming langage that will turn just about any kind of math in to sound.

Here's some source code that will turn points on the Mandelbrot set into sound:

http://backtrace.blogspot.com/2013/02/mandlebrot-sonifications.html

(note, this is a work in progress).

It's not MIDI, you're taking paramaters and mapping them directly onto oscillators so you can use whatever pitches or tones you want.