Music and Artificial Intelligence

Reynolds has often compared his SPLITZ and SPIRLZ algorithms to a very traditional type of algorithm used in music, the canon. The process of canon is simply to combine a melody (the input) with one or more imitations of itself (possibly transposed, possibly slightly modified), each of which has been delayed by a certain time interval. The result is a contrapuntal output: the original melody in counterpoint with its delayed imitation(s). That is the explicit definition of the algorithm of the canon, and Reynolds maintains that his algorithms are similar in that they act upon the input in a predictable, well-defined way to produce a predictable output. However, implicit in the canon of tonal music is a whole set of explicit classical rules of harmony and voice-leading to which the output must conform.