HI, Bill
I see that you´re argumenting agressively because you´re
promoting your website. But anyway I´ll reply factually.
First a word about music generally: Good Music does something
to you: It relaxes, makes you move or dance, makes you sing
along or put you into a higher state of awareness like a good
work of art. FRACTAL music of the traditional kind does nothing
of that. It´s funny noise as I said in my admittedly
provocative statement, maybe it´s an interesting noise.
:
My fractal MUSIC is definetly not of that kind. It´s fractal
because it´s not possible to create with other kinds of images
maybe some paintings which have something in common with fractals.
Every good fractal has a certain "Rhythm" and clearly defined
colours and areas. Jim´s FOTD´s prove that very clearly. That´s
why the first image used is one of his.In order to transform these
elements I use an IFS fractal that covers these areas.
:
In the long process of creating my Multifractal Project, that never
would have finished without the help of the community I had contact
with most of the people you mentioned. On Sylvie´s homepage is a
collection of Multifractal images.Talking about the eightees: I
published an assembler program for the AtariXL "Instant Music", the
title has been stolen by the music industry, that created and plaid
music using random generators, feedback and composition rules and
had one thing in common with my fractal music: The music gets better
the longer it lasts. On startup all voices play simultaneously, the
more they diverge , the better is the adaptation to the source.
If you listen to the melodic version you will notice that after about
5 minutes there is a noticeable change of quality, now you know why.
:
Shifting melodies: Thought I had invented the expression and therefore
put it in quotation marks, anyway the meaning is different from other
uses: Caused by the shifting rhythm the melodic structures change
completely so they cannot be recognized anymore.
:
The precise description of my kind of a shifting rhythm remains my
secret sofar. A rhythm that does not repeat even after a very long
time of playing IS something new. Correct me if I´m wrong. If there
is interest send a private email.
:
I would like to know what others have to say about this - everybody
has feelings about music and after all: This is what a forum is for.
:
Albrecht

Am 15.09.2013 00:21, schrieb Bill Jemison:
Ok Al, I'll rise to the bait. And lots of chum has indeed been thrown in. Because I am right at the beginning of my busy season, I will not be able to reply with the detail that I would like, so for the moment I will not address the real question: whether your creations are even fractal or not. Do they sound fractal? I guess that's in the ear of the listener. To me, fractals are not boring.

As you point out, mapping images to sound is not at all a new concept. It has been done since the '90's if I recall. And "shifting melodies" is a technique that has been used in electronic music for some time as well. Have you tried mapping your music to a non-fractal image? I have a feeling that the results would be indistinguishable as to which was from a fractal image and which was from an image of, say, the Eiffel Tower (assuming you run both images through the exact same process). I'm not saying they would sound the same, but I think one might be hard pressed to say which is which (fractal vs. non-fractal).

I remember when we emailed back and forth a few times about a year ago when you were already doing your project. However, I am wondering just where you get the idea that yours is the only fractal music project worthy of the name? And you actually post that assertion here - on the fractint list? That takes a bit of chutzpah in my opinion, and was obviously intended to provoke a comment or two. I suppose you weren't around the Fractint environment back in the late 80's and through the 90's. Did you ever hear of Tim Wegner? Jonathan Osuch? Robin Bussell? Sylvie Gallet? Of course, Tim started it all, with his dream of introducing the beauty and complexity of fractals to the visually impaired. And in my mind, he succeeded. IMO, your creations, at least those that I have heard, don't come close to that success, and in that respect, Tim deserves credit for the the greatest Fractal Music Project of all time. Just my opinion of course, but it was Tim who saw the potential of using fractal formulae (not pretty - or otherwise - pictures) to create sound. That is what his project was about. Apparently, you have chosen a different path.That is fine, but beware inviting comparisons.

So...ignoring my own caution, today I created an Audio Fractals site on google sites and uploaded an mp3 I originally recorded in '94 or thereabouts. Taiko drums and cowbell are the instruments. The original midi file was created using raw Fractint data output, which was converted to midi format by me. "MOVMNT14" has since been renamed, but this is the original. All the timings were generated within fractint. There are three notes added at the end as a tribute to Fractint. If anyone cares to listen to it here is the url: