Molecular Music Generator

Browser based composition tool

The Molecular Music Generator (MMG) is a small application in which a set of variables can be defined. These describe the rules for a musical composition, which will be written into a MIDI file.

This MIDI file can subsequently be opened in a DAW or be fed to instruments to create music.

The variables are deterministic and will generate the same fixed outcome. However, tweaking these variables can make each composition highly unique.

Creative souls can open up the code and extend to create even more pleasing generators. Creative souls who aren't code savvy can still use the application to overcome writers block.

Duncan Lockerby's algorhitm

MMG uses an algorhitm to generate musical patterns. The algorithm was concocted by Duncan Lockerby, who named it "the Molecular Music Box". His algorithm defines a set of rules which determine the outcome of the composition.

For some in-depth explanation of these rules, you can watch this video.

But to sum them up:

• two different note lengths need to be defined, e.g. "4" and "3"
• a scale needs to be defined, e.g. C major (the white keys on a piano), let's say we start on the E note, the list of notes will then contain : E, F, G, A, B, C
• a pattern length needs to be defined, e.g. 4 bars