Enchanted Algorithms – 2025

The “Enchanted Algorithms” project is the result of collaboration between the creation and execution of generative algorithms and a human composer’s sensibilities. The computer essentially functions as an extension of the composer’s mind. Considering this, a phenomenon commonly experienced throughout this process is that of “emergence”. Here, complex computational algorithms, conducive to creating outputs greater than the sums of their inputs, provide a quest for the quintessential and elusive “ghosts in the machine” Isaac Asimov so eloquently elucidated.

There are instances during which the instantiation of these generative algorithms produces outputs that are decidedly flat and lifeless. Conversely, there are others in which the output is surprisingly beautiful, elegant, novel and even uniquely emotive. When the latter occurs, it often continues from the moment of instantiation of the algorithms until their termination… perhaps hours later. These are extremely interesting and essentially inexplicable outcroppings of the processes involved. As a life-long miner for this quality of “emergent quanta”, these occurrences are reveled in, recorded, and eventually edited into musical compositions. Such quanta are advanced, groundbreaking, and evocative for those with ears to listen deeply and with minds to listen openly. Straightforwardly put, they would not and could not exist without this human/computer interaction.

It is perhaps fanciful to term such algorithms “enchanted”. However, though the composer designed them, such emergent results of broadly conceived generative algorithms are often indiscernible and can seem almost magical. This perspective probably falls under the auspices of human perception as described in a well-known quote by Arthur C. Clarke; “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” As the world is widely embracing complex generative computational learning systems it is prudent to maintain a modicum of perspective, lest we anthropomorphize them.

So, enjoy these compositions as an evolutionary leap in the areas of theoretical praxes in musical composition, performance, and listening… one timely suited to our current, and historically unprecedented, digitally based cognitive abilities and foci.

Thank you for listening!