New Strategies for Computer-Assisted Composition Software: A Perspective

Abstract : The most prominent problem of designing a computer-assisted composition system lies in the fact that composers do not have a common way of expressing themselves. Hence there is a tension between the composers themselves and the software they use, which usually relies on a specific grammar and may implicitly assume a specific way of composing. Moreover, the many formats for music representation that can be used in a composition environment produce another difficulty for the designer, who must deal with a large number of heterogeneous and unpredictable formats. We believe that computer-assisted composition systems can overcome these difficulties by placing more emphasis on rich representations of electroacoustic music. An object architecture for achieving this is described.