Summary: A Generative Music Composition Tool / Instrument
Abstract: flickRadio is a generative music composition tool / instrument that generates music from flickr photos/groups.
Repository: https://github.com/johnozbay/iacd/tree/master/flickRadio
flickRadio is a generative music composition tool, an instrument.
It is a Processing sketch to generate OSC Notes / Music from flickr photos. In order to start generating music, all you have to do is to provide a flickr group ID, and voila! It pulls all the images from flickr, and spits OSC Notes out. Later, you can use the provided OSCulator preset to make music.
First, it takes the average R G B values and the average brightness of a photo. Then, it uses the average red value to generate the first note of the chord, blue to generate the second note of the chord, and green the third. The average brightness of the photo defines the key note. The reason green is not assigned to the second note, is because the second note of the chord pretty much defines the chord, and the color green is widely present in daytime photos (grass, trees etc.) and missing in night photos.
The sounds and instruments used in the video are from Logic Pro, and not related to the sketch. Different combinations of instruments and sounds can easily be used and because of this, the sonic options are endless. Different songs, mixes and textures can easily be achieved by changing the instruments or re-assigning the OSC signals to different notes or to different parameters.
Also, the song, the key, and the progression will change with different sets of pictures, so it’s really hard to hear the same song again. (unless someone’s re-sharing the photos on flickr)
I’ll be working on new songs/sounds on a regular basis, and I’ll update this page, add a couple of the songs here soon, but most of them, especially the super-experimental ones will be on my website, so for more details, and experimental sounds, please visit my website.