Interactive Swarm Orchestra an Artificial Life Approach to Computer Music

The project Interactive Swarm Orchestra (ISO) employs swarm algorithms to create computer music. The project tries to highlight some of the potentials that Artificial Life provides for computer music. The project is motivated by the assumption that Artificial Life and computer music are related disciplines that benefit from a practical and conceptual exchange. In particular, the authors believe that simulations of life-like systems can help to address some of the fundamental challenges of musical creation and performance. This paper elucidates the rationale behind these assumptions. A first practical result of the ISO project consists of a series of programming libraries that are intended to aid in the development of swarm-based computer music. This paper outlines some of the libraries' design considerations with respect to the intended goal of supporting the creation of interesting forms of swarm-based computer music.