Melisma Stochastic Melody Generator

Designed by David Temperley / Web interface by Daniel Sleator

The Melisma Stochastic Melody Generator is a computer program that generates original melodies using stochastic (i.e. partly random) processes. From this site, you can generate a melody using parameters of your own choosing; the melody will be returned to you in the form of a midifile, which will then be played on your computer.

The MSMG is not designed to produce great art or number-one hits. Rather, it is intended as a way of testing and experimenting with certain basic constraints and principles that may operate in the way melodies are constructed and perceived. To learn more about this (and to try some fun experiments), click on one of the links below. (The MSMG incorporates some of the same principles used by the Melisma Music Analyzer for analyzing music, and explored in David Temperley's book The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures.)

Enter the parameters you want in the boxes below, then hit the "Generate Melody" button. The values currently in the boxes are "default" parameters, which have been found to lead to good results. The allowable range for each parameter is shown below the box. If the range numbers are shown with decimals ("0.0, 1.0"), real numbers are allowed; if shown without ("0, 1"), then only integers are allowed. If an entered parameter value is illegal (outside the range, or a real number entered for an integer parameter), it will be adjusted to the nearest allowable value.

