Swarm Granulator

Abstract. This paper describes a Swarm Granulator, a new application of particle swarms to sound synthesis. Granulation, an established technique in sound synthesis, depends on many parameters which are non-intuitive and hard to control from a human perspective. It is proposed here that a particle swarm can organize these parameters and produce musically interesting and novel timbres. A crucial element of the system is the self-organization of grain parameters around attractors which themselves represent musical events and textures in an external environment. This means that Swarm Granulator is interactive, and not merely reactive.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: EVOW
• Authors: Tim Blackwell, Michael Young
• Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, EVOW 2004, Particle Swarm, Sound Synthesis, Swarm Granulator