Kircher’s Mechanical Composer: A Software Implementation

Year: 2009 Authors: Jim Bumgardner

Core claim

Kircher’s mechanical method for non-musicians can be recreated in software to generate large quantities of 17th-century-style polyphony.

Topics

algorithmic composition, baroque polyphony, software implementation, Athanasius Kircher, music notation

Domains

combinatorics, algorithmic processes, number-to-pitch mapping, music, digital art, historical reconstruction, notation software

Methods

table transcription, software implementation, randomized selection, ABC notation output

Media

Perl software, ABC notation, MIDI, printed scores

Source status

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