Thursday, July 11, 2013

Synthetic Creations of the Human Mind: Z-Machines in Tokyo

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Mach, Ashura, and Cosmo are creations by Zima, a Japanese alcoholic beverage brand, as part of a new advertising campaign. The band performed their debut piece Monday, "Post People, Post Party," composed by Tokyo-based DJ Tasaka. DJ Tasaka says he had originally written a disco-electro type song before seeing how technically sophisticated the robots were. After that he said he wrote “a new song, [which was] much more complicated…but then they were able to play it." DJ Tasaka says the three robots in Z-Machines have the ability to create sounds that are impossible for three human musicians to mimic. But why?

Mach, the guitar robot, has 78 fingers using 12 picks and Ashura, the drum robot, plays 22 drums with six arms. Cosmo, the keyboard robot, was designed separately by Yoichiro Kawaguchi, an artist and professor at Tokyo University. He’s the only robot out of the three that is electrically hard wired to the keyboard. As long as the human musicians do not also possess the same qualities these robot musicians possess, then they will most certainly not be able to perform as these robots can. These details raise 2 very interesting ideas concerning the relationship between human anatomy, creativity, and the nature of art.

As discussed in earlier articles, creativity is simply the ability translate artistic ideas into physical or intellectual products via technical skill. But what if technical skill is limited by anatomy or anatomy expands technical skill? What I mean by this is what if an artist’s imagination is so great that human anatomy acts as a liability or barrier to communicating those ideas easily or clearly. What comes to mind in regard to this notion is a scene in the movie Gattaca where a 12-fingered pianist performs a piece of music written specifically for a performer with 12 fingers (6 fingers per hand). Obviously, when a musician with only 10 fingers tries to perform “Impromptu for 12 Fingers” he or she will surely fail. However, the only way for them to play the piece in any manner whatsoever is to make compromises such as altering harmonic structures (changing the voicing or size of notes within the chords), re-phrasing melodies, and possibly even simplifying rhythmic patterns.

This is just a small physical difference between 2 human beings, but in the case of comparison between a 10 or 12 fingered musicians and a 78 fingered robot, the compositional possibilities become immense. The music of each class of performer becomes extremely unique to humans and robots, but it all is based on differences in anatomy – 10 fingers vs. 78 fingers – and what each musician is capable of anatomically performing.

The other idea that was seeded in this press release was related to creativity and the nature of art. To begin the discussion I’d like to pose 2 questions:

(1)   Are we robots if we use computers to create music?

To the first question, my answer is no with a caveat. So ‘no’ we are not robots, however, we can allow ourselves to perform music robotically. (It’s actually quite ironic that we use the term “robotic” to refer to mental laziness because computers work so hard processing the information that’s programmed into them.) The reason why I’m answering in such a confusing manner has nothing to do with computers, but everything to do with faithful reproductions in music performances and recordings. Sometimes music performances of composed works can seem like a robotic reproduction or performance of music, especially when that music has been performed dozens, hundreds, if not, thousands of times. Many pop stars I’m sure get sick of hearing their own material night after night. After touring for many months, performing the same pieces has to get irritating and some performances are likely to be robot-like – just going through the motions. Similarly, modern classical composers must also find it strange that orchestras around the world want to perform their old, beloved pieces for new audiences or to update the sound quality for a recording. New renditions will inevitably fall flat because the conductors and musicians will carry on a music tradition (or bias) that cannot allow too much deviation from old versions of performances and recordings.

And…

(2)  Can what a robot plays, when it’s programmed to perform, be considered music?

Computers are not intelligent life forms, but rather are intelligent tools built to mimic the functions of the human mind. At the moment there is no artistic spark inherent in a robot or computer, which is capable of self-generated creative thinking. Therefore, every product generated by a human being operating a computer is a human product no matter how unnatural the product is. The product will be a synthetic creation of the human mind.

In music, there is as of yet no ‘Hit’ button for the instant production of hit singles on any synthesizer or music recording software that I’m aware of. Music is an artificial construct of intelligent life delineated by the orderly or deliberate arrangement of sound in time. What makes a piece of music uniquely human is not in the process of transmission, but instead in the very act of creation itself. The fact that it was created is what makes it human and not how it is communicated through or to others. Therefore, whether a music prodigy performs the notes on a music score robotically or if a trio of robots has been programmed to perform a difficult piece of music composed by a human being, what the music prodigy and the robot trio do are one and the same. So yes, when a robot is programmed to perform what it plays is music.

[Prediction: On the day when robots are capable of interpreting the symbols in a musical score and translating those symbols into live action on musical instruments, the differences between a human musician and a robot will quickly become undetectable and the new focus will center on the dimension of ‘feeling’ or injecting emotion into a piece of music.]

God’s Hands: Impromptu for 12 Fingers

I’m sure many of you have heard of the movie Gattaca and some of you may even have seen the movie. Here’s a brief video to illustrate what I mentioned earlier about music written specifically for a 12-fingered pianist. The piece was composed by Michael Nyman, a wonderful British minimalist who often writes for film. His accomplishments include writing beautiful music for the film “The Piano,” one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.



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Related Music:

Automaton

Mystery Meat
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Related articles:

The Perfect Partner: The Artist's Role in the Creation and Construction of Artificial Human Companions


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Marc




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