Record everyday sounds and turn them into music. A software prototype developed through undergraduate design research at Chiba University.
AutoVersion explores the distance between listening to music and making it. Created by Tadahiko Sakamaki for his undergraduate design research at Chiba University, it proposes a way into composition that begins with the sounds of everyday objects, without requiring instrumental skills or music theory.
The project takes everyday sounds through a microphone, records them automatically and uses an automatic composition system to arrange them. Inspired by music made from non-instrumental sounds in films and commercials, it places the experience of hearing one’s own sounds become music ahead of learning a complex production workflow. Editing is provided as a secondary way to intervene.
Its phrase construction combines fully random generation and random selection. The system links audio input and automatic level adjustment with sound classification, phrase patterns, duration controls, mixing and song output. Because the source material does not necessarily have a clear pitch, the proposal focuses on patterns, duration and layers rather than melody alone.
The interface shown here comes directly from the graduation research summary. A compact control window provides playback and recording commands, while a detailed window exposes tempo and phrase construction. The two screens turn an idea about everyday sound into a tangible software prototype.
In 2002, the work received the Sound & Recording Magazine Prize in the Art division of the original patch contest held to mark the publication of Trans Max Express. The results were published in Sound & Recording Magazine’s May 2002 issue.