createAlbum(“Piano II”); is the third album from Music Non Stop, of whom I’m a member, and the result of a year’s development with our generative Music Engine, applied to some of the world’s best digital piano software and hardware. Unlike Al-driven systems, this approach offers real-time control of hand-coded algorithms. The album features expressive, evolving piano compositions created through the interplay of algorithm and human interaction. Each work on the album runs infinitely, but is manually ended to create a track for the album, and when generating can be influenced by human input or left to evolve autonomously.
We used some of the most iconic and characterful digital pianos and piano software available today. From the physical modelling of Pianoteq and Arturia’s Piano V, to the the lush textures of Keyscape, to the deep sample libraries of East West and the distinctive sound of Roland and Yamaha hardware — each instrument brought something unique to the generative process. These tools weren’t just sources of sound; they helped us refine our algorithm to be as musical and expressive as possible.
The album uses algorithmic composition techniques I’ve accumulated over the years, coded in JavaScript and sent via MIDI to various digital pianos. This is the second generative piano album we’ve released. In Piano II, we explored a range of different digital pianos and matched the characteristics of each composition with the tone and character of a particular piano. All tracks on the album are unedited real-time single takes from the same generative engine using different starting parameters.
Listen to createAlbum(“Piano II”) on your favourite streaming services
I’ve recorded some video’s with reflections on tracks from the album that provide some insight into the inspirations, the approaches used, and aesthetic and technical outcomes achieved.