What happens when I press a button for a particular style?
WolframTones searches the computational universe for a composition
that fits the target style you've
specified. You'll usually get something different every time
you press the button. Go on until you find what you like.
Why doesn't my composition sound like the style I asked for?
WolframTones works by selecting compositions from
the computational universe according to various criteria. In order
not to "stifle its creativity," we've often made those criteria quite loose. So that means you might well hear
something "on the edge." And not everything out there in the computational universe
will be perceived as corresponding to any existing traditional musical style.
It may be something completely new.
Why isn't my favorite style listed?
The computational universe is very large, and we're still exploring what
styles WolframTones can produce. Let us
know
if you find ones we haven't listed. If you're looking for music characteristic of a particular culture or part of the
world, a first step is to pick Instrumentation and Pitch
Mapping that's used there.
What is Signalling?
It's a style that gives "signalling tones" rather than
traditional kinds of music. They're mostly simpler in structure than music--and shorter. When
you install one as a ringtone, your phone will automatically repeat it.
What does Show Variations do?
It shows images for five compositions derived by making increasing
changes to the Seed and Rule used to
generate them. Click on an image to make
it the next composition. The variations don't change the Instruments,
Scale, Tempo, etc.
With experience, you
should be able to guess from the images which variations you'll like.
How can I go back to a previous composition?
Click the Previous button at the top. (If you stay within a single type of control, the Back button on
your browser should also work.)
What does Toggle Display do?
Press it and see. (It's located at the top right of the page.)
It lets you specify what kind of images you want. There are three choices.
What do the Generator controls do?
They let you determine what program will be used to generate a
composition. (See How WolframTones Works.) The program is specified by the triple of numbers Type.Rule.Seed, which in effect give "coordinates"
in the infinite-dimensional computational universe. Lots of different things can happen as one changes these numbers; figuring this out is part of the emerging area of science at the core of A New
Kind of Science.
How can I tell what a particular control does?
Just click on its name to see more information. There's also a complete list of all composition controls.
What does Show Evolution do?
It makes a high-resolution picture of the complete cellular
automaton evolution pop up in a separate window. The evolution is shown going down
the page. To give a more global view, longer initial conditions are used
than for actually generating the composition. After a while, you'll be able to
guess a lot about the music by looking at the evolution.
Click anywhere to make the pop-up go away.
How long can my WolframTones compositions be?
Although the WolframTones algorithms
allow compositions of any length, this website currently imposes a
300-second limit. The default length is 30 seconds, which can be
changed via the composition's duration setting.
List of All Composition Controls >>
Main FAQs
Page >>
