Software in this category are no longer available (at least I couldn’t find them) or don’t run on Windows 10 or later. If you have a computer running an older Windows flavor (pre-Windows 7), you may be able to use them… granted that you find them first. The following notes are as old as the software they describe. Do not take them as current and valid, except when they indicate the program no longer runs on Windows or is no longer available. camusCellular Automata Music Generator (CAMUS) ~ v2.0 OS: Win9x/Me author: Glasgow University Centre for Music Technology, Tim Conrardy. url: http://tamw.atari-users.net (broken) CAMUS is based on a program originally created by Eduardo Reck Miranda in 1991 for the Atari computer. This Win9x version employs the cellular automata algorithm to generate musical notes using two parallel windows: the Game of Life, and the Demon Cyclic Space. The software is no longer available (Mr. Conrardy, its maintainer, passed away in 2009). Last revision: 1997.
Fractal HarmoniesFractal Harmonies ~ v1.1 OS: Win9x/Me/NT/2000 author: Stefanie Blain and Jason Montojo url: n/a Fractal Harmonies combines image creation with music composition in a very easy way. It can compose musical tunes from Mandelbrot and Julia set fractals. It comes with several tools and options to control your compositions. Both the melody and the image can be saved. It seems it’s no longer available. Last revision: 15 March 2000.
Fractal Music ~ v1.9 OS: Win9x/Me author: David H. Singer url: n/a The Fractal Music combines Lindenmayer System fractals with Cellular Automata to compose 5-voice fractal music. You can select note durational patterns, scales and subset of the scale, and control how CA cell-state changes map to MIDI events. Last revision: 2000.
Gingerbread Gingerbread ~ v2.0/3.0 OS: Win9x/Me/NT/XP/Vista author: Phil Thompson url: n/a Once again, Phil is offering his old fractal music software collection “as is”: he will no longer give support, so users will download, install and use at their own risk. Available are two versions of Gingerbread (2.0 and 3.0). According to many fractal music experts, Gingerbread is one of the most (if not the most) powerful fractal music generation software ever created. Version 2.0 requires a freely available registration code (visit Phil’s web site, fractalmusician.com, to get it), while version 3.0 requires no registration at all. NOTE: Those were my original notes, current until 2006. Right now, only Gingerbread 2.0 is still available (use this url). Alas, it’s not compatible with Window 10. Last revision: 2002.
LMUSe ~ v0.7b OS: DOS/JAVA author: David Sharp url: http://www.oocities.org (broken) LMUSe converts L System fractals into musical compositions. Both images (GIF) and sound (MID or parameters) can be saved. It is designed for DOS, but will run on Windows 9x without any problem. Actually, it’s one of the most user-friendly DOS programs I’ve seen. There’s also a new Java version on its web site, with some improvements. This last one requires the Java 1.3 JRE (or later) installed on your system (available separately from www.sun.com or some other jave-enable software). Last revision: 24 December 1998 / 22 June 2001.
camusMake Prime Music 98 ~ v1.1.3.2b OS: DOS author: Armand Turpel url: n/a This program creates midi files from prime numbers. Just input a prime number and a new MIDI file will be automatically created and saved to your hard disk or wherever you installed the program. You can change some parameter values (tempo, volume, size, note range, method, instruments and some more) modifying the mpmusic.ini file. Run in a windowed DOS session. Last revision: 1998.
Mandelbrot Music ProgramMandelbrot Music Program OS: Win9x/Me/NT author: Yo Kubota url: n/a Explore the Mandelbrot set while the iteration values are transformed into music by a composition rule. MIDI files and their corresponding ini files (where parameter values are stored) are automatically saved every time you compose a new melody. 16-bit and 32-bit versions available. Last revision: 22 February 1999.
Project OblivionProject Oblivion ~ v1.27a OS: Win9x/Me author: Tom url: n/a Oblivion uses various random number algorithms and attempts to pull from a collection of random numbers musical sounds to make its compositions. The resulting files can be saved as MIDI and .obv format. You can also modify several options available directly from the main screen. Last revision: 25 March 1999.
Quasi Fractal Composer Quasi Fractal Composer ~ v2.01 OS: Win9x/Me/Vista author: Paul Whalley url: http://members.tripod.com This is another interesting algorithmic music generator full of surprises. It is similar to MusiNum, but with one single interface. It has several saving options (for midi, scale, orchestration and composition). Last revision: 28 May 1999.
Venharis ~ v1.0 OS: Win98/Me/WinXP author: Phil Thompson url: n/a Combining a gaming interface with a powerful fractal music generator, expect the unexpected with this software, since its interface is very unique. It’s not plain software; it’s an interactive experience that would let you create some fractal compositions while you experiment with it. Requires a 3D video card and DirectX 7.0 or later. Last revision: November 2002.
Well-Tempered Fractals ~ v3.0 OS: DOS author: Robert Greenhouse url: http://www.hiddendimension.com (broken) This program composes musical melodies by mapping fractal images to musical scales. Ten different fractal types, including Julia, Hopalon, KAM Torus, Chevychev, Ikeda and Mira, may be mapped to twenty-one different musical scales. Twenty symmetry operators may be applied to the image as it is plotted. The output may be directly heard or written to a MIDI file. Runs quite well in Win9x (DOS full screen). Alternate site. Last revision: 17 July 1995.
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