Creative Autonomy in a Simple Interactive Music System

Interactive music systems always exhibit an amount of autonomy in the creative process. The capacity to generate material that is primary, contextual and novel to the outcome is proposed here as the bare minimum for creative autonomy in these systems. Assumptions are evaluated using Video Interactive VST Orchestra, a system that generates music through sound processing in interplay with a user. The system accepts audio and video live inputs — a camera and a microphone that capture the interplay of a musician, typically. Mapping of the variance in the musician’s physical motion to the sound processing allows identifying salience in the interaction and the system as autonomous. A case study is presented to provide evidence of creative autonomy in this simple, yet highly effective system.