Music Tool from St. Polten University of Applied Sciences Strikes the Right Chord

VIENNA, AUSTRALIA, February 13, 2011 (Press-News.org) Compose your own film music quickly, without going over budget? With GeMMA, an innovative music tool developed by St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, this is no longer an idle dream. After just twelve months' intensive research this unique software designed to help budding composers is already in the development phase. It harnesses intelligent algorithms to make up for a lack of the complex musical skills required for creative composition. The software will mainly benefit small film companies and low budget productions, giving them the opportunity to strike a professional note without significant financial outlays, and enabling them to measure up to the big players in the business.

A frantic chase in an action thriller, accompanied by a dramatic surge in the music and a tumultuous score - where would an exciting film be without this type of background music? It takes the right sound to arouse the strongest emotions in the audience. And this is why filmmakers go to great lengths to compose the perfect background music for their productions - and sometimes spend large sums of money in the process. Small film studios, however, are often unable to afford such expenditures. This does not mean, however, that they are forced to make do with unimaginative and often cliched scores from free music databases. Thanks to research conducted by St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, a software programme, known as GeMMA (Generative Music for Media Applications), is now available for the production of media music and can play all the tunes.

A little bit more cheerful
"After a year of extensive research we are now able to present initial positive results which meet the professional requirements for creative composition", as project manager, Prof. Hannes Raffaseder, Director of the Institute for Media Production at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences states. "Thanks to GeMMA software, in future it will no longer be necessary to have great musical talent or acquire difficult specialist knowledge. A lot of it is already in the software, meaning that a new and individual piece of music can be created on the basis of a few individual decisions." The first thing is to select the instruments, such as brass, for example. Then the desired musical scale must be chosen, followed by the tune and rhythm. If the end result still doesn't fit the purpose, all the decisions taken can be tracked and changed to suit individual requirements. A reference piece may also be defined as a basis for the new tune. This piece can be input into the system and then be creatively adapted to personal concepts. Something that can be realised, for example,with the aid of semantic parameters: with just a few clicks the music can be made more sorrowful, more cheerful, or more exciting and dramatic.

Well-tempered mathematics
Extensive research had to be conducted before these semantic parameters could be used to change music, as Prof. Raffaseder explains: "Using a socio-cultural approach, we began by analysing and assessing 400 films, the function of the films' music and the significance it imparts. We subsequently asked ourselves how music actually arouses specific emotions. We wanted to find out how strongly these emotions can be influenced by the individual parameters of the music." Listener tests revealed a strong correlation between high sound intensity and rapid tempo, and a general energised feeling. We also discovered an association between high, consonant sounds and rapid sequences of notes with a cheerful mood, which was, however, much less pronounced. The next stage involved associating the instruments used in the background music with the film's storyline. It soon became clear that guitars, tambourines and songs tended to be used in social scenes, for example, whereas violins and trumpets were more likely to accompany accidents. Brass instruments are typically used in violent scenes. The analysis therefore essentially confirmed more or less well-known cliches about film music. The St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences research team is currently trying to incorporate these results in special calculation procedures and intelligent algorithms which form the basis of (semi)automaticcomposing with GeMMA. The initial results obtained are extremely promising. Obviously, whether to opt for tried and tested, well-known patterns or to consciously break with cliches will still be a personal decision.

Judging from the positive reaction at international symposiums there is likely to be an extremely wide range of uses for the innovative project results. A prototype is to be developed commercially with high-profile partners in 2012. Parts of the GeMMA software are being made available to the scientific community under an open source licence. This is testimony to the effective, application-oriented research work being conducted at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. Their work on converting knowledge into pioneering innovations has recently been honoured by no less than the COIN (Cooperation & Innovation) development programme of the Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency). COIN is a joint initiative of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit) and the Federal Ministry for the Economy and Employment (BMWA), which is providing its support for this project for its innovative achievements.

Link to GeMMA music sequence: http://gemma.fhstp.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/GeMMA_Example.mp3

About the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences
The St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences offers highly practice and performance oriented university courses in Technology, Business and Health & Social Sciences. It now has 14 degree programmes catering for over 1800 students. Apart from its teaching remit St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences is committed to an intensive research programme. Scientific work takes place within the study programmes and in dedicated institutes, in which hands-on, applied research projects are constantly being developed and implemented.


Press release available for download at: http://www.fhstp.ac.at/ueberuns/presse/presseaussendungen

Contact St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences:
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Hannes Raffaseder
FH-Vizerektor
Fachhochschule St. Pölten
Leiter Institut für Medienproduktion, Department IT & Media
Matthias Corvinus-Str. 15
3100 St. Pölten, Austria
T +43 / (0)2742 / 313 228 - 616
E hannes.raffaseder@fhstp.ac.at
W http://www.fhstp.ac.at

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