Radio Times

Review by:

Laurence Joyce

For years now, computers have been able to compose music. The basics are easy — just set up a few parameters of time and pitch and you’re away. But can the resultant sounds evolve along Darwinian lines into a popular song?

That’s what the experiment described in this programme is attempting, with the help of some clever digital sampling technology. However, the use of Darwin’s name is misleading because the survival of the fittest is decided here not so much by spontaneous mutation as by human aesthetic preferences. Could it work? Should Irving Berlin and Ivor Novello be turning in their graves?

Not just yet, I fancy.

About this programme

To find out whether Darwin's theory of natural selection can be used to analyse evolving musical tastes in a world of digital sampling, the programme meets scientists who have designed an experiment to see if they can create the perfect song by asking individuals to identify which tunes survive and reproduce to create new melodies and which ones die out.

Cast and crew

Crew

Producer

Ania Lichtarowicz

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