Procedural audio creation in Houdini (or other generative music programs)

[Jaanus]

Hello,

I decided to have a go with this question. Anyway the basis is that in a video about learning Houdini, which for some reason I am not able to locate at the moment, it was almost casually noted that one of the talkers has used Houdini for generating music. In an imaginative fellow I sometimes tend to be, interested in weird new ways to use tools and, as perhaps Moritz from Entagma would say, abuse them, this small remark sparked huge ideas in my head about all the possibilities. I imagined an undiscovered area of Houdini, where You can do with notes, tones and audio samples similar things to what You can do with pixels, colors and points in a 3D space, in most other areas of Houdini. I imagined being able to place audio sources in 3D space, place microphones as You do cameras and run audio simulations where one sound (or a simulated band member) sends out audio waves and these react to the environment and preset material properties (audio waves reflect different from surfaces with different properties). One could make different sounding accoustic rooms, made of simulated wood, tin, or other materials, You can create sounds by making wind pass through tight areas in 3D space.

Obviously I was sure that it was quite inplausible that an area this complex could have been hidden in Houdini without getting much attention. Yes, indeed, I could find almost no other mention of using Houdini to generate music, atleast outside of Houdini docs, it is sometimes taught to be used to make things happen based on audiowaves (3d objects move, things change colour), but no tutorials in sight of building great node-based procedural audio generation trees with the output designed to be audio-files, rather than images. In Houdini docs however I have found tools that seem to be precisely meant for some such use.

The Beat CHOP:
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/chop/beat.html

The Record CHOP:

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/chop/record.html

The Spatial Audio CHOP:

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/chop/spatial.html

The Acoustic CHOP:
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/chop/acoustic.html

The Voice Split CHOP:
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/chop/voicesplit.html

The Voice Sync CHOP:
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/nodes/chop/voicesync.html


So, does anyone know of any tutorials on how to use Houdini in this way, or perhaps could hint at some programs, similar to Houdini (procedural, node-based), but aimed more specifically at dealing with audio?

Admittedly I know close to nothing about generating music on computers, the traditional way. Perhaps there are a lot of people making sound effects and music this way and it is a common practice, just haven't found a right way into that area of knowledge. I have found a post on Fractal Forums about some programs similar to what I'm hoping to find, however. Music generated this way seems to be called generative music.

http://www.fractalforums.com/fractal-music/fractal-and-generative-music-software-list/

So anyone share my enthusiasm for finding out ways to do something like that or have some knowledge to share on mentioned practices, other programs?

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by Jaanus

[ikoon]

Hello Jaanus,
maybe you mean Andrew Lowell, in this video? https://vimeo.com/286243655

Andrew wrote this book: Houdini Chops Book - Music, Animation and Sound

The book was here, but the url does not work now: http://www.andrew-lowell-productions.com/andrew-lowell-productions/resources.html

@andrewlowell please, is the book still available?

 

Another inspiration may be:

http://simonfarussell.com/Audio-Geometry-Exploration
https://vimeo.com/317941999
https://vimeo.com/28239261

Or google "two minute papers sound"

[Jaanus]

Thank You! I will go through what You have suggested. I have seen the linked panel aswell, didn't remember there being a mention of using Houdini for audio in this one, but perhaps I'm just misremembering and merging two different videos in my head. The video I thought it was in, doesn't seem to be the one, so perhaps this is indeed it. Anyway thank You!