Photo courtesy of Kenji Kojima

January 9th, 2010 - The idea of using pictures to generate musical values isn’t a new one, but Kenji Kojima’s RGB MusicLab goes about it a slightly different way. By analyzing the RGB values of a photo, notes are generated in a linear and predictable pattern. They are sequenced in order going from left to right, top to bottom, and the user can choose instrumentation and granularity, among other parameters.

Check out the video below for a demo of how it works. It’s available for OSX and Windows for free on Kenji’s site.

Kenji Kojima / RGB MusicLab via Lifehacker

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 3:50 pm.
Categories: Asides, Software Review.

3 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. James Lewin

    RGB is definitely worth checking out, if you’re into the ideas of generative music, found sound or aleatory music.

    I gave it a try with a variety of photos. Here’s a link to the test with a Megan Fox photo.

    Different photos create widely different results. The Megan Fox photo didn’t sound better than other images I tried. Each photo, though, results in music with a unique character. Monochromatic photos, for example, sound different than colorful or high-contrast photos.

    You can also tweak the scales use, instruments, etc.

    I’d be interested in hearing what others come up with.

    Jan 9th, 2010

  2. Sean

    @James Lewin: That Megan Fox song was pretty amazing…there’s actual depth and layers created from the photo. Very cool!

    Jan 9th, 2010

  3. James Lewin

    Sean – I’m planning on playing around with it more, using different scales and types of photos. It seems like it could be used for creating ambient textures that are unplanned but that also have an organic feel.

    Jan 10th, 2010

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