- Intro -

My original compositions presented on this webpage are a personal journey into the diversity of today's music styles. Some of them are inspired byalgorithmiccomposition software. «Why Algorithms?» one might ask. Well, I don't know, perhaps my therapist could tell :-) All I can tell you is that it was (and is) fun to work with generative music composition tools like MusiNum, Improvise or Tangent. I don't know if they can teach you anything about composition, but the way you are using them surely tells you a lot about yourself (if you are able and willing to control yourself while working).

This page started in the year 2000 as a pure "algorithmic" project which meant that all musical output was more or less co-generated by generative composition software. The page contained only Standard MIDI Files for Roland's SoundCanvas SC-88 Pro MIDI Sound Generator.

During the year 2002, I felt it was time to go further and I began to compose "manually" (like I did in the 1980s), recording hand-played music from a MIDI keyboard into a sequencer. Apart from this, I had to admit that the MIDI-only release format drastically limited the amount of people that were able to listen to my work properly. So, I decided to publish the music also in digital audio formats (MP3, Ogg).

Since November 2009 I am also using Virtual Instruments of the Vienna Symphonic Library to realize my compositions. Sorry, you have to own them yourself to listen :-(

Meanwhile, I try to keep a peaceful co-existence of traditional and generative composition methods. The only important thing when composing music is that you have to feel you express yourself.

The Glossary contains brief explanations of some technical terms used throughout this site.

The commented MIDI Links page contains my personal experiences wth Algorithmic MIDI Composition Software, MIDI Utilites and MIDI Players. It also links to some Essays on MIDI & related issues and lists a few Contemporary Music composers using MIDI. Finally, it recommends several online sources for Original MIDI Data.

If you have diffculties with downloading or processing my files, consult the Help page first.

Eibelstadt, Germany, 2010-01-10

Stefan Hetzel