Man-Machine Synchronization with Antesco

Ensemble music is the result of a choreography of events and expectations in time. And the capacity for real-time synchronization and coordination is a common ability among trained musicians performing together a music score. But is a computer able to understand the dynamic of playing together? Parts of the answer are provided by Antescofo, a system that attempts to enable computer-human musical interactions in the context of mixed music, i.e. when humans and computers are performing together. Antescofo provides an abstract programmer's model for an artificial musician in an ensemble with musical real-time constraints. Antescofo ability to interact musically relies on a dedicated heterogenous model of time, that encompasses event-driven and time-driven specifications, absolute and relative time, and subjective and social time. This model of time makes possible the common understanding of the coordination required to take part in musical interactions, a first step in the development of a musical companionship and a practical experience in the possible sharing of time between man and computers.