Calliope: An Online Generative Music System for Symbolic Multi-Track Composition
Renaud Bougueng Tchemeube, Jeff Ens, Philippe Pasquier
TL;DR
Calliope tackles co-creative, symbolic multi-track music composition by providing a web-based interface that exposes a Transformer-based Multi-Track Music Machine (MMM) trained on about half a million MIDI files. The system supports in-browser MIDI viewing, bar-based conditioning, per-track and global generative controls, batch generation, and the ability to stream generated MIDI to DAWs for live workflow integration. It introduces a ranking mechanism to compare generated outputs and a feedback loop that allows seed-based iterative creation, enabling flexible co-creative workflows. The platform aims to democratize access to advanced generative tools while enabling practical integration into existing production pipelines.
Abstract
With the rise of artificial intelligence in recent years, there has been a rapid increase in its application towards creative domains, including music. There exist many systems built that apply machine learning approaches to the problem of computer-assisted music composition (CAC). Calliope is a web application that assists users in performing a variety of multi-track composition tasks in the symbolic domain. The user can upload (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) MIDI files, visualize and edit MIDI tracks, and generate partial (via bar in-filling) or complete multi-track content using the Multi-Track Music Machine (MMM). Generation of new MIDI excerpts can be done in batch and can be combined with active playback listening for an enhanced assisted-composition workflow. The user can export generated MIDI materials or directly stream MIDI playback from the system to their favorite Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). We present a demonstration of the system, its features, generative parameters and describe the co-creative workflows that it affords.