Supporting Creative Composition: the FrameWorks Approach

We present a new system for music composition using structured sequences. FrameWorks has been developed on the basis of Task Analysis research studying composition processes and other user-centred design techniques. While the program only uses MIDI information, it can be seen as a ‘proof of concept’ for ideas generally applicable to the specification and manipulation of other music control data, be it raw audio, music notation or synthesis parameters. While this first implementation illustrates the basic premise, it already provides composers with an interesting and simple to use environment for exploring and testing musical ideas. Future research will develop the concept, in particular to enhance the scalability of the system.