conclusion-realtime · pachet2001-harmonization-constraints

The technical problem of four-voice harmonization may now be considered as solved, using constraint satisfaction techniques based on arc-consistency [...]. However, what remains unsolved is the problem of producing musically nice or interesting melodies. [...] In practice, there are a lot of synthesizers which propose basic harmonization features (such as one-touch chords on some electronic keyboards). These harmonizations are usually performed on a note-to-chord, reactive basis, i.e. without taking into account the context (preceding notes of the melody). Real time requirements forbid anyway the use of backtracking for such systems ! [...] several approaches in solving the harmonization problem using learning techniques such as neural networks have been proposed, for instance in (Hild et al., 1992), and shown to yield excellent results.