Toward User-Directed Evolution of Sound Synthesis Parameters

Experiments are described which use genetic algorithms operating on the parameter settings of an FM synthesizer, with the aim of mimicking known synthesized sounds. The work is considered as a precursor to the development of synthesis plug-ins using evolution directed by a user. Attention is focussed on the fitness functions used to drive the evolution: the main result is that a composite fitness function – based on a combination of perceptual measures, spectral analysis, and low-level sample-by-sample comparison – drives more successful evolution than fitness functions which use only one of these types of criterion.