One of the best and more recent books on the subject of algorithmic composition. It looks at non-application specific techniques and shows the reader how to code up some examples of the ideas presented in Lisp. A Lisp tutorial is presented in the first half of the book.

The first full-length book to explore the application of probabilistic techniques to musical issues--includes a concise survey of probability theory, with simple examples and a discussion of its application in other domains. Temperley relies most heavily on a Bayesian approach.

Before learning about algorithmic composition, you need a firm foundation in basic music composition. This is a step-by-step guide to writing music, this book shows musicians how to compose simple chord progressions and melodies, and leads them through more advanced compositional techniques and musical forms.

Below the level of the musical note lies the realm of microsound, of sound particles lasting less than one-tenth of a second. Contains a CD of samples of the author's work.

David Cope wrote programs SARA and EMI for algorithmic composition. This book explains the algorithms of those programs.

In order to compose interactive music you will need to know how to modify your computer to set it up for this use. This book is a good place to start.

Talks about nonlinear systems conversationally versus the very mathematical and applied tone of the previous item.

central ideas & concepts of chaos& fractals as well as many related topics including: the Mandelbrot set, Julia sets, cellular automata, L-systems, percolation & strange attractors. Examples in Java.

An old book that has plenty of good examples and really explains neural networks. Not for the mathematically challenged.

A good second book to get on the subject. It has many worked examples, all done in LISP. More of a reference than a tutorial.

This concept from bioinformatics relating to data organization also has some use in music. Accompanies material in the "Nonlinear Workbook".

A broad introduction to wavelets. Good for getting a picture of why you'd want to use this, but you'll need more to learn how to use wavelets.

A good intro book on Fuzzy Logic with plenty of examples. Very readable.

26 contributions about musical composition, analysis, performance, perception, learning & tutoring. The goal is discovering how these activities are interpreted, understood, & modeled by programs.

Cope's latest work asks if computers think. This is the theory behind any answers to that question.