Systems music is an idea that explores the following question: What if we could, instead of making music, design systems that generate music for us?

This idea has animated artists and composers for a long time and emerges in new forms whenever new technologies are adopted in music-making.

In the 1960s and 70s there was a particularly fruitful period. People like Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, and Brian Eno designed systems that resulted in many landmark works of minimal and amb...