This paper explores the intersection of quantum computing and the Internet of Musical Things, a topic that hitherto has received little attention from scholars. The CubeHarmonic (CH) is a musical instrument based on the Rubik's cube. Here, we consider the case of three remote performers of CH that exchange over the network minimal information, as a string of probability amplitudes of performing specific rotations. The state of possible rotations are modeled as quantum states, and the actual decided moves as results of a quantum measurement. We propose a quantum circuit to help maximize the musical variety that can be obtained by three remote CH performers.
This paper explores the intersection of quantum computing and the Internet of Musical Things, a topic that hitherto has received little attention from scholars. The CubeHarmonic (CH) is a musical instrument based on the Rubik's cube. Here, we consider the case of three remote performers of CH that exchange over the network minimal information, as a string of probability amplitudes of performing specific rotations. The state of possible rotations are modeled as quantum states, and the actual decided moves as results of a quantum measurement. We propose a quantum circuit to help maximize the musical variety that can be obtained by three remote CH performers.
In recent years, quantum computing has emerged as the next frontier in computational and information technologies. Even though it has found potential applications in solving complex problems in fields such as chemistry, machine learning, and cryptography, among other fields, there has been little research conducted on its applications for music and acoustic technologies. This paper will discuss the use of a quantum internet protocol in the context of networked music performance in which quantum computing could play a role in processing musical data via a cloud-based music software application. We also propose an example model for a beat-making performance network using a smart music playlist application deployed on a simulated quantum internet. In the proposed system design and architecture, several beat-makers located remotely from each other are connected live over a simulated quantum internet in a distributed networked music performance. Each beat-maker node transmits and receives audio sample time slices of beat patterns from one another to use in their local performances. This model provides a proof of concept for implementing quantum algorithms, standards, and protocols in music software and network applications when a quantum internet becomes available.
The composer constantly makes choices: it is the composer, in fact, who chooses a melodic, rhythmic, harmonic path among the various, infinite possible paths between point A, the beginning, and point B, the end of a composition. The choice of one path over another, a local modification of a given path, can also be influenced by external factors. As it happens for the path of a charged particle in a magnetic field, the choice of the musical path can be influenced by personal style, culture, technical characteristics of the instruments, and combinations of instruments used. Even in quantum mechanics, there are “choices”: the state of a system appears as a superposition of possible eigenstates with different probability amplitudes. The act of measurement “forces” the system to choose a particular state: the observer influences the physics of the system. Like the famous example of Schrödinger’s cat, alive and dead at the same time until the box in which it is located is opened. From the choices of notes and musical paths to decision-making systems, we present some examples of the application of quantum mechanics to music. Among the applications of quantum computing, we mention a study on robots with associated musical descriptions. In particular, we consider the distributed intelligence of a swarm of robots and its possible musical description, from some existing works to our original application.
This paper introduces an interactive music system with quantum musical agents that communicate by teleporting quantum states to one another. Human performers interact in real time with agents whose melodic and rhythmic behaviours are encoded as quantum states using Single Qubit Probability Amplitude Modulation (SQPAM) and structured through Quantum Phase Estimation (QPE). Up to three agents are combined within a single quantum circuit, with directed communication via quantum teleportation. We are interested in supporting ambiguous, transformative interactions reminiscent of free Jazz improvisation. Therefore, rather than treating noise and decoherence as limitations, the system embraces NISQ-era constraints as creative affordances, framing agent communication as quantum whispers, that is, deliberate, musically expressive imperfections in state transfer. We provide demonstrations and analyses based on melodic correlation, pitch-set distance, and state fidelity, where a continuum between imitation and divergence can be observed. We developed a tunable interpretation method to assess how agents reinterpret teleported states. This work positions teleportation as a promising interaction mechanism for agent-based quantum computer music and outlines future directions toward distributed ensembles connected via the Quantum Internet.
During collective musical performances over the network that are characterized by improvisation, a performer may face the problem of what connected musician to follow most in order to direct his/her own improvisation. This choice may be taken on the basis of different factors related to the state of the network and of the kind of the received musical signal. In this paper we investigate the possibility to adopt the mathematical formalism of Quantum Mechanics to describe some interaction phenomena occurring during improvised networked music performances. We propose a decision-making system, having a quantum circuit in its core, where the approximated decision by performers is modeled with state superposition and probability amplitudes used in quantum computing. The model considers the levels of signal clarity (i.e., audio quality related to packet losses), latency, and musical novelty (e.g., melodic or harmonic variation with respect to a previous musical sequence) as the factors that affect the decision of a performer to select another connected performer to follow. This model may be exploited to regulate the behaviour of an artificial intelligent agent playing the role of a virtual musician in the networked ensemble (via generative music techniques). This allows to create mixed human-artificial ensembles and even fully artificial ensembles in networked contexts.
Music is a multifaceted art form that requires a nuanced and comprehensive framework for analysis. This framework should encompass correlations among diverse musical attributes, including melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, and dynamics. However, modeling the interaction between these attributes is anticipated to require substantial computational resources. In this study, we propose a Bayesian model to represent various musical attributes and explore its implementation and inference on a quantum computer. We show how to translate the Bayesian model to a quantum circuit and perform inference using the quantum rejection sampling algorithm on a quantum simulator. Through empirical evaluation utilizing a real-world dataset, we compare the performance of the quantum algorithm against classical rejection sampling. Our results reveal that the quantum method improves the acceptance rate of generated samples, thereby enhancing posterior probability estimates.
Multipartite entanglement plays a crucial role in the Quantum Internet design, due to its potentiality of significantly increasing the network performance. In this paper, we identify the four key network functionalities for managing multipartite entanglement among remote nodes. And we discuss each functionality by considering - as case study - a specific multipartite state, which exhibits an attractive computing feature. Specifically, the designed state allows an arbitrary entangled node to calculate - in a distributed way - the sum of a set of values arbitrarily selected by the remaining entangled nodes.