Beat tracking based on multiple-agent architecture-A real-time beat tracking system for audio signals

Abstract

This paper presents an application of multiple-agent architecture to beat tracking for musical acoustic signals. Beat tracking is an important initial step in computer understanding of music and is useful in various multimedia applications. Most previous beat-tracking systems dealt with MIDI signals and were not based on a multiple-agent architecture. Our system can recognize, in real time, temporal positions of beats in real-world audio signals that contain sounds of various instruments. Our application of multiple-agent architecture enables the system to handle ambiguous situations in interpreting real-world input signals and to examine multiple hypotheses of beat positions in parallel. Even if some agents lose track of the beat, other agents will maintain the correct hypothesis. Each agent is able to interact with other agents to track beats cooperatively, and self-evaluate the reliability of its hypothesis on the basis of the current input situation, and adapt to th...