PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Arne Eigenfeldt

Arne Eigenfeldt is a composer and academic whose generative music systems use AI agents to create music. He earned degrees in composition and computer music at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser, and Northwestern, and held teaching and faculty roles at Simon Fraser. Kinetic Engine and Musebot used autonomous agents to generate music, and MachineSongs used them to control robotic instruments. In 2024, he worked with Henry Daniel and Simon Lysander Overstall on a machine-learning system for a dance archive. As of October 2026, he is associate dean, academic in SFU's Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology.

Works
88
Citations
529
h-index
14
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1985–1993

    Studying composition and computer music

    He earns a Bachelor of Music in composition at the University of British Columbia in 1985, a Master of Arts in contemporary and computer music at Simon Fraser in 1988, and a Doctor of Music in composition and computer music at Northwestern in 1993.

  2. 1994–2003

    Teaching and building at SFU

    He joins Simon Fraser University as a laboratory instructor in 1994 and becomes technical director of its Computer Lab for Music and Sound in 1996.

  3. 2000–2008

    Moving through faculty roles

    He becomes senior lecturer in 2000, assistant professor in 2003, and associate professor in the School for the Contemporary Arts in 2008.

  4. 2005–2009

    Kinetic Engine and MetaCreation

    As a composer, he begins developing Kinetic Engine in 2005, a real-time generative music system built around multi-agent rhythms. With Philippe Pasquier, he explores MetaCreation, which aims to give computers creative behavior; in 2009, they receive an NSERC and Canada Council New Media Grant.

  5. 2015

    Musebots and robotic musicians

    At ISEA 2015, he and Oliver Bown present Musebot, an installation where autonomous software agents create music together and a platform for music AI. In MachineSongs, autonomous musebots control a Disklavier, the ModulatroN marimba robot and the Notomoton percussion robot.

  6. 2024

    Generating with a dance archive

    With Henry Daniel and Simon Lysander Overstall, he develops A Generative Walk through a Performance Archive, using generative methods and machine learning to navigate performance documentation.

  7. Since 2025

    Associate dean at SFU

    He becomes Associate Dean, Academic, in SFU's Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology in 2025, with a term through 2028.

Career

  1. Since 1994Simon Fraser UniversityLaboratory Instructor, Technical Director

Education

  1. 1993Northwestern UniversityDoctor of Music in composition and computer music
  2. 1988Simon Fraser UniversityMaster of Arts in contemporary and computer music
  3. 1985University of British ColumbiaBachelor of Music in composition

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. An Introduction to Musical Metacreation2016 · Computers in entertainment · 54 citations
  2. Realtime Generation of Harmonic Progressions Using Constrained Markov Selection2010 · ICCC · 37 citations
  3. Evolving structures for electronic dance music2013 · Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) · 27 citations
  4. Evaluating Musical Metacreation in a Live Performance Context2012 · 24 citations
  5. Considering Vertical and Horizontal Context in Corpus-based Generative Electronic Dance Music2013 · ICCC · 23 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Simon Fraser University. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 3% to 32%Includes Simon Fraser University. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 3% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Northwestern University. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  4. Stanford University trained or employed 27 of the 111 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Northwestern University. Stanford University trained or employed 27 of the 111 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Arne Eigenfeldt yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Arne Eigenfeldt - Brief C.V. sfu.ca. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. arne eigenfeldt sfu.ca. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. Kinetic Engine — METACREATION metacreation.net. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. “Musebot” by Arne Eigenfeldt, Oliver Bown isea-symposium-archives.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. music for robots – arne eigenfeldt aeigenfeldt.wordpress.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. artworks – arne eigenfeldt aeigenfeldt.wordpress.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  7. Deans & Associate Deans - Provost and VP Academic - Simon Fraser University sfu.ca. Checked 18 October 2026.