If Matthias Wullenweber's success in the chess world is anything to go by, the mediocre songwriters behind countless bland television theme songs and ordinary radio jingles might want to start looking for a new line of work.
Last year, the personal computer chess programme Mr Wullenweber helped create handily beat Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in a man-versus-machine showdown. But the affable 46-year-old German physicist and hobby musician has now turned his attention to music software that can compose and arrange all by itself.
Named Ludwig after the famous German composer Beethoven, the computer program is intended to be an entertaining and challenging practice aid for all types of musicians, both beginners and advanced, young and old.
However, it is the software's ground-breaking ability to create completely original melodies and songs that could end up having a much greater impact on the entire music industry.
'People have been using computers to help compose music in various forms for over 50 years,' explains Mr Wullenweber from the spartan headquarters of his company in a suburb of the northern German port city of Hamburg. 'But what's new about Ludwig are the completely formed melodies - it's not just using patterns to come up with accompanying music.'
Though many might smirk and dismiss the idea that a computer - a regular personal computer running affordable software - could ever 'create' original music like human beings, the proof of the programming is in the listening.
