HHL with a Coherent Fourier Oracle: A Proof-of-Concept Quantum Architecture for Joint Melody-Harmony Generation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a quantum algorithm-based architecture for joint melody-harmony generation, leveraging HHL and a coherent Fourier oracle to produce musically valid note and chord progressions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum computing approach combining HHL with a coherent Fourier oracle for music generation, enabling potential exponential speedup.

Findings

Achieved 97% strong or acceptable chord progressions

Demonstrated a four-block quantum pipeline producing 8 notes and chords

Showed the feasibility of coherent HHL and oracle integration for music synthesis

Abstract

Quantum algorithms with a proven theoretical speedup over classical computation are rare. Among the most prominent is the Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) algorithm for solving sparse linear systems. Here, HHL is applied to encode melodic preference: the system matrix encodes Narmour implication-realisation and Krumhansl-Kessler tonal stability, so its solution vector is a music-cognition-weighted note-pair distribution. The key constraint of HHL is that reading its output classically cancels the quantum speedup; the solution must be consumed coherently. This motivates a coherent Fourier harmonic oracle: a unitary that applies chord-transition weights directly to the HHL amplitude vector, so that a single measurement jointly selects both melody notes and a two-chord progression. A two-note/two-chord (2/2) block is used to contain the exponential growth of the joint state space that would otherwise make classical simulation of larger blocks infeasible. For demonstrations of longer passages, blocks are chained classically - each block's collapsed output conditions the next -- as a temporary workaround until fault-tolerant hardware permits larger monolithic circuits. A four-block chain produces 8 notes over 8 chords with grammatically valid transitions at every block boundary. Independent rule-based harmony validation confirms that 97% of generated chord progressions are rated strong or acceptable. The primary motivation is that HHL carries a proven exponential speedup over classical linear solvers; this work demonstrates that a coherent HHL+oracle pipeline - the prerequisite for that speedup to be realised in a musical setting - is mechanically achievable. Audio realisations of representative outputs are made available for listening online.