Method and apparatus for computer-aided variation of music and other sequences, including variation by chaotic mapping

A method practiced by a computing device for transforming an ordered input representing a perceivable phenomenon into a variant ordered output, whereby the variant output differs from but maintains a recognizable similarity to the input, the method comprising:

• accepting from a user an ordered input representing a perceivable phenomenon;
• parsing by the computing device of the input into an ordered sequence of original elements {Ni}, the original elements being sequentially indexed by successive integer values of an index i from 1 to a maximum value imax;
• for each value of i, the computing device using a hole selecting algorithm to determine if Ni is a candidate for substitution, herein referred to as a “hole element”;
• using a substitution algorithm, for at least one hole element the computing device providing a substitution element and replacing the hole element with the substitution element, the resulting ordered set of original and substituted elements constituting the variant output;
• and
• causing an output device to present the variant output to a user.