Microsoft Songsmith

[andrewducker]

Is a bit of work that came out of Microsoft Research, taking voices and providing a musical backing to it.

There's an advert floating about for it that's sheer awfulness personified.

And there's no way that it's going to produce amazing, emotive music that reaches into the depths of your soul.

But frankly, listening to what it does to Eye of the Tiger, I'm impressed at how well it works.  Sure, it's banal and pointless, but the point here isn't that it's produced something you'd buy, but that it's produced something that actually works with the vocal part without clashing at all.  That's a very impressive step all by itself.

So, as something you'd pay money for: FAIL.  As a harbringer of something that may be very interesting in a few years time?  WIN.

(Also, it produces funny things, like that video)

Comments

[marrog.livejournal.com]

It's fine at guessing key for simple songs like this, but take a look on YouTube at what it did to Roxanne. Hilarious? Yes. Tuneful? Hardly. Not only does it miss the key entirely, bits of it actively clash.

Banal and predictable a computer can do, interesting and unexpected you need a human brain for. Having studied harmony I'm pretty sure I could programme that thing better - I can certainly think of some variables it missed. I'm sure it'll improve as years go on, but I doubt it'll ever produce music in this way that's indistinguishable from true human talent. And thank God for that.

[andrewducker]

Can't see why computers shouldn't be able to do it. They'll just need to get a lot more complex.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Agreed, I could easily see more than a few top 40 hits being primarily computer created in 10 years, and in 20, it might well be all of them. Until we get actual AI (and 20-25 years might not be an unreasonable guess). I don't expect anything resembling musical innovation. However, catchy pop songs and songs in existing styles seem well within the range of computers & software in a decade or so.

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

Its mangling of Rush's Tom Sawyer is even worse!

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

Yeah I saw that one too! I think the algorithm got a bit baffled by Geddy Lee's voice.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

I liked this one

[andrewducker]

That was ace!

[guybles.livejournal.com]

Surely we don't need a Microsoft product to produce banal music when we have Simon Cowell?

Actually, scrub that thought: he must be shaking in his boots. Who needs to go on The X-Factor when Richmond can turn your bad teenage poetry into a YouTube hit?