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Hello, I made some ML generated videogame music: https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame-music https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/sets/ai-gen

Hello, I made some ML generated videogame music: https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame-music https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame... There are ballroom themes, battle themes, boss fights, and the last one is my attempt at a final battle track. If there's interest, I can walk through how the model works. Gwern's writeup is here: https://www.gwern.net/GPT-2-music https://www.gwern.net/GPT-2-music All 25 tracks were made in a single night. That's the kind of boost you can get from ML. Note that it's not entirely automatic. But that's a benefit, not a downside. It's more like an AI instrument that you play. The songs each contain the ABC source code that generated it. (Click on the song's description to see.) You can replicate the song for yourself by copying the source code into a text file, then running something like this: abc2midi "${1}.abc" -o "${1}.mid" && timidity "${1}.mid" -Ov -o "${1}.ogg" && timidity "${1}.mid" (That's from my bash script called "abc2ogg".) An effective model will "group" its data in a way that the model can understand. That's the essence of why this model worked so well.

ttjjtt 6y ago
To be fair these results can be used as a representation of ML art output as being distinct in its qualities and related ease of production. It immediately appears as a hazy simulacrum when listened to be an interested critical ear. Which can work to your point; there vast production use cases for ML-quality media issues background dressing, eg music for cheap/free video games, infotainment videos , or any application where cheap production libraries will suffice. Huge amounts of human labor have been thrown at making throw away media assets. Similarly a large proportion of serious, foreground art works consist of mundane background chores that ML can achieve with incredible efficiency. But when ML generation is placed to the foreground, as the main focus, it appears like an unnerving vacuous simulacra. I can’t yet see it being something beyond shovel-like, in its function and form
- sillysaurusx 6y ago
  I partly agree, but I like "Crossing The Channel": https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/crossing-the-channel?in=theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame-music https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/crossing-the-channel?in=the... The reason the beat is so unique is because the model started out by making a mistake. Or at least I thought it was a mistake; it took several measures to hear what it had in mind. GPT did its usual "generate the next most likely thing," which happens to be a rhythm that sounds good. In some sense, it's impossible to say whether it was a mistake, or if it "planned" to write it like this. "The Cruise" is lovely and relaxing: https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/the-cruise?in=theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame-music https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/the-cruise?in=theshawwn/set... and "Green Mountain" is just fun: https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/the-green-mountain?in=theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame-music https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/the-green-mountain?in=thesh... As for the effect on the art world, I think indie gamedevs will be happy they have some nice tunes without having to work with a musician. There's no way to know what the wider implications will be, though. Perhaps kids will grow up hearing stories of how granddad learned to play the guitar himself rather than asking the computer to write a hit song.
- mkesper 6y ago
  I think they can be used as inspiration sources. Like recording automatically created arpeggios and keeping only what pleases you.

ttjjtt 6y ago

To be fair these results can be used as a representation of ML art output as being distinct in its qualities and related ease of production. It immediately appears as a hazy simulacrum when listened to be an interested critical ear. Which can work to your point; there vast production use cases for ML-quality media issues background dressing, eg music for cheap/free video games, infotainment videos , or any application where cheap production libraries will suffice. Huge amounts of human labor have been thrown at making throw away media assets. Similarly a large proportion of serious, foreground art works consist of mundane background chores that ML can achieve with incredible efficiency. But when ML generation is placed to the foreground, as the main focus, it appears like an unnerving vacuous simulacra. I can’t yet see it being something beyond shovel-like, in its function and form

sillysaurusx 6y ago
I partly agree, but I like "Crossing The Channel": https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/crossing-the-channel?in=theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame-music https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/crossing-the-channel?in=the... The reason the beat is so unique is because the model started out by making a mistake. Or at least I thought it was a mistake; it took several measures to hear what it had in mind. GPT did its usual "generate the next most likely thing," which happens to be a rhythm that sounds good. In some sense, it's impossible to say whether it was a mistake, or if it "planned" to write it like this. "The Cruise" is lovely and relaxing: https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/the-cruise?in=theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame-music https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/the-cruise?in=theshawwn/set... and "Green Mountain" is just fun: https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/the-green-mountain?in=theshawwn/sets/ai-generated-videogame-music https://soundcloud.com/theshawwn/the-green-mountain?in=thesh... As for the effect on the art world, I think indie gamedevs will be happy they have some nice tunes without having to work with a musician. There's no way to know what the wider implications will be, though. Perhaps kids will grow up hearing stories of how granddad learned to play the guitar himself rather than asking the computer to write a hit song.
mkesper 6y ago
I think they can be used as inspiration sources. Like recording automatically created arpeggios and keeping only what pleases you.