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How AI gave me my voice back – an artist's review of Suno Studio
- varispeed 11mo agoThis is a nice toy and for sure great entertainment, but even with user aid it came out with generic slop. I can't see artistic value in this.
- NewsaHackO 11mo agoMost modern music us generic slop, especially pop music. If he likes making it and others like listening to it, isn't that the point of a hobby?
- bigyabai 11mo agoMost != all. Modern music also gave us some of the most forward-thinking sounds yet to reach the mainstream. When people get comfortable listening to slop, making something genuine or transgressive becomes attractive again. I think there's merit in worrying that AI-based music will cause artists to lose touch with the creative process, because I agree; a lot of modern music is pointless slop. Lowering the barrier to entry isn't going to fix it, so rationally "human music" hobbyists are coming into contention with "AI music" proponents. I don't think blogs like this one will bridge the divide.
- NewsaHackO 11mo agoBut different people have different parts of the creative process that they find appealing. For instance, in this blog, he said he had multiple stems but felt as though AI helped him flesh them out. By using AI assistance, he was able to create the music he always wanted to create, and therefore have fun with his hobby. If people like listening to it, then there is an added benefit. The people who think that things other than AI are more conducive to their creative process are still allowed to use them, so AI assisted music doesn't really change anything for them. The only people I can think of who face negative side effects from AI are those attempting to commercialize or sell their music.
- Forgeties79 11mo agoUltimately the problem is the countless people/companies that will game the system and saturate us with mediocre same-y AI generated crap so they can scrape by with a modest income. Just like crappy blogs, review sites, “news” sites, etc. abusing SEO to cobble together something resembling consistent monthly revenue. That will be the result. Any creative expression it produces will be overwhelmed by this problem. The cons drastically outweigh the pros. We’ve seen it so many times. These enterprises create so much chaff it’s impossible to find the wheat.
- roywiggins 11mo agoThe vocals from Suno almost always come out sounding sort of strangled or strained to my ear, you can really hear it on "tortured." Cool he's having fun with it, but it's not what I like listening to.
- cactusplant7374 11mo agoSome in the companion community have suggested that this is because we aren't treating the AI with dignity.
- roywiggins 11mo agoThey are delusional or misinformed: suno's model cannot possibly be aware of how AI is being treated. It is not informed of this information, it's not even informed about previous times it was invoked, it's wholly amnesiac.
- embedding-shape 11mo ago> suno's model cannot possibly be aware of how AI is being treated I don't know exactly what training material went into Suno's models, but if it includes random collections of text from the internet, it could very well have included "man, AI is fucking stupid and I treat it as such" in it's training datasets. Now I won't claim that that suddenly makes the models "aware" of it, because surely we'll understand "aware" different and this will turn into a different conversations, but I don't see it as impossible that some models could have training data that includes text with how some humans feel about AI.
- QuercusMax 11mo agoAren't we talking about the auditory quality of the generated vocals? I'm don't understand how you could possibly think the textual training data could possibly impact the perceived vocal strain (which are actually just artifacts) of the generated vocals.
- muglug 11mo agoYeah I was expecting to hear something decent at the top of the article, but the vocals sound like they suffer from severe mp3 compression.
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- mplewis 11mo agoNah fuck this. Suno is slop.
- cactusplant7374 11mo agoPeople were listening to slop long before Suno.
- ares623 11mo agoSo let’s encourage more slop at an accelerated pace? That’s our answer to everything huh. We’ve been doing “arguably bad thing” X, so let’s amplify it.
- doug_durham 11mo agoLet people have fun.
- tartoran 11mo agoLet the fire burn through everything, it's fun to watch. That until it consumes the land under you. Well, this is metaphorically speaking. I have no problem with AI tools per see, however what bothers me is the flood of sloop that is inescapable. If things were tagged AI and I could opt out when I'm not looking for that kind of content I'd be totally fine with it, it's just a took after all.
- cactusplant7374 11mo agoI think this technology is a net gain for the elderly. It's so easy to be creative and have great results.
- ares623 11mo agoI mean sure, if you ignore all the negative externalities then it is a net gain for everyone.
- tr1ll10nb1ll 11mo agoRecently talked to the founder of wavtool (acquihired by Suno which probably accelerated their work on Studio) and from my understanding, their overarching goal is to reduce to the time from concept to actual production. faster workflows, in other words. I produce music as well on the side and I can assure you things like making beatpacks, finding the exact sound are non-trivial at times and a unified interface that lets me go fast asf without losing expression is vital. I'm making my OSS version of this (faster than ffmpeg.wasm tho) called WAV0 - github.com/fluid-tools/wav0
- have_faith 11mo agoFYI your "Try Live Demo" link 404's.
- tr1ll10nb1ll 11mo agomy bad, try out at wav0.app/daw
- standardly 11mo agoAI slop, yadda yadda, I get it... But I just want to say, as a former failed bedroom producer who just doesn't have the time (and skill) to make the kind of music I want... I had a BLAST using Suno. I was able to "remaster" some of my old tracks, add in new sections, etc, and isolate/download/edit the stems. I understand it's not fully my creative output... but hearing one of my old, shitty, ableton live projects remastered and extended to sound like something that might actually get listens was really exciting and kind of mind-blowing.
- aprilthird2021 11mo agoTracks very well with something I saw recently, that the biggest fans of and users of generative AI for writing (and in your case music) are people who want to write a book but never got around to doing it, not people who want to read and pay for books
- standardly 11mo agoYes, I have no commercial interest when it comes to music, it's just something I find joy in. Using Suno did not detract from that joy. If music is a hobby, Suno is an incredibly fun tool. DJ's and producers have been getting hate for years. "It's just a guy with a laptop on stage", "he isn't really playing those instruments", etc. Or think of a band leader, someone who composes but doesn't actually play the indiviudual part. I tried thinking of Suno this way and it helped ease whatever "guilt" I had about my own creative integrity.
- spencerflem 11mo agoSo long as the music is just for you and never published, I wish you well
- greygoo222 11mo agoI'd like to see them publish their music!
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- rza1725a 11mo agoAdvertising AI for medical purposes seems to be the new trend. That sells easier than "45,000 job losses". The result is still unbearable. YouTube videos with AI slop background are an instant no-watch.
- doug_durham 11mo agoDid you read the article? There was no mention of medical treatments. There are arguments to be made. This isn't one of them.
- absolutely_rght 11mo agoThe comment you reply to does not mention medical treatments. Stephen Hawking's voice synthesizer was not a treatment, but a technological solution for a medical issue.
- caminanteblanco 11mo agoI think as an artist, you need to make art that has value to you, not to your audience, because you are a representative of your own perspective on the world, not someone else's. If the artist finds the output to be something that has meaning to them, and helps them categorize their feelings towards the world, then I think that's valuable art. It doesn't mean I'm going to go buy that album, but I'm glad it was made.
- viccis 11mo agoMy honest review, as a musician who has spent many years of my life making music and both giving and receiving blunt critique: Stunningly mediocre. Worthy of a Pitchfork 1/10. If your choice truly is between having AI make "art" that you pass off as your own vs not doing so, then please remember that, as a wise man once said, an artist understands the silence that serves as the foundation of creativity. I can't see how "chronic health issues" make it impossible to write and sequence original music, but it does allow for the AI workflow described in the post? Modern DAWs are incredibly accessible. You don't have to put out this horrible tuneless samey music; you can just work on honing your craft. Shortcuts are incredibly appealing because it can be so difficult and unrewarding to build up our musical skills. But then what you make is uniquely yours and reflects every minute spent on it. If you use something like Suno, the results (especially based on what I heard) are not unique to you. You could never have existed, and those musical tracks easily could have come out of the cold weights of a neural network sounding about the same.
- nostrebored 11mo agoIf you could distill what you were trying to make and describe each piece, making it uniquely yours, is the fact that it went from an f(intent) -> output a reason to treat it as derivative? I'm not claiming that Suno is there yet, but assuming that it cannot get there seems strange to me, given that the anthology of music is pretty well represented digitally.
- viccis 11mo ago>is the fact that it went from an f(intent) -> output a reason to treat it as derivative Absolutely. All generative AI output is, by definition, derivative.
- rhetocj23 11mo agoWell said man. Not surprising to hear this take from someone whos been involved in music production for many years. I just listened to it myself and WTF - its awful. There is a reason why quality of music has diminished sharply since the Record Labels lost control.
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- babblingfish 11mo agoThis brings up an interesting philosophical question about AI assistance for those with disabilities. It reminds me of the debate when NanoWriMo said they would allow AI assistance for similar reasons. We could make an argument based on equity. AI assistance levels the playing field. Something doesn't quite sit right with me though. Last weekend I was watching a band perform where each member of the band had down syndrome. I don't mean to compare the author's condition to down syndrome, little is said about his condition and I didn't read the linked article. And of course, many people with down syndrome did not get the opportunity to learn to play an instrument, whether from nature or nurture. But still, watching them play you get that feeling about how it's awesome when people strive for competence despite the obstacles. I can't help but feeling those who use AI assistance are unknowingly capping their upside. The author's condition sounds painful and upsetting. But a major component of why practicing a creative craft is good for self-develoment is because the artist must confront and overcome self-doubt. We all suffer from the feeling of not being good enough. When you use AI to overcome those limits, do you confront the doubt? It feels more to me like you're a manager who is pleasantly surprised with the work your direct reports created. Rather than evoking a sense of wonder at your own latent competence. Which is what happens when you confront the negative feelings of self-doubt.
- RobotToaster 11mo ago> I can't help but feeling those who use AI assistance are unknowingly capping their upside. You could use the same argument for using a calculator instead of doing mental arithmetic. Or an artist using a printer instead of using oil paints.
- babblingfish 11mo agoWe have to distinguish between craft and when we need a functional outcome. Personally, I'm not interested in the craft of mental math. When I'm trying to calculate the tip I want the answer quickly so I can move on with my life. But if you care about the craft of mental math, then by all means, go for it
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- greygoo222 11mo agoI absolutely love Suno music. Most of the music I listen to nowadays is Suno generated. There are so many creative people out there making things that never would've existed without it.
- fortranfiend 11mo agoMost of the music I make on Suno is stuff that would never ever be made, a love ballad that only uses the word lizard, an anime intro to the "Lord of all Milk"