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Roxanne was great, but their other two absolutely weren't among the best. Oasis' Wonderwall became an excellent non-emo techno song: http://www.youtube.com/wat

by unalone 18y ago

Roxanne was great, but their other two absolutely weren't among the best. Oasis' Wonderwall became an excellent non-emo techno song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1e_h1OJfS4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1e_h1OJfS4 The program changes minor chords in the song to major, so suddenly the chorus seems peppy and bouncy. And its version of Crazy Train fits far too well and will have you laughing out loud if you're a fan of the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFZvLprEIpw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFZvLprEIpw I like how some people are decrying this online as the death of music, like Songsmith is going to change how music is made. (Oasis writing music with Garage Band to the contrary, most people still write their music by getting some musicians together and figuring out how stuff sounds.) I think it's really neat that it can do this! The program's working very well - I'm installing the beta today and we'll see how well it handles real-people voices - and people expecting it to magically create the memorable hooks and snares from the original are people who still miss that a machine can't generate truly great music, because the best music comes not from formula but from the human mind.

mechanical_fish 18y ago
Holy crap, that is absolutely hilarious. The bluegrass polka version of Crazy Train! I gotta get out the banjo! And of course people hail this as the death of music. It's a strange tic in our culture: Every time we do anything except play the same old music in the same old way, it's a sign of something dying. If you double the number of music listeners overnight, that's a harbinger of death. If you get fifty million Rock Band players analyzing the drum tracks of Rush tunes that are thirty years old, that's a harbinger of death. If you get people competing to find off-the-wall but briefly listenable orchestrations of classic tunes, that's a harbinger of death. One wonders what life is supposed to look like. Many people also have no idea how actual composition works.
- wheels 18y ago
  Not to mention that doing different forms of electronic accompaniment has been around for 40 years, and algorithmic composition for quite a while as well.
kwamenum86 18y ago
Real guy using it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaUQ4_kJBHw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaUQ4_kJBHw The chord progressions are painfully boring but that guy seems pleased.
- unalone 18y ago
  Any samples from a guy who actually is able to sing? That guy was nearly rapping.
- Tichy 18y ago
  Only listened to the first part, but I think he might have a hit on his hands. Brilliant lyrics! The last hit I witnessed in Germany (I rarely check) was something along the line "I count to three and take you home, come along we'll make a threesome" - people love that kind of lyrics...
gravitycop 18y ago
like Songsmith is going to change how music is made. [...] the best music comes not from formula but from the human mind. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456490 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456490 'If you tried, if any Mind tried, could you impersonate my style?' the Chelgrian asked. 'Could you write a piece - a symphony, say - that would appear, to the critical appraiser, to be by me, and which, when I heard it, I'd imagine being proud to have written?' The avatar frowned as it walked. It clasped its hands behind its back. It took a few more steps. 'Yes, I imagine that would be possible.' [...] 'So what,' the Chelgrian asked, 'is the point of me or anybody else writing a symphony, or anything else?' [...] 'Ziller, are you concerned that Minds - AIs, if you like - can create, or even just appear to create, original works of art?'
- unalone 18y ago
  You can analyze an existing progression. You cannot predict the possible future progression. You could analyze Please Please Me and determine how to generate similar Beatlesy sounds. You couldn't predict Help. If you had Help, you could make Help sounds but you couldn't figure out that Rubber Soul was on its way. The sonic style changed constantly and evolved incredibly. Or imagine trying to copy Frank Zappa. You might replicate a single song, but it wouldn't be possible to predict the next songs in a given album. He evolved and shifted too rapidly to follow.
  - Tichy 18y ago
    Why shouldn't an AI be able to listen to ALL songs that are uploaded to YouTube at any given time and from that synthesize something new? Real musician presumably don't do anything different - at least they don't start from scratch, they build on existing music and styles.
    - unalone 18y ago
      A lot of cutting-edge music doesn't come from the field of music. John Cage's work was influenced by literature. Brian Eno created ambient music by listening to music in places he went. An AI couldn't discover breaking-ground things like that. Not through synthesis. The idea is that truly great music isn't music that takes an existing style and moves it. Great music is the music that creates something that isn't already there.

by unalone 18y ago

mechanical_fish 18y ago

Holy crap, that is absolutely hilarious. The bluegrass polka version of Crazy Train! I gotta get out the banjo! And of course people hail this as the death of music. It's a strange tic in our culture: Every time we do anything except play the same old music in the same old way, it's a sign of something dying. If you double the number of music listeners overnight, that's a harbinger of death. If you get fifty million Rock Band players analyzing the drum tracks of Rush tunes that are thirty years old, that's a harbinger of death. If you get people competing to find off-the-wall but briefly listenable orchestrations of classic tunes, that's a harbinger of death. One wonders what life is supposed to look like. Many people also have no idea how actual composition works.

wheels 18y ago
Not to mention that doing different forms of electronic accompaniment has been around for 40 years, and algorithmic composition for quite a while as well.

kwamenum86 18y ago

Real guy using it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaUQ4_kJBHw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaUQ4_kJBHw The chord progressions are painfully boring but that guy seems pleased.

unalone 18y ago
Any samples from a guy who actually is able to sing? That guy was nearly rapping.
Tichy 18y ago
Only listened to the first part, but I think he might have a hit on his hands. Brilliant lyrics! The last hit I witnessed in Germany (I rarely check) was something along the line "I count to three and take you home, come along we'll make a threesome" - people love that kind of lyrics...

gravitycop 18y ago

like Songsmith is going to change how music is made. [...] the best music comes not from formula but from the human mind. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456490 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456490 'If you tried, if any Mind tried, could you impersonate my style?' the Chelgrian asked. 'Could you write a piece - a symphony, say - that would appear, to the critical appraiser, to be by me, and which, when I heard it, I'd imagine being proud to have written?' The avatar frowned as it walked. It clasped its hands behind its back. It took a few more steps. 'Yes, I imagine that would be possible.' [...] 'So what,' the Chelgrian asked, 'is the point of me or anybody else writing a symphony, or anything else?' [...] 'Ziller, are you concerned that Minds - AIs, if you like - can create, or even just appear to create, original works of art?'

unalone 18y ago
You can analyze an existing progression. You cannot predict the possible future progression. You could analyze Please Please Me and determine how to generate similar Beatlesy sounds. You couldn't predict Help. If you had Help, you could make Help sounds but you couldn't figure out that Rubber Soul was on its way. The sonic style changed constantly and evolved incredibly. Or imagine trying to copy Frank Zappa. You might replicate a single song, but it wouldn't be possible to predict the next songs in a given album. He evolved and shifted too rapidly to follow.
- Tichy 18y ago
  Why shouldn't an AI be able to listen to ALL songs that are uploaded to YouTube at any given time and from that synthesize something new? Real musician presumably don't do anything different - at least they don't start from scratch, they build on existing music and styles.
  - unalone 18y ago
    A lot of cutting-edge music doesn't come from the field of music. John Cage's work was influenced by literature. Brian Eno created ambient music by listening to music in places he went. An AI couldn't discover breaking-ground things like that. Not through synthesis. The idea is that truly great music isn't music that takes an existing style and moves it. Great music is the music that creates something that isn't already there.