http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/
― Carne Meshuggah (libcrypt), Friday, 16 January 2009 00:21 (4 years ago) Permalink
Assume the brace position:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=3oGFogwcx-E&feature=related
― moley, Friday, 16 January 2009 00:24 (4 years ago) Permalink
Check out the sample songs.
― Carne Meshuggah (libcrypt), Friday, 16 January 2009 00:25 (4 years ago) Permalink
"It's Microsoft, huh? So, it's pretty easy to use?"
Death
― Milton Parker, Friday, January 9, 2009 9:43 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
http://i.gizmodo.com/5129613/david-lee-roth-%252B-microsoft-songsmith--pure-horror
― Milton Parker, Tuesday, January 13, 2009 1:33 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
I should stop polluting the good name of Sexydancer and give this its own thread, but the 'number of the beast' is pretty frightening
http://www.mutantpop.net/songsmith/
― Milton Parker, Tuesday, January 13, 2009 7:57 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
if ur feeling sinister
― Fox Force Five Punchline (sexyDancer), Tuesday, January 13, 2009 8:19 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― Milton Parker, Friday, 16 January 2009 00:26 (4 years ago) Permalink
Loving the happy/jazzy/etc. pullbars.
― Carne Meshuggah (libcrypt), Friday, 16 January 2009 00:28 (4 years ago) Permalink
This is the most hilarious POS ever. Is the cheesy demo video like that on purpose to amuse ironic hipsters? I suspect it might be :/
It is lolworthy to play with for about 30 seconds and then you want to cry.
― Trayce, Friday, 16 January 2009 00:34 (4 years ago) Permalink
finally someone at microsoft is thinking about geir's needs
― ie: BANGING (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 16 January 2009 00:44 (4 years ago) Permalink
hhaha omg
― Trayce, Friday, 16 January 2009 01:14 (4 years ago) Permalink
they should hook it up to work with beamz
― Lemonade In Hammocks (electricsound), Friday, 16 January 2009 01:15 (4 years ago) Permalink
Just hit the song starter button. That's intuitive, right?
― Gorgeous Preppy (G00blar), Friday, 16 January 2009 01:28 (4 years ago) Permalink
Hey guys, some of us may LIKE Microsoft Songsmith, chill out
― scourge of cords (Z S), Friday, 16 January 2009 01:32 (4 years ago) Permalink
I like it - and I also think flourescent towels are a great idea. I mean, how many times have you taken a shower in the dark and been unable to find your towel?
― moley, Friday, 16 January 2009 01:40 (4 years ago) Permalink
Shit's got nothin on JJJinglesmith.
― Trayce, Friday, 16 January 2009 02:19 (4 years ago) Permalink
can someone feed one of the jandek acapella records into this thing and report back pls
― feelin' on Djibouti (haitch), Friday, 16 January 2009 02:42 (4 years ago) Permalink
Assume the brace position: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=3oGFogwcx-E&feature=related
My ears.
― Craicwhore (craicwhore), Friday, 16 January 2009 03:02 (4 years ago) Permalink
this could be pretty cool if you had control over the sounds
― Lemonade In Hammocks (electricsound), Friday, 16 January 2009 03:04 (4 years ago) Permalink
― feelin' on Djibouti (haitch),
Fantastic idea. Then also an a capella of Chuck D doing 'Bring The Noise' after that.
― moley, Friday, 16 January 2009 05:07 (4 years ago) Permalink
This is all that really needs to be posted:http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin-With-The-Songsmith
― Millsner, Friday, 16 January 2009 05:14 (4 years ago) Permalink
haha it sounds like Wesley Willis! In fact Wesley Willis is the only artist whose music would not change if you put his vocal through Songsmith.
― moley, Friday, 16 January 2009 05:23 (4 years ago) Permalink
i can see myself having some fun with other people's vocal tracks while drunk
― Lemonade In Hammocks (electricsound), Friday, 16 January 2009 05:27 (4 years ago) Permalink
I'm getting the feeling no one's really checked out those pixies / iron maiden / blue oyster cult tracks linked upthread yet
or else people wouldn't be saying 'this is all that really needs to be posted'
― Milton Parker, Friday, 16 January 2009 18:56 (4 years ago) Permalink
I stand by my ignorant boasts!
― Millsner, Friday, 16 January 2009 19:27 (4 years ago) Permalink
dude the BOC and iron maiden stuff is pretty amazing
― ie: BANGING (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 16 January 2009 19:34 (4 years ago) Permalink
Kidding, kidding. That stuff is fantastic.
― Millsner, Friday, 16 January 2009 19:43 (4 years ago) Permalink
The Police - "Roxanne"
XD
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, 16 January 2009 20:34 (4 years ago) Permalink
"Number of the Beast" = Gary Wilson!
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Friday, 16 January 2009 20:46 (4 years ago) Permalink
the wikipedia article is great, but has not yet been updated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_music
these are the two most referenced precedents in using computers to simulate compositional styles:
Lejaren Hillier & Leonard Isaacson - Illiac Suite, 1957 (interesting piece, sounds convincingly like a 20th century atonal string quartet, pioneering Process Music piece)http://www.music.psu.edu/Faculty%20Pages/Ballora/INART55/illiac_suite.htmlhttp://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/illiac-suite/
David Cope - Experiments With Musical Intelligence, 1981 (his stuff is horrifying -- does passable simulations of the composers, listening to this when you know what it is, I would slide between light boredom and total terror)http://arts.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope/experiments.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_CopeCRC 2184: Bach by Design-Experiments in Musical Intelligence; computer composed music of David Cope based on the musical designs of Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Joplin, Gershwin, Bartok, and Prokofiev
most people working with algorithmic composition are using them to discover & explore new musical forms (John Cage / Eno / Laurie Spiegel / Autechre), not to simulate previous compositional styles. Hiller & Cope's work is more interested in the implications of Artificial Intelligence and competition. Now that Microsoft's taking it to the commercial arena, it's all about presenting it as a simple labor-saving device.
it's going to be interesting
― Milton Parker, Friday, 16 January 2009 23:41 (4 years ago) Permalink
<< (John Cage / Gottfried Michael Koenig / Xenakis / Eno / Laurie Spiegel / Autechre)
http://rogerreynolds.com/xenakis1.html
Mâche: Stravinsky was playing piano and was fascinated by his own fingers, so he stopped playing. If you are fascinated by the computer, you may stop composing.
Xenakis: Of course, you must not be fascinated by the computer. It's a tool. You must be fascinated perhaps with what you have in mind. If you don't have anything in mind, you cannot be fascinated.
― Milton Parker, Friday, 16 January 2009 23:59 (4 years ago) Permalink
http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin-With-The-Songsmith
― cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Saturday, 17 January 2009 00:02 (4 years ago) Permalink
This is the greatest music video meme ever. "Roxanne" in particular, holy shit.
The flipside is that the software achievement is actually pretty awesome in my opinion. I haven't seen or used the program but my hats off to the people who actually figured out how to make something like this work. Maybe it's simpler than it seems but it strikes me as pretty tough - I mean the videos are hilarious because the music is chintzy and contrasts with our familiar songs, but very rarely does it sound really out of key and dissonant.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 23 January 2009 15:41 (4 years ago) Permalink
going by its take on "Roxanne," it also doesn't seem capable of processing that 1) not all songs resolve on the tonic of the key they're in and 2) not all chords are straight major chords. this I take to be its weakness. I assume there's a slider for "sad/dark" or something that'll encourage the software to throw in more minor chords, and yeah genuine props to engineers who've gotten software to "think" of music the way a first-year piano student does. but the song Roxanne (which I don't think has any/many complex chords - just somewhat interesting structure) exposes a seeming weakness of the program: the whole concept of "key" is a little beyond its reach. the basic concept - that a song has a root chord - it can understand, but the relationship of the melody to that root is beyond it.
― J0hn D., Friday, 23 January 2009 16:55 (4 years ago) Permalink
a slider for "sad/dark"
I'd like to imagine that it's labelled somewhat like the throttle control on the ship in Spaceballs (light speed, ludicrous speed)
― snoball, Friday, 23 January 2009 17:02 (4 years ago) Permalink
I used it to make a Meat Puppets Up on the Sun style version of the chorus to Rush's Free Will, but when I saved it to WMA, my vocals were just static.
― james k polk, Friday, 23 January 2009 23:17 (4 years ago) Permalink
Um, guys? This is damn good!
― Mark G, Thursday, 29 January 2009 20:24 (4 years ago) Permalink
Dreadful... Get rid of the vocals and it'd be OK though...Meanwhile, headbang like crrrrrraaaaazzzzzyyyy to this
― snoball, Thursday, 29 January 2009 21:08 (4 years ago) Permalink
embedding disabled by request!
― Mark G, Thursday, 29 January 2009 21:55 (4 years ago) Permalink
that oasis one is pretty cool, seems to me that oasis's sort of songwriting works the best with songsmith...they tend to do reeeeally defined "strum this chord for 4 bars then strum this chord" type stuff, plus kinda plodding and slow and the way that liam takes a distinct break between each line then goes again once the next chord in the cycle hits
― crackers is biters (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 29 January 2009 21:59 (4 years ago) Permalink
(xpost) ah, I've been anti-rick-roll-rolled
― snoball, Thursday, 29 January 2009 22:00 (4 years ago) Permalink
That's something, innit?
There was a quite good "Creep" radiohead one, and a fairly faithful "What's goin on" Marvin one too.
I d/l the software, recorded a vocal (heh, ain't done that in 12 years man!), listened to some results, wiped it.
― Mark G, Thursday, 29 January 2009 22:03 (4 years ago) Permalink
The version of "Roxanne" is hilarious, especially the indignation in Sting's voice.The problem with this application is that there just isn't enough variation so it gets repetitive - with a four minute song I just get bored halfway through. Even someone who's only been writing songs for a couple of weeks is going to throw in more changes that this program. And what it really reminds me of is that I have several cheese-tastic 80's Casio and Yamaha keyboards with an auto accompaniment feature that sounds pretty much the same as Songsmith. The only difference is that they aren't completely automatic - I have to press a key to change chords or switch from verse to bridge, or get it to do a drum fill or flourish to finish.
― snoball, Thursday, 29 January 2009 22:26 (4 years ago) Permalink
Well, yeah - I mean I'd be surprised if they reinvented the wheel of demo songs while they were figuring out how to make a computer program figure out what key/tempo you're singing in! Whatever its failings, clearly that's the accomplishment of the program, no?
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 30 January 2009 01:29 (4 years ago) Permalink
what
― James Mitchell, Friday, 30 January 2009 02:00 (4 years ago) Permalink
I will not rest until the Billboard top 10 is all songsmith jams
― J0hn D., Friday, 30 January 2009 02:11 (4 years ago) Permalink
I kind of hate that I started this thread when Songsmith was just a curiosity and now it's another goddamned meme that the Internet needs no more of.
― Badder Meinhof Syndrome (libcrypt), Friday, 30 January 2009 04:21 (4 years ago) Permalink
At least, I started it when it was just a curiosity to me.
Fair enough. I'm still going to post this one (I like it!):
― Ricky Apples (Pillbox), Friday, 30 January 2009 05:13 (4 years ago) Permalink
Better than the original. Would definitely play in my electroclash set.
― moley, Friday, 30 January 2009 05:45 (4 years ago) Permalink
Still waiting for the Wesley Willis versions...
― moley, Friday, 30 January 2009 05:50 (4 years ago) Permalink
― System Jr. (Mackro Mackro), Friday, 30 January 2009 08:42 (4 years ago) Permalink
― System Jr. (Mackro Mackro), Friday, 30 January 2009 08:45 (4 years ago) Permalink
I kind of hate that I started this thread when Songsmith was just a curiosity and now it's another goddamned meme that the Internet needs no more of.― Badder Meinhof Syndrome (libcrypt), Friday, 30 January 2009 04:21 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― Badder Meinhof Syndrome (libcrypt), Friday, 30 January 2009 04:21 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
and you were into the Manics when, exactly?
― Mark G, Friday, 30 January 2009 10:18 (4 years ago) Permalink
i dig the survivor one
― what is your beef with the mac? (electricsound), Friday, 30 January 2009 10:30 (4 years ago) Permalink
another goddamned meme
This is like that "Hitler Downfall subtitles" meme, except for musicians
― snoball, Friday, 30 January 2009 12:54 (4 years ago) Permalink
that "Eye of the Tiger" one is really fantastic and I would listen to it for uncomplicated non-lulz pleasure
I am conflicted about the wtf-singularity-into-meme thing because it seems like "their early demos were good"ism but on the other hand yeah: first time I saw the ad, holy fuck, most bizarre thing ever; once it achieves critical cultural mass, it loses its weirdness - if everybody points and calls it weird/fucked up, the fun goes out of it. on balance though more fun = good, less fun for fewer people = not good, so bring on the memehood
― J0hn D., Friday, 30 January 2009 13:04 (4 years ago) Permalink
btw has everyone read the great "don't worry, we're not going to ruin music!" stuff over at the official site:
Why would musicians be interested in Songsmith?
Sure, Songsmith lets novice musicians get their first taste of music creation. We’re really proud that we’re giving people that opportunity. But we’re also musicians, and this project has been intended to help both novices and experienced songwriters from day one.
Is Songsmith going to replace the craft of songwriting? Never. Could it be a super-useful “intelligent scratchpad” for exploring new melodies and ideas? Definitely. If you’re a songwriter, you’ve probably had the experience of coming up with a melody, then reaching for the nearest object with a “record” button on it, just to get your idea down. Imagine that first quick experience also letting you explore chord progressions, styles, even basic arrangement ideas. Then of course you’d work with other tools, other people, your instruments, and your own musical intuition to really develop a song. But Songsmith can be a great tool that lets you quickly explore new ideas in places where you couldn’t before (on the go, on the bus, in the airport, etc.). And Songsmith works great with instrumental input too...
anybody who wants in on the ground floor of a less potentially-viral meme let me repeat: Songsmith works great with instrumental input too
― J0hn D., Friday, 30 January 2009 13:13 (4 years ago) Permalink
"It's just a bit of fun"
― Mark G, Friday, 30 January 2009 13:15 (4 years ago) Permalink
LOL
― J0hn D., Friday, 30 January 2009 13:17 (4 years ago) Permalink
(xpost) by chance were you referring to this?
Father Dougal McGuire: Ready Ted? Let's do it!Father Ted Crilly: Dougal, don't take it so seriously, it's just a bit of fun.[Scene jumps forward to some time later. Room is filled with smoke and there is a cigarette hanging out of a stressed out Ted's mouth]Father Ted Crilly: Just play the fucking note!Father Dougal McGuire: The first one?Father Ted Crilly: No not the fucking first one! The fucking first one's already fucking down! Just play the fucking note you were fucking playing earlier! I've been playing the fucking first one! We have the fucking first one!Father Dougal McGuire: So i'll just...Father Ted Crilly: Just play the fucking note you where fucking playing there! Fucking what you where just fucking doing! Play the fucking note!
^^^ if MS could come up with an AI program that could allow the solo songwriter to experience the long drawn out shouting arguments of collaborative songwriting, then they might be onto something...
― snoball, Friday, 30 January 2009 13:32 (4 years ago) Permalink
ha, no. I'm not explaining it though...
― Mark G, Friday, 30 January 2009 13:37 (4 years ago) Permalink
white wedding's great
― Eyeball Kicks, Friday, 30 January 2009 13:42 (4 years ago) Permalink
Hey folks.. I'm the person on YouTube making most of these videos. The embedding on the original Never Gonna Give You Up is disabled because of YouTube's Content ID system; I later uploaded one for embedding purposes that, er, circumvents the Content ID system.
For those of you who like my videos, thanks for the compliments. If you don't, get a sense of humor. :-)
― azz100c, Friday, 30 January 2009 21:41 (4 years ago) Permalink
Welcome to ILX, azz100c.
― Badder Meinhof Syndrome (libcrypt), Friday, 30 January 2009 22:36 (4 years ago) Permalink
if MS could come up with an AI program that could allow the solo songwriter to experience the long drawn out shouting arguments of collaborative songwriting, then they might be onto something...
lol
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 30 January 2009 23:45 (4 years ago) Permalink
Johannes Kriedler - Charts Music - Melodies derived from stock charts, arranged by Songsmith
― Milton Parker, Monday, 2 February 2009 00:27 (4 years ago) Permalink
Kraftwerk predicted this. But they just couldn't get those damned robots to work. It took Microsoft to take it to the next level.
― moley, Monday, 2 February 2009 01:52 (4 years ago) Permalink
Actually, my opinion of this software has totally gone up after hearing "Eye of the Tiger" and "White Wedding."
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 2 February 2009 03:18 (4 years ago) Permalink
yeah, I've had this version of EOTT in running through my head all weekend. I'd seriously bump a hi-quality mp3 of it, were such a thing to be made available...
― Ricky Apples (Pillbox), Monday, 2 February 2009 04:53 (4 years ago) Permalink
Some clues:
It seems that the 'save' file it creates is a zip file consisting of the WMA file and a XML detail file.
So, how to create these:
1) Work out the BPM of your given vocal track.2) Start up a new project, sing the song yourself into the mic. 3) Save file. Exit Songsmith.
4) Unzip file, put your vocal track into a multitrack editor along with your given vocal track.5) Edit the given vocal track so that each line plays at exactly the same time as yours.6) Save new given vocal track, rename it and zip it up again
7) Run songsmith, open file with it, and enjoy. Or change the 'track' to suit.
― Mark G, Monday, 2 February 2009 11:59 (4 years ago) Permalink
Couldn't you just play the vocal track into songsmith from an external source instead of singing it yourself?
― Adam Bruneau, Tuesday, 3 February 2009 01:26 (4 years ago) Permalink
I've been tempted to do some Songsmithing myself but I'm waiting for this instead..
― Adam Bruneau, Tuesday, 3 February 2009 01:29 (4 years ago) Permalink
― burt_stanton, Tuesday, 3 February 2009 01:34 (4 years ago) Permalink
― burt_stanton, Tuesday, 3 February 2009 01:36 (4 years ago) Permalink
that's wrong dot com in excelsis
― moley, Tuesday, 3 February 2009 01:39 (4 years ago) Permalink
someone needs to call Almighty and have them cover that Wonderwall version
― lil waynes babymama (musically), Monday, 27 April 2009 16:38 (4 years ago) Permalink
billy idol meets dueling banjos
― lil waynes babymama (musically), Monday, 27 April 2009 16:43 (4 years ago) Permalink
The best one to come out since I was following the thread is the Will Smith "Wild Wild West" in the style of, well, the wild wild west.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 27 April 2009 16:44 (4 years ago) Permalink
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 27 April 2009 16:49 (4 years ago) Permalink
haha, this song is kind of dope now.
where did dude get an acapella of Wild Wild West... or why did they ISSUE an acappela of Wild Wild West?!
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 27 April 2009 16:50 (4 years ago) Permalink
this sounds like buck 65 now.
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 27 April 2009 16:51 (4 years ago) Permalink
― Dr. Phil, Monday, 27 April 2009 16:51 (4 years ago) Permalink
It's on the 12". I know this because I bought it for a buck a few years ago. Hours of joy!
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 27 April 2009 17:00 (4 years ago) Permalink
Woah, that's a different Songsmith version of it than the one I knew though.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 27 April 2009 17:05 (4 years ago) Permalink
^^^ this one
This new jam is pretty dope:
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/video_ScienceIsCool.html
― real bears playing hockey (polyphonic), Monday, 11 January 2010 21:28 (3 years ago) Permalink
They need to get that balloon boy on this.
― an executive by day and a wild man by night (snoball), Monday, 11 January 2010 21:53 (3 years ago) Permalink
never forget :(
― turfin' bird (The Reverend), Friday, 7 October 2011 00:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 21 October 2012 23:33 (7 months ago) Permalink
That Nirvana one is awesome, it would be even better if they could run Kurt's vocal through software and make it sound like Billy Ocean.
― earlnash, Monday, 22 October 2012 02:44 (7 months ago) Permalink