AI in music

[TimR]

51 minutes ago, Uncle Rodney said:

Just a different view, perhaps. I had this discussion with our drummer. I said to him - you are from a different culture than me, and me from you. The singer has his own culture, it's us in this rehearsal room who then brings these different cultures togther and we play our music as one. I will learn vibes from your culture and you from me. AI can never do that.

 

It's the new world order. We all become one assimilated culture all speaking the same language, living by the same rules, using the same currency, eating the same food.

 

I think there's a book about it. 

[EliasMooseblaster]

It doesn't help that "AI" has become a catch-all term for asking a large language model or neural network to carry out a task, and I suspect this obfuscation is deliberate.

 

Still, there's obviously a world of difference between people using one of these models to help with an awkward task (e.g., sort out the phase on these tracks, separate these tracks I accidentally bounced) and the people who put a prompt into Suno, get a three-minute pop song back out and start squealing "OMG I done a music!"

 

To that latter group: I read somewhere about a teacher who refused to read AI-generated essays from their students, saying "if you couldn't be bothered to write it, why should I bother to read it?" Personally, I feel the same way about AI-generated songs.

[Al Krow]

With AI, is the situation different to Henry Ford inventing the production line and taking work away from skilled workers who had the skills to put a whole engine together from scratch? Do we complain about AI coming up with better computer code to enable more rapid and successful cancer diagnosis, and lament the loss of software engineering jobs for graduates who have invested time and treasure in their chosen careers? Or do we find it a concern because it's getting a bit too close to home for comfort?

 

If, for example, AI had written "At Last" for Etta James to sing, or "Can't help falling in love" performed by Elvis, would we have listened?

 

Will the audience care who wrote the song if hearing it gives them joy? Or is this all just taking us back to the time pre-Beatles when 95% (I'm guessing here!) of leading performers had their song material provided for them? And 100% of covers and tribute bands already do today?

 

Edited 37 minutes ago by Al Krow

[chris_b]

8 minutes ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

. . . .  I read somewhere about a teacher who refused to read AI-generated essays from their students, saying "if you couldn't be bothered to write it, why should I bother to read it?"

 

 

A major university in London started to move towards course work instead of sitting exams. Now they're moving back to the exam room due to the amount of AI students were submitting as their own work!! We're also seeing smart watches being used for cheating in exams, alongside multiple phones secreted in socks and anywhere else they can think of. I guess technology has always been used for cheating, but these days it's being used by students on an industrial scale. AI is a powerful tool for good and bad, depending on the person using it.

[Al Krow]

Just now, chris_b said:

 

A major university in London started to move towards course work instead of sitting exams. Now they're moving back to the exam room due to the amount of AI students were submitting as their own work!! We're also seeing smart watches being used for cheating in exams, alongside multiple phones secreted in socks and anywhere else they can think of. I guess technology has always been used for cheating, but these days it's being used by students on an industrial scale. AI is a powerful tool for good and bad, depending on the person using it.

 

100% 

 

And the parallel is that AI can't fake a live performance by a human band, which is what audiences want. They can already listen to a Jukebox if they wanted.

 

So whilst I fear for the future of the aspiring song writer in my band, who's working on his 4th album, I'm very glad we can be out at gigs each week doing something we love.

[nekomatic]

One other thing to be aware of is that there’s no guarantee that the current generation of free or cheap to use generative AI tools will stay available forever, let alone get better and better for the same free or cheap price. All the companies providing them are running on vast amounts of venture capital based on hypothetical vast future profits, which nobody can explain how free or cheap AI models will actually deliver. A lot of people are predicting that this business model has to fall apart sooner or later. 

[TimR]

Quite.

 

It's only free while we do their Beta testing for them.

[Ben Jamin]

In the wise words of Dr. Ian Malcolm:
 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Ben Jamin

[Cato]

30 minutes ago, nekomatic said:

One other thing to be aware of is that there’s no guarantee that the current generation of free or cheap to use generative AI tools will stay available forever, let alone get better and better for the same free or cheap price. All the companies providing them are running on vast amounts of venture capital based on hypothetical vast future profits, which nobody can explain how free or cheap AI models will actually deliver. A lot of people are predicting that this business model has to fall apart sooner or later. 

 

There are also power supply issues.

 

There's already speculation that the US power grid can't support all the AI data centres that are planned even if many of them build their own generation facilities ,which, depending on the type of generation being planned is it's own russian doll of environmental and logistical issues.

 

There's additional concerns about the water supply for cooling. Again datacentres can build their own boreholes, or tap rivers, etc but there's only so much of that you can do before it starts to affect the local water supply for agriculture and residential use.

 

Neither issue is insurmountable but it's doubtful if it can be done in the same timeframe as the new data centres will be needed to support the expected massive uptake in AI services.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Cato

[Geddys nose]

A friend of mine is a poet and has used Suno to put music to his words, he loves it and gets a massive buzz out of it.

 

Its just a tool, if it brings the user enjoyment who I’m I to question.

 

 

[dave_bass5]

Today’s Logic Pro update has a cool new feature that lets you drag midi or audio to a chord track and it gives you the chords over the track. 
To me that’s going to be a huge time saver when working out songs. I can imagine it’s not going to be totally accurate, but a good starting block. Another + for AI in my book.