AI generated music… is this where we’re heading?

[whiplash1972]

Good video by Rick Beato today…

I find the concept of being able to generate your own playlist of AI songs quite intriguing, but at what cost? Will musicians and songwriters one day become obsolete? As with all things AI related, it feels like we’re on a VERY slippery slope. 

[Geoff]

What an incredibly timely thread. 

I've just come off a week long absolute binge on Suno.com. Sadly, I think I'm down to the last of my free credits and I'm not sure what happens after that. Don't know if they are reset monthly, or if you need to pay for more credits, which you use every time you create a song. Either way, I am completely hooked. 

Anyway, I kind of found out it accidentally through a dude mucking around with it on a Fantasy footy forum I frequent through footy season. Followed the link and had a little play around on this Suno site. Didn't even realise it was "a thing" until a few weeks ago. At the time I thought you could just type in a prompt and the AI thing would generate it's own song in the stlye you prompt with a lyrical theme you suggest. Harmless fun for 15mins, but I was done with it pretty quick. 

Fast forward a month or so and again, by dumb chance, I am on the site again and I see the "custom mode" feature, in which you can add your own lyrics (up to 3000 characters) and create a song up to 4mins in length. 

To test it out I penned a really basic song, then and there, about long lost summer love, lol, and I have to admit I kind of loved one of the results. It spits out two versions at a time, and you keep adjusting your prompts, or not, and can keep hitting 'Create' if you're not pleased with the result. 

Either way, I got a tacky, but fun song out of it and pandora's box was opened. 

Leading up to and including 2001, I was constantly writing song lyrics. Endlessly. I remembered where I had them all in the backyard shed, so the next night I went in there, found the old folder and there must be something like 300-400 lyric sheets all in there. Surprise, surprise, 23+ years later it was a horrendous cringe-fest. Nothing I could share with anyone, and all about the same subject that I can see, lol, but they were all structured songs and that was good enough for me to muck around with this site. 

Annoyed I don't have them digitally, but for the past week I've just been typing the lyrics, one song at a time, onto the website and churning out song after song. So I have a very new and basic, but comprehensive starting knowledge of what this is all about, through the Suno site... don't know how many others there are.

Anyway, sorry for that massive intro, but just to paint the picture. 

I kind of love it, to be honest. There is not a single part of me that sees this as any type of threat to "real" music whatsoever, but the thought I have seen, which I can understand, is that this is only just the early stages. Who on earth knows where this will be in 10 years? 

I also assume a premium account and a person with a musical background could probably get a lot more out of it too. But for just some schmuck who never learned to play anything, I just found this to be a super fun way to turn my vintage (and terrible) lyrics into songs I can now play through my speakers, if I like. I've created about 30-35+ songs so far and a lot you just pass on, but I also have about 10 now I've added to my 2024 playlist. 

The shortcomings are plentiful, but if you treat it for what it is, it's some pretty cool harmless fun. Why "real" music is in no danger whatsoever, imo, is because the AI thing can't read your mind. How I envision the song to sound with my lyrics, is never even in the same ballpark as what the AI generator creates, which is not to say that some of the results aren't still really cool. 

Like I said, not sure how premium accounts work, or what someone with a musical background could create, but from my experience so far, there is no way to input or influence phrasing, or harmonies, or melodies or anything like that... even tempo.  If the generator creates a song you love, but you want to make some slight tweaks to it, I can't see a way to edit that song without it creating an entirely different one, which again, I'm sure is different in premium. 

Basically, as it stands, you put your words into it and type what type of music track you want as best as you can, and the rest is all up to the AI generator. The vocals are always extremely AI sounding too, and for me so far, is the main giveaway, because admittedly, the music tracks can be absolutely awesome. 

But yeah, like I say, the lack of control over vocals, phrasing, melodies, pronunciation, timing etc, and dozens more factors, means, for me, it is still light years away from actually impacting "real" music. It also often takes artistic license, repeating a verse or bridge or something, which you don't want, which can be frustrating. Again, like I say, though, early days. 

As for dance / electronic music, I can't see any reason in the world that you couldn't create a song on par with anything at all you hear in a dance club somewhere. From what I've heard, anyone can now create electronic music at a popular standard. 

Rock music, and any music with heart and soul, though, is in absolutely no danger of being replaced anytime soon, imo.  

The main thing with AI, though, is to not get insane about it. As someone who loves photography and music there's a lot of folk saying it'll be the death of photography and music... but I don't honestly believe in our lifetimes there will be any genuine substitute for the real thing. Doesn't mean you can't muck around with it and have a lot of fun with what is now actually possible, which is pretty mind-blowing, to be fair. 

Funnily enough, I haven't been able to enjoy any AI song I've heard so far (except one on that Holldrio album), but I gotta admit, it's a different beast when it's your own lyrics (terrible as they may be, lol). I had to sign in with my Apple ID last night and lost my entire library (thankfully I've been saving the good results to MP3 as I've been going along), but if I get my library back I'll see if I can share one of the results easily enough, just to give you a taste of some of the killer hooks it can still somehow create. I genuinely have the chorus to 'Faith to fall' stuck in my head and no one else will probably ever hear it, lol. Fucked that one up severely, though, having only two choruses (for creative purposes) but the AI generator created an absolute killer chorus and I wanted to add a third one, but can't... and now it's gone from my library. Thank goodness for the MP3. 

[Geoff]

Jeez that's a long post. Apologies. TL;DR. As the kids say. 

[Geoff]

Ah, fukkit, what do I care? You're my people so I'll post a link to one I/we (AI and me, lol) just did now. 

You're not telling me anything I don't know about how cringe the lyrics are, but in my defence this was written on 25th of July, 2001. Yes, even my youthful self shouldn't have been such a maggot, but I don't care too much. A slice of history, I guess you could say.

Anyway, you can see in this what I mean about awkward phrasing and melodies not how the writer intended, but you also may get a sense that the result can still be pretty fun and appealing, perhaps, if you penned your own lyrics. 

Another thing I'll say is that the almost violin/cello/accordion-sounding guitar riff seems to keep popping up in 90% of the songs I do with this or similar prompts, and I don't understand how/why that is associated with melodic rock. But it's there, constantly. Guess AI only has so many ideas so far? 

I don't like that it has the prompts (which you can see have been somewhat ignored, I guess?) and the lyrics on display, but here's an example of what I'm droning on about, for reference;

https://suno.com/song/0b797863-cd90-40b6-94da-5abe78ff98ca

 

[GarrisonDreams]

Here is a prime example of AI music!

 

[GarrisonDreams]

But in all honesty, I hope music fans can eventually use AI to digitally remaster demo recordings with shitty audio quality

[Geoff]

24 minutes ago, GarrisonDreams said:

Here is a prime example of AI music!

 

Haha, that's a cool one. 

[GarrisonDreams]

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

Haha, that's a cool one. 

If you liked that one, I think you'll find this one to be pretty cool. It's not satirical though:

 

[whiplash1972]

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

Ah, fukkit, what do I care? You're my people so I'll post a link to one I/we (AI and me, lol) just did now. 

You're not telling me anything I don't know about how cringe the lyrics are, but in my defence this was written on 25th of July, 2001. Yes, even my youthful self shouldn't have been such a maggot, but I don't care too much. A slice of history, I guess you could say.

Anyway, you can see in this what I mean about awkward phrasing and melodies not how the writer intended, but you also may get a sense that the result can still be pretty fun and appealing, perhaps, if you penned your own lyrics. 

Another thing I'll say is that the almost violin/cello/accordion-sounding guitar riff seems to keep popping up in 90% of the songs I do with this or similar prompts, and I don't understand how/why that is associated with melodic rock. But it's there, constantly. Guess AI only has so many ideas so far? 

I don't like that it has the prompts (which you can see have been somewhat ignored, I guess?) and the lyrics on display, but here's an example of what I'm droning on about, for reference;

https://suno.com/song/0b797863-cd90-40b6-94da-5abe78ff98ca

 

That’s not bad at all. I’d love to get an AOR Freaky reaction to this, as it kinda makes me think of the Nu Breed style that started taking off around ‘03 that we know he loved so much! 😂

[Geoff]

8 hours ago, GarrisonDreams said:

If you liked that one, I think you'll find this one to be pretty cool. It's not satirical though:

 

I'd be curious to know if that's generated with someone's own lyrics, or if it's just a completely AI generated song, lyrics and all. My bet would be on the latter. The day when "they" (humans, or AI?) sort out the pretty evident vocal issues, especially for hard rock / metal, will be a big advancement, because at the moment that is a homerun-out-of-the-park dead give away what you're dealing with. 

[Geoff]

8 hours ago, whiplash1972 said:

That’s not bad at all. I’d love to get an AOR Freaky reaction to this, as it kinda makes me think of the Nu Breed style that started taking off around ‘03 that we know he loved so much! 😂

That's actually fitting, considering that's when the lyrics were penned, give or take a year or two. But yeah, it does seem that no matter how much you prompt "80's" is still definitely has a "modern" edge to it. 

[CureTheSane]

10 hours ago, GarrisonDreams said:

If you liked that one, I think you'll find this one to be pretty cool. It's not satirical though:

 

 

Production is tinny

But seriously that is a pretty good tune, ticks all the melody and hook boxes.

[Darkstone]

Okay, I must be completely behind the times with this, but are you guys saying that there’s a website that allows you to create your own AI generated songs?

 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

7 hours ago, Darkstone said:

Okay, I must be completely behind the times with this, but are you guys saying that there’s a website that allows you to create your own AI generated songs?

 

Holy shit. Get with the fuckin' times! 

 

 

 

 

 

I also wanna know.

[whiplash1972]

Well, at least they aren't trying to screw over the artists.... yet.

Universal Music has signed a deal to train Artificial Intelligence to make "ultra-high fidelity vocal models" of artists signed to the label | Louder (loudersound.com)

Universal Music has signed a deal to train Artificial Intelligence to make "ultra-high fidelity vocal models" of artists signed to the label

By Fraser Lewry ( Classic Rock )

 

An AI-generated image of Jon Bon Jovi in an AI-generated version of Abbey Road (Image credit: AI Generated Content - Midjourney)

 

Universal Music, the biggest music company in the world, has signed a deal with artificial intelligence start-up Soundlabs to create what it calls "official ultra-high fidelity vocal models for artists using their own voice data for training while retaining control over ownership and giving them full artistic approval and control of the output."

 

In a nutshell, the deal allows singers signed to the label to train AI models using their own voices, meaning that that Jon Bon Jovi – in theory, at least – could record a new album using AI-generated vocals without committing his own voice to tape. The deal ensures that artists retain ownership of the results and are given full artistic approval on how they're used, so that not everyone can make a new Bon Jovi album. 

 

In a press release, Universal Music say, "It empowers artists and producers to explore bleeding-edge vocal transformations, including voice-to-voice, voice-to-instrument, speech-to-singing, language transposition, and a myriad of previously impossible vocal transformations. Together, UMG and SoundLabs are collaborating to allow UMG artists to create custom vocal models that will be available for their exclusive creative use cases, and not available to the general public."

"It's a tremendous honor to be working with the forward-thinking and creatively aligned Universal Music Group," adds Soundlabs founder BT, who dance music fans may remember from the 1986 hit Blue Skies, featuring Tori Amos. "We believe the future of music creation is decidedly human. 

"Artificial intelligence, when used ethically and trained consensually, has the Promethean ability to unlock unimaginable new creative insights, diminish friction in the creative process and democratize creativity for artists, fans, and creators of all stripes. 

 

"We are designing tools not to replace human artists, but to amplify human creativity." 

Soundlabs describe themselves as producing "ethically trained AI assistive tools for musicians that put the power in musicians' hands, and keeps it there", but the use of AI has been proposed in more controversial ways elsewhere. 

In the new issue of Classic Rock – out this Friday – Peter Frampton talks about recent plans to release AI-assisted recordings of Humble Pie using "new" vocals from late singer Steve Marriott. 

"If they [AI technicians] can do it to Steve and they’ve done it to me, what comes next? How far will they go?” says Frampton. “For me there is no place for such fakery. Using somebody’s immortal voice for anything other than its original purpose is just wrong."

 

 

[Glen]

On 6/12/2024 at 1:09 PM, Geoff said:

Ah, fukkit, what do I care? You're my people so I'll post a link to one I/we (AI and me, lol) just did now. 

You're not telling me anything I don't know about how cringe the lyrics are, but in my defence this was written on 25th of July, 2001. Yes, even my youthful self shouldn't have been such a maggot, but I don't care too much. A slice of history, I guess you could say.

Anyway, you can see in this what I mean about awkward phrasing and melodies not how the writer intended, but you also may get a sense that the result can still be pretty fun and appealing, perhaps, if you penned your own lyrics. 

Another thing I'll say is that the almost violin/cello/accordion-sounding guitar riff seems to keep popping up in 90% of the songs I do with this or similar prompts, and I don't understand how/why that is associated with melodic rock. But it's there, constantly. Guess AI only has so many ideas so far? 

I don't like that it has the prompts (which you can see have been somewhat ignored, I guess?) and the lyrics on display, but here's an example of what I'm droning on about, for reference;

https://suno.com/song/0b797863-cd90-40b6-94da-5abe78ff98ca

 

here's my effort. One of my favourite songs of the year. Absolutely love it

https://suno.com/song/29a121a1-7992-4e36-8a6e-369fb124404c

[Darkstone]

5 hours ago, Glen said:

here's my effort. One of my favourite songs of the year. Absolutely love it

https://suno.com/song/29a121a1-7992-4e36-8a6e-369fb124404c

So, I'll ask again, but what's the go here mate?

Are they your lyrics?  Do you type in a specific genre and instrument combination? What about the melody?

I should check it out myself when I have time, but I'm very curious. 

[Glen]

3 hours ago, Darkstone said:

So, I'll ask again, but what's the go here mate?

Are they your lyrics?  Do you type in a specific genre and instrument combination? What about the melody?

I should check it out myself when I have time, but I'm very curious. 

you can choose to use your own lyrics or just describe the premise and it generates them for you - the more detail you put in the closer it will be to what you want.You have 3000 characters of space. 

You then describe how the song sounds. 

It then creates 2 different songs, but you can carry on creating as many options as you want.

You only get 10 songs a day though on the free options and you can't use commercially on the free version - you know like upload to Spotify etc. 

[Darkstone]

8 hours ago, Glen said:

you can choose to use your own lyrics or just describe the premise and it generates them for you - the more detail you put in the closer it will be to what you want.You have 3000 characters of space. 

You then describe how the song sounds. 

It then creates 2 different songs, but you can carry on creating as many options as you want.

You only get 10 songs a day though on the free options and you can't use commercially on the free version - you know like upload to Spotify etc. 

Interesting. I think I'll definitely have a go myself. Thanks.

 

[Glen]

https://suno.com/song/c62ecdf8-129c-49ed-a255-bfcbab34b481

 

how about this for a cover. Will please the Journey haters 😆 I like it 

[Darkstone]

I've just started messing around with this.

It's very addictive and slightly off putting in a way. It does make you wonder where this will lead. 

[Darkstone]

I don't care where it leads.

This is pretty awesome. You've got to check this out Karpet.

It's a wild thought, but I can see this form of music becoming the greeting card of the future. 

You can make it so personalised. 

I'm sure Granny would love to be sent a personalised song in the style of Michael Buble.

I think it may be a form of Witchcraft. 

 

 

[Darkstone]

This is an example of what you can do.

You choose the style, main instruments, etc.

You then have a choice of using your own lyrics (out of my league) or typing in key words and a rough description of what you want the lyrics to incorporate. 

A mate of mine named Tony drives a white Ford Raptor ute. That's basically a luxury car down here.

I incorporated that info into a Hard Rock song and it spat this out.

I DID FUCK ALL! and it creates this killer.

Even the artwork is spot on.

 

https://suno.com/song/8711e34c-84a6-41af-aec7-ad1fc390272e

[whiplash1972]

AI definitely has some practical uses… 😂

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/SxTiH6NmD7mKKVaD/?mibextid=xCPwDs

 

[Geoff]

On 6/22/2024 at 8:07 AM, Glen said:

here's my effort. One of my favourite songs of the year. Absolutely love it

https://suno.com/song/29a121a1-7992-4e36-8a6e-369fb124404c

Haha, nice. Are they your own lyrics? 

I legit had my/(our's - Suno and I, lol) creations in my head all weekend. Had a long weekend hiking in the mountains and filled my car playlist with the best songs we've generated so far, and they were in my head all weekend. Have a big handful of ones now that I play regularly. So addictive. 

And I have literally about 100-200+ more sets of lyrics I've written in the past, all neatly filed for me to go through one by one. 

I don't know if paid subscription addresses this, but 100% my biggest "gripe" with it is that when it spits out something near-perfect, but there's just a few things you want to adjust, you can't, without generating an entirely new/different song. I wish there was a way you could keep a version you love, but amend a lyric, or add a chorus or just minor little tweaks to an already completed project. That'd be my one request, otherwise I love it.