The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Microsoft is marketing a new app: Songsmith. It autotunes a melody along with a recorded vocal track. While the presets in this video sound hideously cheesy, there's much promise if they make it possible to select different instruments.

Now I know that it's rather rudimentary, but I'm really enthralled by the idea of using it as a sketchpad - singing is the most immediate way (for me at least) to generate some melodies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oGFogwcx-E

On another note, 'Glow In The Dark Towels' would make a great Songfight title.

All the songs in the commercial sound hopelessly bland and generic, like they were composed in Wii Music or something. Not to mention that they all sounded alike.

I'd be interested to see what kind of algorithm they used to determine what chord goes where; it would need to be at least a little complex to avoid consistently churning out I-IV-V progressions, but if the progressions are automatically generated, then how useful can it be?

That vid cracked me up. The song smith program will get me one step closer to being like Charlie Harper.
....oh, and I want a glow in the dark towel.

If you watch the video of the guy doing a demo at his desk, when he turns it to "Sad" the chords don't match well with the melody.

Also, this basically requires you to be able to stay in key, I think. I'd like to hear what happens when someone who doesn't sing well tries it. Also be interesting to hear what it does with pop music melodies-- did you hear the Songsmith With The Devil that somebody did from that scratch track of David Lee Roth? Pretty interesting.

But overall, I call bullshit on Songsmith. Maybe this tech would have some use in a real DAW, some kind of suggestion function to help you work with chords. Or a REAL songwriting utility, how about that. I'd love a program that I can sit in front of and it will let me type in lyrics, has a thesaurus and rhyming dictionary, lets me easily do chord charts and work on the structure of a song, and then outputs scratch tracks for Cubase/Reaper.

Somebody make that for me.

It doesn't look entirely retarded. You can change the key so it's not in that gay G Maj, edit all the notes in the individual chords, and export the midi file to use in, say, Reason.

jb wrote: Also, this basically requires you to be able to stay in key, I think. I'd like to hear what happens when someone who doesn't sing well tries it.

This guy's singing kind of lapses into tunelessness when he tries it, and he basically raps for his attempt at "R&B." The result isn't cacophonous, by any stretch of the imagination, but it definitely isn't interesting.



This whole thing just keeps making me think of that thing Brian Eno said about loop beds: "If the music has no soul, it's because no one ever bothered to put it there." Or something. I think Roymond knows the actual quote.

Jon, after seeing the vid you posted, I'm 100% convinced that this program was design with Rone Rivendale as the model user.

jb wrote:did you hear the Songsmith With The Devil that somebody did from that scratch track of David Lee Roth? Pretty interesting.

I heard the DLR vocal track, which was cool. He has a one of a kind voice. But, I don't see a somgsmith using it. That would be interesting to hear what music songsmith gives it. Link?

jb wrote:http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin ... -Songsmith

That is just SO wrong. Is it my imagination, or did ss try to adjust Dave's pitch in a few spots? It could just be an earical illusion because of the ss melody. But it is interesting hearing how ss changes the melody to his vocal changes.

Generic wrote:

That's atrocious.

But yeah, I watched the microsoft preview of it, and it seems pretty gimicky. Just put on a drum loop and learn to play a few chords ... wow, magically you're more capable than this program already. Unless it has some hidden powers I haven't witnessed yet.

Magic powers? It's always at the same level of inspiration. It may be crap, but you can count on it to churn out song after song of the same retarded "general midi" drivel. Kinda like a lot of major label songwriters...

jb wrote:If you watch the video of the guy doing a demo at his desk, when he turns it to "Sad" the chords don't match well with the melody.

Maybe it was 'sad' as in 'pathetic'...

jb wrote:did you hear the Songsmith With The Devil that somebody did from that scratch track of David Lee Roth?

I also found one with Sting's vox from 'Roxanne', over what I'm guessing is the 'Latin' setting:
[youtube]<object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ypycpKQxXR0&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ypycpKQxXR0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>[/youtube]
Funny as hell. These really reveal how the program works (and doesn't).

Billy's Little Trip wrote:....oh, and I want a glow in the dark towel.

I have one that glows in the dark when you shine black light on it.

HansGruber wrote:

Billy's Little Trip wrote:....oh, and I want a glow in the dark towel.

I have one that glows in the dark when you shine black light on it.

So....you have a white towel?

This will be just like any other software that purports to turn untalented/lazy people into guitar players/singers/writers/artists et. al. People who bring talent to the software will make it rock. People who expect the software to bring talent to them will still suck.

jb wrote:http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin ... -Songsmith

Oh dear god, that was hilariously fucked up!

jb wrote:http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin ... -Songsmith

NO FUCKING WAY! THAT HAS TO BE HOBLIT! JUST HAS TO.

anti-m wrote:

jb wrote:http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin ... -Songsmith

Oh dear god, that was hilariously fucked up!

Yeah, if for nothing else, I at least want to get this just to makes some Songsmith mashups!

Here are some of the better Songsmith "remixes" that people have found

Here's some more