Why did it have to Microsoft?

[Gunleik Groven]

RED should really do something like this for the filmcommunity, and there'd be nothing but blockbusters all over.

Shame on you Jim for not focusing and taking up the glove!

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/

[Joel Kaye]

OMG - Dilbert, the musical. That may have been the worst infomercial I've ever seen. Yeah... that's the hip new thing.

[Ethan Cooper]

Seriously, who else but Microsoft could rape the creative process of music making like this? Sadly, I think most Top 40 music is being made using this technology now.

I feel sorry for those actors. This thing is sure to be a viral hit and now they'll be tied to this crapfest forever. They'll never work again.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Sadly, I think most Top 40 music is being made using this technology now.

I completely agree with that, but coming from the opposite direction. I think it's been that way for the last 10+ years, only now the geniuses at Microsoft have found a way to put this methodology into easy to use consumer software. OMG.... Run for your lives!!! Or at least cover your ears.

If Microsoft wants to take over the world, all they need to do is release Songsmith as a free app for the iPhone with direct export for ringtones and itunes.


I feel sorry for those actors. This thing is sure to be a viral hit and now they'll be tied to this crapfest forever. They'll never work again.

Yep. And if I happened to own a company that made glow in the dark towels, I'd be seriously pissed off right now.

[dmoore]

You shouldn't be blogging these thoughts in prose...you should be singing them! How else are you gonna turn your life into a Hollywood musical?

[Martin Weiss]

I think most Top 40 music is being made using this technology now.

Well, if you look at the background of Songsmith (what a typical Microsoft name!), it says
Basically, we’ve used a database of about 300 popular songs to train a mathematical model with the basic statistics of what chords sound good with each other and what chords sound good with different types of melodies. Note this is a statistical model... we’re not taking your melody and peeking into a database to find similar bits of melody when we make new chords. Instead, Songsmith has learned the basic statistics of chord sequences, and uses those statistics to generate new chords when you sing a new melody.
Maybe not so surprising then that is sounds like you've heard it all before. Because you have.

Btw, there is some software out there that can analyze music and tell you how likely it is to succeed commercially. A number of producers/companies are using it all the time.

[Martin Weiss]

Also from Microsoft
Songsmith happened because a couple of enthusiastic researchers at Microsoft Research happen to love making music.Let us all pray that there are no film lovers over in Redmond Research.:angry03: