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Artificial Intelligence as an assistant composer?

Eric G

Eric G

Active Member
Over the last 12 months, I have noticed several major technology developments being made in artificial intelligence directed at the music industry. Particularly with music composition.

Of course computer assisted composition has been around in various primitive forms for years, auto accompaniment, melody and harmony generators, but in the last 12 months more and more focus is on AI composing complete compositions.

And serious money is being thrown at the companies that are creating this technology. Two stand out as they have released or are about to release early versions of their AI driven products, AmperMusic and Hexachords.

In their marketing materials both have not been foolish enough to state they are replacing composers. Their products will be "Assistant" composers with parameters that can be controlled by the "composer". But their ambition is clear. Disrupt the music industry by allowing content creators to create custom music.

AmperMusic
https://www.ampermusic.com/
https://soundcloud.com/ampermusic
$5M invested in this start up ($4M in the last 6 months)
Initially targeted for short videos, Ads etc...and is available today as a Beta. Not many options for the composer but, the sound is decent. At this point not very impressive to a professional composer. But to a content creator....I am not too sure if its not close to being good enough.

Hexachords
https://www.hexachords.com/
https://soundcloud.com/hexachords
Investment unknown but it has been in development since 2012 with a small team. Private Alpha/Beta in the Fall 2017. Much more sophisticated. Chord Progressions, Mood, MIDI input/output, DAW integration. Their approach is much more palatable to a professional composer as it leverages your current investments in VI, DAWs etc...

My background is in the tech industry and startups come and go and get acquired by bigger well established companies to integrate into their products.

So how long will it take for this type of technology to start showing up in our DAWs? What if Cubase's Chord Track evolves into more? What if the traditional ARPs evolve ( look at the response to Sonuscore's The Orchestra with a rather basic ARP implementation)

For me, AI has a long way to go to replace composers, if at all. But there is no doubt that AI is coming. As Friend or Foe. You decide. Check them out and let me know you guys think.
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It will affect the music industry in that it will allow less skilled composers to create acceptable music with the same lack of skills. It will create a surge of cheap composers, driving down the cost of music production for B movies, some commercials, and some video games.

But I don't think it will reach any further. Artificial intelligence is still artificial. As good as it may become, no artificial engine can remember back to what its first kiss felt like, write a song that captures that moment, and sell it. For that, we'll always have composers.
 
Polkasound said:
It will affect the music industry in that it will allow less skilled composers to create acceptable music with the same lack of skills. It will create a surge of cheap composers, driving down the cost of music production for B movies, some commercials, and some video games.

Polka sound,

This has already happened.
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I don't think there's any need to worry about AI replacing composers. Because by the time AI could actually truly write monumental symphonies or real art music (can it be called real art if it was done by an AI?) AI would have already replaced every other jobs of other people in every professions. And agreed with @Polkasound artificial is still artificial. No matter how good/cool a machine could write a piece of music, I wouldn't call that piece "art". Art works are humanly creations
 
Despite my love of Sci Fi, I'm of the controversial opinion that AI and automation are actually going to make the world suck and be miserably boring, cause varying degrees of civil and political unrest, and ostensibly ruin the arts beyond all recognition; it preys on people's laziness to bolster profits under the guise of "convenience." We can replace the McDonald's workers with kiosks and screens all we want, but at the end of the day, you're still standing in the same line up.

Anyway,

I hope that AI would affect sample libraries in such a way that I can feed it raw, unadulterated MIDI on a single track and it can arrange it for orchestra in the most human, idiomatic way possible and with the click of a button, give me a completely new, random orchestration — or, I can define certain parameters or strictly tell it what lines should be what instruments. That would be amazing.

Still though, I'm really not amped for AI unless we get some sexy Cylons outta the deal.

Artificial Intelligence as an assistant composer?
 
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I think a lot of people are hoping that when AI technology gets better and starts pushing humans out of more and more jobs, their job will be one of the last ones.

I do arrangement and production. I'd actually like to replace myself with software for doing that, so I could spend more time making virtual instruments and vocalists, which is more interesting and more important to me. I've already replaced myself as a bassist a few years ago. But, to be honest, making virtual vocalists is a lot of repetitive drudgery which could be done much faster and better with some machine learning, too.
Eric G said:
In their marketing materials both have not been foolish enough to state they are replacing composers.
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Then they're not thinking big enough and fun enough. When accused of trying to replace women, a certain sex doll manufacturer responded that it's their goal to replace all humans.
 
I've been using a composing assistant (Cognitone Synfire) for quite a while. Will still take a long time until those fully replace composers.
 
I think being unique and interesting will always be uniquely human. These demos back up this theory. ;)
 
X-Bassist said:
I think being unique and interesting will always be uniquely human. These demos back up this theory. ;)
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That will be replicated too.

There is already an AI which can paint pictures that absolutely nails the style of revered artists from the renaissance.

One day, when the technology advances, AI would be able to reflect on all its experience and create something "unique" in the same way that all of your influences lead to you creating something different.
 
A.I. Will replace humanity eventually, not just in composing.No doubt in my mind that it will.A.I. is already manipulating humans,if you think it isn't...well, it's doing a good job already then.The genie is out of the box,and nobody will put it back in.The race to develop it is on, nobody will want to be left behind.
 
Artificial intelligence isn't even able to go into the kitchen and make me a cheese sandwich, no matter how expensive the hardware is. Maybe in a few years, but when I was a child I was convinced that a robot would clean the house in the year 2000.

I think it will never happen that artificial intelligence will work like we do. Not that it would be impossible but it's in no way effecient. I think really intelligent and learning composing software will create directly digitale waveforms and change it regulated by emotional feedback of listeners.
 
Saxer said:
Artificial intelligence isn't even able to go into the kitchen and make me a cheese sandwich, no matter how expensive the hardware is. Maybe in a few years, but when I was a child I was convinced that a robot would clean the house in the year 2000.

I think it will never happen that artificial intelligence will work like we do. Not that it would be impossible but it's in no way effecient. I think really intelligent and learning composing software will create directly digitale waveforms and change it regulated by emotional feedback of listeners.
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I am, not so sure about that "never" ... or why else should a brilliant thinker like Elon Musk be so afraid of AI? I don't think he's just watched to much Terminator! ;)
I am not afraid on the side of music, that the machine will surpass the human being. But I know the film business and its superficiality and focus on business. There, I am afraid that we could get to a point, where a human being is just a chooser and picker of what the machine offers. Listening to a lot of scores nowadays, the musical essence that is offered here makes this kind of process entirely possible. Look, how many things get done with libraries, nowadays? This is not so far from AI offering some combinations, actually! I am pretty sure there will be programs to make that possible on a grand scale. And looking at how many jobs library music is killing, this could kill even more.
 
I heard some demos and noticed the artificiality but not the intelligence. I dont belive in AI. My mobile phone does not have AI, but it has a lot of artificial stupidity...and at the end i guess that this is what Elons Musk and all are afraid of.
 
ChristianM said:
I'm use also Synfire Pro for prototype since several years.
It's wonderfull too!:)
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I own Synfire Pro. I really love how it sparks my creativity.

However, Hexachords Orb Composer's stated functionality goes way beyond Synfire Pro. Take a look and let me know what you think.
 
DSmolken said:
Then they're not thinking big enough and fun enough. When accused of trying to replace women, a certain sex doll manufacturer responded that it's their goal to replace all humans.
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Trust me, if you read around their web sites, the subtext is clear. They want to eventually replace composers.

They simply don't want to tick off composers right out of the gate. Someone has to be around to push the button ;)
 
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