General

First of all: I'm a fiction writer, not a musician (aside from having been the vocalist in a band a long time ago and some very vague ongoing musical aspirations).

But I've recently discovered AI-generated music, and it's absolutely fascinating. And scarily good.

So I decided to dip my toe in those waters. Mainly because I've always thought we should have more songs to lay claim to than Weird Al's "Fat" and maybe a couple of others.

I've been playing around with it for a few days, and AI and I have come up with a couple of tracks. I wrote the lyrics and came up with the prompts for the musical style, and AI did the music and vocals. At this early stage, there's a lot of trial and error and a good deal of luck involved.

It's still in its infancy and it's not perfect, but just think...we can finally build a library of songs that cater to us!

I've uploaded two tracks here:
on.soundcloud.com/CVfjK

There will be more to come, because I'm hooked!

The first, "Plump," has kind of a retro disco rhythm. I didn't necessarily intend that--it's just how it came out. The vocals are slightly distorted in spots, which I wish I could correct, but the more changes I applied to the track, the more it started to go all wonky, so I just quit while I was ahead.

The second track, the generically named "Sugar Rush," came out beautifully. I can't believe how great it sounds. I'd go so far as to say it's actually haunting in its synth-y goodness. Definitely the kind of song that would get stuck in my head for weeks if I overheard it somewhere.

Let me know what you think!

OK, so I've uploaded another track, just 30 seconds long: what an updated Munchies theme song might sound like (the cartoon PSA, not the FF user...sorry, Munchies). I really like the result, but it took me hours and hours just to get that 30 seconds.

It's a little bit like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. With each iteration, the song changes a little...mess with it too much, and it quickly becomes unrecognizable. You almost have to get it right on the first or second try.

Okay, but this made me laugh.

I think I inadvertently may have figured out how to get the AI to make songs sound more "resolved" and ending more on a note of finality. It's still tough to make a complete song, from beginning to end, without the track sounding like more of an excerpt or sample.

I made another Munchies ditty, which came out really well. (Sorry again, Munchies, the poster...)

Like I said, I'm not really a musician. But it's fun just seeing what the technology can do. I'll keep playing around with it.

Not trying to shit on anything you're doing, but if you wanna make feedist music digitally, there are tons of tutorals and free and inexpensive programs out there for you to look into.

Just look at the Vocaloid community. Their users have made some banger songs with official and fanmade voicebanks. There are even some that can do breathy voices and vocal fry.

But yeah. Just poke around. You might find yourself capable of things you never imagioned. I know you say you're not a musician, but even if this stays a hobby, you might surpise yourself with what you can do.

Appreciate the encouragement.

I guess what I like about just using a simple prompt interface is that everything is right there and I can just use it as is.

Part of my problem is that I tend to be a completist and "need" a bunch of gadgets or tools to really get started. I always feel like I need a "real" mic, a decent guitar, a good synthesizer, mixing software, and so on.

But writing lyrics and entering in prompts...that I can do. I guess I already have some sense of rhythm and melody, so that helps some.

Makes sense.

Did you know there are digital instruments? You can use them in lieu of the real thing. Might wann look into that.

Ah, OK. So that's all going on my list now, too.

"Need...real guitar...AND digital equivalent...plus synthesizer, plus music software, plus...:"