Microsoft Songsmith

[Curt]

- well, then you too will get the best of both worlds... 

[Lashiec]

The father in the ad is actually one of the developers, Dan Morris. The guy in the coffee shop is another developer, but I don't know his name.

-zridling (January 13, 2009, 09:20 PM)

That shows the ad is far from being an 'ad', it's probably another mock ad like the others done by Microsoft over the years, there was one a while ago about Vista SP1 with some of the Windows developers mimicking Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, it wasn't as funny though. Clearly, Microsoft employees don't know the meaning of the word 'embarrasment'

In any case, I don't see Microsoft Songsmith replacing musicians anytime soon. Replacing pop stars might be another matter...

[Xenonym]

Isn't this sort of thing pretty prevalent already?

[40hz]

Isn't this sort of thing pretty prevalent already?

-Xenonym (January 29, 2009, 06:11 AM)

It dates back before the advent of the personal computer. Algorithmic composition and creativity was one of the earliest topics for research in the mainframe computer era.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Algorithmic_music

http://www.thinkarti...tificial-creativity/

http://en.wikipedia..../wiki/Computer_music

And this is the link for much of what's going on in research today:

http://www.flexatone...t/algoNet/index.html

This site provides a comprehensive research resource for computer aided algorithmic music composition, including over one-thousand research listings, over one hundred system listings, cross referenced links to research, links to software downloads and documentation, and web-based tools for searching and filtering the complete lexicon.

Browse systems
Browse resources
Search algorithmic.net
Learn more about algorithmic.net

[40hz]

Remember "Band in a Box"? This seems similar to that, except this appears to fill in a harmony based on the melody of your voice.

-CWuestefeld (January 13, 2009, 08:32 PM)

Band-in-a-Box goes way beyond what MS is doing. BIAB is a marvelously useful app for music composition education. It also has sufficient depth that it frequently finds a role in professional settings.

But BIAB's best feature (and biggest selling point) is that it's fun to play with. I think Microsoft realized the importance of that when they created Songsmith.

After looking at the advert video, I wouldn't be at all surprised that MS is licensing some of the technology used in Band-in-a-Box.

---

P.S. I don't know who wrote that ad, but whoever did really needs to get out of marketing. I have seldom sat through something quite so painful as that. One minute into it and I was actually cringing with embarrassment for the actors. Hope they got paid well.

[Crush]

Algorithmic compositions? I remember that I often listened to Algomusic on the Amiga.
The additional automatic song name generation was sometimes very funny.