joshbuhler.com

The commercial for it is a joke.

The resulting sound quality is terrible.

It comes from Microsoft.

All good reasons to brush it off as one big joke, right?

I’m referring to Songsmith, a new application by Microsoft Research. So what’s the point of it? From the Songsmith site:

Songsmith generates musical accompaniment to match a singer’s voice. Just choose a musical style, sing into your PC’s microphone, and Songsmith will create backing music for you. Then share your songs with your friends and family, post your songs online, or create your own music videos.

Now, forgetting all of the things mentioned above, the purpose of the application is actually a pretty good idea, and something that someone like me could actually use. I’m not a great songwriter, and I’ve never actually finished any of the song ideas that I have. One big problem I have is that I’ll come up with a melody or guitar lick that I like, but then fail miserably at coming up with an accompaniment for it. The fact that Songsmith exists means that I’m not the only one with that problem.

My opinion is that much of the hate directed towards Songsmith is due to the commercial, and the fact that Microsoft is behind it. Because we all love to hate on Microsoft, right? (I’m guilty of participating in that crowd - I love my Xbox, but could care less about the rest of Microsoft’s offerings.)

However, imagine the reaction to this had it been produced by Apple. Obviously, the video introducing it would be much better. The video would most likely feature someone like John Mayer (or whomever happens to be Steve’s favorite act at the moment) firing off some series of licks on his guitar, and then with a few clicks generates a backing track that fits with his guitar track. Like Songsmith, the output wouldn’t be perfect, but it’d be a good jumping off point to help you flesh out some of your musical ideas. I think we could all agree that Apple would produce something that would definitely be slicker, and help sell this idea much better than Microsoft did.

Regardless of who produces the application though, why is this idea the biggest joke of the internet so far? I would love to see Songsmith, or something like it continue to evolve. Is the output of Songsmith perfect? No. Would it be if anyone else made it? No. But would it serve as a good place to work on some song ideas? Of course.

However, rather than a standalone application, I’d like to see it as a plugin for existing recording/sampling software, or as a feature in GarageBand. Build it into something like a Cyber Amp or a POD, and use it to save those little bits of inspiration you get when you’re playing your guitar. This would even be great as part of a game like RockBand or Guitar Hero - just plug in the mic, sing your lyrics, add some drum tracks, and share it with your friends.

As much as I cringed watching that video, and hearing those people sing, I still thought it was a pretty good idea, and wish the Songsmith team the best of luck.

Yes, there used to be a few more comments here, but I’ve decided that the discussion between the poster of those comments and my responses weren’t worth leaving online. Call it censorship, cowardice, arrogance, or whatever you want, it doesn’t matter. It’s my blog.