[Yr7-10it] Songsmith

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Here's a bit of fun. According to accounts, it works very well indeed:

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

Free 98Mb download, and then after six hours, around $40 .. 

They say ..


Get your first taste of songwriting.
  
Ever sing in the car? Maybe in the shower? You know who you are. Admit 
it, you like to sing, and you like music. Ever thought of writing your 
own music? Most people never get a chance to try... but we want to give 
everyone a piece of the songwriting experience, so we’ve developed 
Songsmith, an application that lets you create a complete song just by 
singing! Are we going to turn you into an award-winning songwriter 
overnight? Of course not. But Songsmith will give you a way to create 
something authentically musical and authentically yours, even if you 
don’t know the first thing about chords or music theory.

It’s as simple as clicking “record”.
  

Just open up Songsmith, choose from one of thirty different musical 
styles, and press record. Sing whatever you like – a birthday song for 
Mom, a love song for that special someone (they’ll be impressed that you 
wrote a song for them!), or maybe just try playing with your favorite pop 
songs. As soon as you press “stop”, Songsmith will generate musical 
accompaniment to match your voice, and play back your song for you. It’s 
that simple.

Songsmith is for musicians too.
  

For songwriters, is Songsmith going to replace the craft of songwriting? 
Never. Could it be a super-useful “intelligent scratchpad” for exploring 
new melodies and ideas? Definitely. If you’re a songwriter, you’ve 
probably had the experience of coming up with a melody and finding the 
nearest object with a “record” button on it just to get your idea down. 
Imagine that first quick experience also letting you explore chord 
progressions, styles, even basic arrangement ideas. Then of course you'd 
work with other tools, other people, your instruments, and your own 
musical intuition to really develop a song. But Songsmith can be a great 
tool that lets you quickly explore new ideas in places where you couldn’t 
before (on the go, on the bus, in the airport, etc.). And Songsmith works 
great with instrumental input too! 

Make it your song.
  

Of course, Songsmith’s ideas might not be exactly what you want for your 
song. It’s music after all, and there’s no single right answer. So 
Songsmith not only comes up with music for your song, but puts you in the 
driver’s seat by letting you customize the chords and arrangement for 
your song, even if you've never heard of “chords” before. Move 
the “happy” and “jazzy” sliders around to get the chords you want. Lock 
the chords you like and let Songsmith change the ones you don’t. Set up 
your own custom band. Make it your song!

What can I do with the songs I make?
  

Save your songs as audio files to send to your friends and family or post 
online at social networking sites. Share your Songsmith files with your 
friends so they can put their ideas into your songs. Even create music 
videos!

Rich instrument sounds make all the difference.
  

We’ve partnered with one of the industry’s finest digital instrument 
producers – Garritan – and one of the leading developers of computer 
synthesizers – Plogue – to provide rich instrumentation for your song. 
These instruments are the real deal, and you can judge for yourself over 
at our music page. Change the instruments as much as you like, and if you 
want even more professional sounds, Songsmith will help you buy 
additional instruments from Garritan.

Styles to suit everyone’s taste.
  

Songsmith includes thirty musical styles, from Rock to Hip-Hop to Country 
to Jazz. We’ve tried to span the landscape of musical styles so you can 
explore a variety of songs, and so a wide variety of folks can enjoy 
Songsmith. And if you want even more breadth, we've partnered with PG 
Music – makers of Band-in-a-Box – to allow you to expand your collection 
of styles by purchasing more styles from PG Music

--

Cheers,
Stephen