Microsoft Songsmith!

[DarkHand]

I have no idea how I never heard of this until now.

Microsoft Songsmith is an application that automatically makes music. You sing into the mic, and it procedurally generates a melody to match, all by itself.

That's cool and all, but here's what's awesome: People are taking the vocal tracks from popular songs and running that through the software, creating some amazing (or amazingly hilarious) creations in the process!

Here are a whole bunch of the best ones I've heard so far:


Eye of the Tiger as a ballad:
YouTube - Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith: "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor

How about Ozzy Osbourne as a Polka! Vocals start at about 0:40:
YouTube - Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith: "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne

I heard it thtough the grapevine:
YouTube - Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith: "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye

I think this is my favorite one: 'Take On Me' works hilariously well as a Big Band song! It's a little muddled until the first refrain, then it's awesome.:
YouTube - Take On Me - A-Ha vs Songsmith

And a crapton more awesome ones:


YouTube - Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith: "Buddy Holly" by Weezer
YouTube - Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith: "Beat It" by Michael Jackson
YouTube - Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith: "Roxanne" by The Police
YouTube - Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith: "Hotel California" by The Eagles

Yes they suck musically, but the technology and entertainment value make up for it.

 

[get_nick]

so if you start singing and don't like the music, you have to start over and hope it plays a new song?

 

[DarkHand]

so if you start singing and don't like the music, you have to start over and hope it plays a new song?

You sing first, then it starts processing. It spits out a song that incorporates and matches up with what you sang.

 

[DarkHand]

The Rickroll as a metal song!

YouTube - Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith: "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley (metal version)

He cheated in this one though... You can give the software 'hints', and it looks like he did here. Good when you're making your own composition, but part of the fun with famous song vocals is seeing what the computer comes up with on its own.

 

[hondasaurus]

very strange yet fascinating. if only it generated some jacked-up music video too.