Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Its June 18th, 2005, I'm at the Skybar
Microsoft Songsmith...What next?
quote:
Microsoft Research’s Songsmith Will Sell for $30, Match Accompaniment to Your Singing
By Peter Kirn
In a surprise announcement (well, surprising me, at least), the experimental MySong shown by Microsoft Research earlier this year will be available for sale. US$29.95 will buy you a downloadable auto-accompaniment tool. Windows-only, but it sounds as though a Mac release is in store (seriously). It’s a bit like Band-in-a-Box for singers: sing in a line, and the software will generate accompaniment to your singing with styles of your own choosing. There are thirty styles included, and apparently Microsoft focused on the content end in bringing this product to market: there’s a 1 GB space requirement and partnerships announced with PG Music and sample house Garritan.
I’m guessing PG Music, the makers of aforementioned Band in a Box, have helped smooth out the slightly unmusical arrangements generated by the first version. Now, okay, admittedly I was skeptical of the output I heard of the first version. Maybe I’m scarred because I had a high school jazz teacher who player trumpet, not piano, and therefore insisted on running Band-in-a-Box over top of me while I tried to comp on keys. But there are reasons this is cool:
* Garritan’s sample content sounds great.
* PG Music has made its auto-accompaniment a lot more musical over the years.
* The thing could be a decent sketchpad for people who find this helps them imagine musical ideas – realizing there’s no substitute for the real thing.
* Most importantly, bringing research to market is a great thing.
And let me emphasize that last point. I love that Microsoft has made this available. Too often, R&D achievements get one demo, a patent filing, and then languish in some dark closet, never to be seen again. Sure, some of them probably were never meant for the light of day, but very often people love the demo and want to give the thing a chance – and why not let you decide?
Songsmith at Microsoft Store, via istartedsomething
So a big congrats to the Microsoft R&D team. And here’s to more research seeing that light of day, whether through open source availability or commercial release (or, where appropriate, both).
So Songsmith will accompany your vocals, Apple will get Sting to teach you to play and explain how he wrote Roxanne – okay, as if this week, you really have no excuse not to graduate from Rock Band, ye casual musicians!
Updated: Oh, wait. (*&(*&$#&*. The promo video is … ?
(*&(*&$#&*. Can Microsoft just let Sparrow do all the promotion from now on, please?
well...that seems like an absolute piece of garbage.
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quote:
Scott has been introduced to the rave scene, and Ecstasy, by Craig. The two of them go out on the weekends, with some of Craigs friends, and stay up all night, dancing in a drug-fueled trance.
Last edited by Moral Hazard on Apr-26-2011 at 07:48
Jan-09-2009 16:08
LKD
Omni-peasant
Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Its June 18th, 2005, I'm at the Skybar
quote:
Originally posted by ChemEnhanced
well...that seems like an absolute piece of garbage.
for $30, i see alot of kids and teens buying this...all these american/canadian idol fanatics that think they can sing but have no music talent to go with it as well..
Registered: Dec 2003
Location: richmond hill, ontario, canada
will this be the most used piece of software by deadmaus in 2009?
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"The best car-related innovation we have is not to improve the car, but eliminate the need to drive it everywhere we go.” -Alex Steffen
Jan-09-2009 16:18
rabbitjoker
aural sadist
Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Toronto, ON, CANADA
