# Making music with AI

<p class="callout danger">*Please note that this quickstart does not deal with the question of whether you SHOULD be using generative AI in your processes. These quickstarts are part of our own sessions in which we make this an integral part of the discussion and process.*</p>

### AI &amp; Music

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been playing a significant role in the way music is created, distributed,  
and listened to for several years. Consider, for example, Spotify's 'you might also like' recommendations.  
These apps usually utilize AI algorithms. Furthermore, tools have existed for some time that can isolate  
the 'stems' (instruments and vocals) within a song.

Relatively new are *generative* AI tools trained to create something new. Think of ChatGPT for text,  
Stable Diffusion for images, Runway for video, and Suno for music. 'Creating something new' is relative  
here: the software is usually particularly good at creating new variations based on all the material it  
has been trained on previously.

Whether all this is morally and legally permissible and desirable is a discussion in itself. However, for  
musicians, the developments also offer interesting opportunities for new forms of musical creative  
processes and music education. Consider experimenting with merging styles or creating a cover of your  
own song with a different voice.

Video made by Sander Huiberts that showcases various tools: [https://nextcloud.hku.nl/s/WwQGndyw7LTtrKt](https://nextcloud.hku.nl/s/WwQGndyw7LTtrKt)

#### What role can AI play in musical creative processes?

You'll find that professional creators almost always choose to collaborate with AI for only part of the  
creative process (except for a few AI enthusiasts). Within this, there are many choices. A few  
examples:  
\- [De Staat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKN2qlUIGpM) wrote, sang, and played the song for 'Running backwards into the future' themselves but  
created the 'dreamy' music video in collaboration with Stable Diffusion Deforum.  
\- [Holly Herndon's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4sROgbaeOs) third full-length album 'PROTO' isn’t about AI, but much of it was created in collaboration with her own AI Spawn; a voice model (mostly) trained on her own voice. In [this podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2EmbWTDjaG08pthJ0nleI3?si=87561cb4bcd846dc) she discusses the history of generative AI music tools with Dadabots.  
\- [The \[Uncertain\] Four Seasons](https://the-uncertain-four-seasons.info/) is a global project that recomposed Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ by AI using climate data for every orchestra in the world to grasp what 2050 will sound like.  
\- The AI song '[Heart on my sleeve](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD2V-WrhGpg)' used voices from Drake and The Weeknd, but the lyrics and vocal  
input were done by TikTokker Ghostwriter977 himself.  
\- SETUP and *Pure Ellende* experimented in 2021 with an AI-generated ‘[smartlap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmjy64fwjEE)’ (folk song), but the  
lyrics were only half generated by GPT-2 (alternating one line by the AI and one by a human).

In recent months, we also see tools appearing that generate tracks without needing a text, voice, or  
sample as input. Stable Audio does this for (electronic) music without (understandable) vocals. Suno  
gives you the choice to write or generate lyrics and then combines vocals and instruments in a style of  
your choice. It still sounds a bit crackly, but such a song might inspire a new melody, a piece of text, or  
a combination of music styles.

#### Want to experiment yourself?

\- [Suno.ai](https://suno.com/): Generate songtext and music including vocals. (Temporary) free account needed.  
\- [StableAudio.com](https://bookstack.hku.nl/StableAudio.com): Generate music without vocals. Free account required.  
\- [Sounds.studio](https://sounds.studio/): AI enhanced DAW for stem splitting, text to audio, style transfer, voice swapping. (Free account + credits required)  
\- [Vocalremover.org](https://bookstack.hku.nl/Vocalremover.org): Separate vocals and instruments from existing audio files.  
\- [Voicify.ai](https://bookstack.hku.nl/Voicify.ai): Voice changer. Paid plan only.