AI meets Music Composition - Meet AIVA
AviaIf you read my recent blog post about Chat GPT, it’s probably not very surprising that I have been down a rabbit hole ever since, exploring how AI (artificial intelligence) has grown so rapidly in the last few years. Everyone that I have shown Chat GPT to has been blown away, and similarly kind of frightened by it. My Googling has brought me to the precipice of another DEEP rabbit hole - this time applying AI to music composition. Oh boy.
While there are a few really slick music composition AI programs out there, including Amper, MuseNet, Soundraw, and many others, I have been exploring one called Aiva for the past few days, and I am similarly obsessed, amazed and frightened by this AI too. Most of these AI programs are available through paid monthly or annual subscriptions, but I’ve been able to enjoy the free version of Aiva for a few days now and I am impressed. They also have paid accounts if you want to use the compositions for any commercial use.
Once you sign up for an account, you are brought to your dashboard, where you can click Create Track.
From there, you can select from hundreds of preset styles, even adding “Influences” which allows you to upload audio or MIDI that you would like Aiva to emulate. I chose Epic Orchestra (Modern Cinematic) for my first foray into AI composition.
I selected B-flat major for Key Signature, 30 seconds - 1 minute in length, and one 1 composition, and then clicked Create Track. This is what it composed for me (in less than 10 seconds). Pretty incredible - and scary.
Once the track has been created, you can click on the “more” menu and open the Editor. That’s right - there is a built in multitrack sequencer, with piano roll notation, that you can open up to edit what the AI algorithm has created for you. The free desktop app is required to actually go in and edit individual tracks. You can edit note, tempo, add notes, change instruments, have it regenerate parts if you don’t like them, you name it. I am blown away by this technology and freaked out a little too.
I am not quite sure where this is all heading, but I do think it has the potential to make a pretty big impact on music making, and music learning. First, these services are being pitched to video and film creators, as well as video game creators as a way of composing royalty-free music for their projects. That means that these programs are creating soundtracks and music for video without employing actual composers. These services cost a few hundred dollars a year - far less than you’d have to pay a person to compose something for you. Great for video and film makers - bad for composers. Frankly, I’m at a loss for how this is a good thing for professional composers.
In terms of educational uses for these algorithms, yes they can be used for non-music students to create original soundtracks for projects that they are working on in school, whether it is background music for a podcast or video. They could also be used to generate music for students to analyze in a music theory class. It could also be used to generate music in various genres to students.
One way that I know I would use this technology with my students is to explore the ethical and moral impact of AI on the creative process - specifically in relation to music. If code that is created by humans that is programmed to emulate but never copy existing music - changing it ever so slightly to create new original works, what is the role of a composer. What is creativity? Will AI programs like this replace composers?
The good news is that almost all of the pieces that I have created are pretty boring from a musical perspective. Kind of bland, very “vanilla”, nothing really interesting. I am truly hoping it stays that way for as long as possible, otherwise composers better start thinking of new careers.