2.09.2009

Songsmith

Have any of you heard of this? It's a new program developed by Microsoft that will take your voice/lyrics and apply music to it in whatever style you like. So you could make up some stupid little diddy, record it, load it into Songsmith, choose "reggae" or "techno" or whatever, and Songsmith produces the music to back up your vocals.

To anyone who appreciates a beautifully, brilliantly crafted song, this program is all kinds of sad and terrifying and perverse. Microsoft is trying to say "Look! Anyone can be a musician! Anyone can write a song!", which is JUST. NOT. TRUE.

Luckily there are people out there who have the time to spoof everything under the sun. And they have turned this program on its head.

I give you: "Creep" by Radiohead. Someone isolated Thom Yorke's vocals and loaded it up into Songsmith, and this is the result. (If you don't already know this song, don't bother. This won't be of any interest to you. Although the obvious dichotomy between the original video and the fabricated music is worth watching.)


Youtube has a whole slew of these. Just search "classic hits by microsoft songsmith" on Youtube and waste some time cringing and laughing and wondering where we are headed as a civilization.

4 comments:

McBlaney said...

oh my god... this might be the most depressing thing i've ever listened to in my entire life.

usafhockey said...

ditto... its kinda of like a creepy osmonds version...
-L

Anonymous said...

Wow, even Gates can't make Radiohead interesting. Much as I hate to defend a corporation, I don't think they're saying this thing can turn you into Bach. It just allows us tin-ears to experience a little bit of the sensation of quasi-creating. A duck is still a duck.

Laura Sue said...

John, you are ridiculous. Radiohead is IT. But you make a good point - I tend to overanalyze things. You're probably right. Just a stupid little program for kids to get a kick out of. Not the Death of Civilization.