Musicians' Corner

How to make Music Styles for Song Smith???

magicmermaid — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:33:16 GMT

Does anyone know how to make custom music paks/styles for songmith?

Feature Requests

thinkstorm — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:36:38 GMT

Set chords of endings
Split bars into two chords selectively (not all!)
Drag + Drop of .songsmith files
Shift-Select and Ctrl-Select of multiple bars for LOCK
Repeat of sections for choruses
Copy+Paste of sections with and without vocals
Correct right-mouse-click bar canvas menu (always shows add/delete bar at end, regardless where I click)
Key-changes within the song
Export to Band-In-A-Box :)
Selectively change accompany patterns (I like some of the variation patterns, some I don't)

chord generation ??

leighbeynon2002 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:40:17 GMT

is it possible to generate fresh chords that fit with an acappella i have ??

just so i can have some fun remixing some old tracks ?

thanks leigh

Interview with Dan Morris on Internet Radio pending

Steve Sikes-Nova — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:08:21 GMT

Hello fellow musicians/vocalists! My name is Steve Sikes-Nova and I am a non-instrument-playing. signed vocalist and executive producer (on Umbrello Records, Londond|New York) and the host of 'Newgrass, Prog & More! Web Radio & Interviews' on live365.com.

Dan is a very cool guy (and a musician himself!) and has agreed to an audio interview with me about Microsoft Research's revolutionary new music product, Songsmith.

We are currently getting this interview together - as you can imagine, Dan's schedule is PACKED given the surprise announcement of Songsmith at CES - and I/we will let you know when it is available on my internet radio station.

These are, indeed, exciting times for songwriters like me thanks to Dan and his Microsoft Research Team!

Best,

:)Steve S-N

Newgrass, Prog & More! Web Radio

Using Songsmith to make a full song

songsmithrichard — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:36:01 GMT

0. Adjust the microphone (one time thing)

Recording levels
Adjust recording level so that
singing medium loudness vocals show low levels on the bar meter and
singing loud vocals show more than halfway but not peaking all the way.

Recording latency
Start the record and say a quick syllable "Da!" exactly when you hear the start of a measure. Do this for several measures. Stop the recording and examine the start of the red visual audio waveform. Adjust the recording latency until your recording of the syllable shows audio waveforms starting right at the beginning of each measure.

1. Record a rough guide track.

Pay extra care when selecting the tempo and style. After you record, you are stuck with the tempo and time signature for the remainder of this particular songsmith project. If you choose a 3/4 style you will only be able to use other 3/4 styles for this particular songsmith project. Of the 30 styles (not counting the expansion packs), 2 are 3/4 and 28 are 4/4. If in doubt, stay away from using the 3/4 styles because you will be limited to a selection of only 2 styles.

Make a separate songsmith project for each part of the song, i.e.: intro, verse, chorus, bridge, ending.

Set the style to piano ballad, set the happiness to middle (not too bright, not too dark) and the jazzines to minimum (lowest complexity). Press record and hum the intro of the song with at least one empty measure before and after. Make sure to hum the correct pitch and in time with the beat. If your pitch is off or if your main beats aren't at the start of each measure the chord calculation will be inaccurate.

2. Adjust the chords. (change tempo here)

Turn down the vocal level (but not all the way down) so you can hear the instruments clearly. Lock down the chords that sound correct. Try different chords for the unlocked measures until you find the chords that sound best. Lock down the chords as you find them. I find that piano ballad is the best style for this step.

If you want to change the tempo of the song and time signature you can write down a list of the measure numbers and chords, start a new songsmith project, set the new tempo, and then enter the chords manually from the list. If you want a 3/4 time signature pick a style with 3/4 in the name. All other styles are 4/4.

3. Record the final audio.

You can skip this step if you like the audio the way it is. Otherwise, record the final audio. The previous audio will be erased but the chords will remain intact.

4. Adjust the mix.

Play around with the different styles, instruments, and instrument volumes until you get the best-sounding combination.

5. Create the other song parts.

Repeat the above steps for the other parts of the songs, creating a separate songsmith project for each part, i.e.: intro, verse, chorus, bridge, ending.

6. Put the song parts together.

Export the audio of each songsmith project as .wav files a edit them together using Audacity (a free program you can get from the internet).

Wow - lots of fun

Cork Kyle — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:29:39 GMT

First of all, thank you. I'm a complete novice and am having a LOT of fun using Songsmith (after using it a couple of hours I was so hooked that I bought it).

My one wish would be to re-record a small section of vocals without having to re-record all of the vocals.

An easy way to present that, without complicating the interface, would be to allow contiguous bars to be selected - then when the record button was pressed, only the selected bars would be recorded.

Fine work folks!

Cork

ASIO

BeelMon — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:14:24 GMT

Hi Dan,

Congratulations to you and your team for a powerful, fun, and very useful songwriting technology. Its beauty is in its simplicity. I think musicians of all levels will swarm around Songsmith and buy it, but I think it is absolutely necessary to suppot ASIO devices. With computer recording and virtual instruments plug ins, most, if not all, interface devices are ASIO based. Not being technically savvy on the software build side of things, I don't know what is involved in bringing ASIO compatibility into the Songsmith architecture. Since ASIO has become an off the shelf technology, I hope this will be accomplished and made part of Songsmith. I love the program, and, the fact that everyone now has a shot at song creation and expression.

All together now....,

BeelMon

songsmith use- education????

musichollie — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:24:13 GMT

I am just downloading the trial now, so maybe I'll answer my own question..... I teach elementary music and always have students writing their own songs on their own- and I have done a unit in the past where kids wrote their own songs, based on my parameters. I'm wondering about your ideas:

1. How could I encorporate this program into my teaching

2. Would you eventually consider doing a site license? (my IT department is very tight on this- legitimately so- and would NEVER allow me to download this many "trial" programs for an entire computer lab)

Another suggestion for the future

Notes_Norton — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:30:21 GMT

Here's another suggestion for future editions--unless it is already in place and I just don't know where to find it:

How about a MIDI input? Many musicians are much more comfortable with creating a melody on a MIDI instrument instead of a voice. Of course you can do that by using the audio out of your MIDI instrument, but some of my MIDI instruments are simply controllers.

Thanks for listening,

Notes

Shareprices Converted With Microsoft Songsmith

kyor — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:07:39 GMT

look, cool idea:

Charts Music

Shareprices Converted With Microsoft Songsmith
The Billion-Dollar-Song

http://kreidler-net.de/chartsmusic.html

Working in Songsmith

HomerJSimpson — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:33:32 GMT

Is there a way to copy and set of bars and then paste them further along in the song? This would be a really useful feature if there isn't already a way to do it.

Second, is there a way to transpose the key to something other than Songsmith decided was right for the vocal? I realize I could go and change the chord in each bar but that would be rather tedious.

Thanks!

Homer J.

Checking it out.

jump — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:35:59 GMT

First, congratulations on the release of a major work of research.

Second, congratulations on the release of a major piece of collaboration with experienced developers (Plogue, Garritan, BIAB).

Third, congratulations on presenting an application that can spread the possibilities of artistic creation to the multitudes.

Fourth . . . Oh, I've got a lot more, but let's leave it here for now.

As a musician who has been performing since the early '50's and writing (arranging, composing) since the middle-late '50's, and as someone who has led bands over many years, I bring some experience and insight to my evaluation of your application. I also bring a willingnes to take on your nay-sayers--but will refrain from "flame wars."

Speaking to the concept, I have to say that it's what I see as an appropriate use of technology. I might make use of it myself as a sketchpad for creativity, when I've evaluated it. A sketchpad is sorely needed. BIAB has it's place, but it's serious "overkill." Yes, I own BIAB, and have had it for many years, through many versions. I also have some serious DAWs, including SONAR Producer Edition 8. I also have GPO, JABB and CaMB. I'm glad to see that these are the samples that are included in your application, as these choices give Songsmith a fair chance. By having quality sounds underpinning the interface people will have a reasonably good quality output, even with less than "professional" quality audio hardware in their computers.

Until I've had a chance to fully explore the application I wouldn't begin to compile a "wish list" of features. I will, however, commit to do so when it's appropriate. I wanted to offer my initial comments to establish a more positive base for discussion about the concept, and about the invitation to others to express themselves musically. I've been all over the map of music software, and have to tell you that your offering is, indeed, unique. Other developers have produced programs for the "novice" musician, but they have all been based on the assumption that their audience could actually play an instrument. For the most part, all of their processes begin with the premise that the musician will join them, rather than that they should join the musician. Another post seemed to warn that a lot of really bad musicians would flood the airwaves with poor quality music; I would suggest that it's the other way around, that, in fact, the airwaves (radio and television, as well as the internet) are already filled with poor quality music. Your application at least gives a chance to surround an amateur with quality backing. Perhaps the stars of tomorrow will emerge through use of a program such as yours.

One last point: I find it laudible that MS supports research such as this. Ideas are our real wealth, and realizing an idea--having it, testing it, proving it out--often takes money. Promoting it takes money, and faith in people who have ideas. This deserves special recognition.

Thank you for what may prove to be a valuable tool. Thank you for what is definitely an idea that's worth the time it will take to look at it.

Enter Treble clef out Bass Clef ?

calvin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:44:45 GMT

Hi guys, I would appreciate if you could tell me, if songsmith does the following..

1) I have some sheet piano music with only treble clef, only the melody notes. I would like some beautiful bass clef or piano chords to go along with the melody, so that it can be played with my other left hand. I play melody with my right hand. I do not know chord theory or progressions to come up with corresponding bass clef myself.

Is there anyway Songsmith can do that. In summary what I want is

Input into Song Smith = Sheet music with Treble Clef for Piano.Output from Songsmith = Sheet Music with both Bass Clef and Treble Clef. 2) If I input into Song Smith Some sheet music, will it play it for me and can I control the tempo when it is being played so that I can discern and hear how the notes are being played ?

songsmith custom chord analysis, extended chords

jouni — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:01:42 GMT

Hi Dan,

Many thanks for the quick reply! What do they feed you there in Redmond... ;) I'm posting the same question here as well.

I was wondering if it's possible to use the capabilities of Mysong/Songsmith to enter in your own lead sheets (let's say I wanted use 200 songs by Quincy Jones for the database instead of the database Songsmith ships with). This would be fantastic - it'd allow many more opportunities for musicians to generate much more specific kind of chord progressions, tailored to your own taste.

The second question I had was regarding extended chords - I assume chord/lead sheet information in the current songsmith database are basic triads. The "jazziness" slider seems to introduce random chord substitutions (extensions), based on weighing values set in substitutions.csv. Is this correct?

I'm not a hundred percent sure this is how Songsmith works, so tell me if I'm way off base. However, if the substitutions are random weighed substitutions for major/minor triads, would it instead be possible to retain the extended chord information from the lead sheets, and have Songsmith initially suggest relevant extended chords - as close as possible to the original lead sheet data?

There are fundamental harmonic reasons why for instance maj7 is being used instead of a dominant 7, dim7, or simple a major triad in a certain position in the progression.

Chord extensions in music that sounds "good" to us depend on the chord prior to, and after the current chord - not random extensions on an isolated triad. Songsmith wouldn't have to "understand" the underlying theory for these rules for chord extensions in a temporal progression though - If the original data set is large enough, I would imagine statistical data should be enough to give relevant suggestions.

Thanks for your great work

Jouni

London, UK