Suno AI, a cutting-edge artificial intelligence platform, is making waves in the industry by enabling users to transform simple text prompts into full-fledged musical compositions. It’s being billed as a tool where the barriers to music creation are dismantled, allowing anyone with imagination to craft professional-level songs.
Founded with the vision of democratizing music production, Suno AI has quickly garnered attention for its user-friendly interface and powerful capabilities. According to a feature by Rolling Stone, Suno AI aspires to be the ChatGPT for music, providing a platform where producing pro-level tracks is accessible to all, regardless of musical expertise or access to traditional instruments (Rolling Stone).
Suno AI users can input a variety of prompts, specifying genres, mood, tempo, and even lyrical themes, and within seconds, Suno AI generates a song that matches the request. This capability not only opens up new avenues for personalized music creation but also serves as a tool for inspiration and experimentation for established artists.
I experienced Suno AI firsthand, utilizing the platform to interpret my song, “If I Fell Off This Earth Tonight.” It’s amazing what it can do, thruth be told. I provided a brief description of the song’s theme and feel I was aiming for, along with the lyrics, and Suno AI brought it to life in a way that was a fascinating revision. It felt like collaborating in a different way. Not unlike my experience with Tapegerm.
In fact, “If I Fell Off This Earth Tonight” originated at Tapegerm, a collaboration network of artists I helped start in 1999. It first took root here, at homemademusic.com, after I published a call for submissions from artists downloading a pack of audio source files I’d taken from cassette albums I loved. In a message board, a few of us talked about moving the idea forward and sharing loops in a common pool; and so Tapegerm germinated.
“If I Fell Off This Earth Tonight” was the first track I created within the group and was based on loops provided by Bev Stanton of Arthur Loves Plastic. I took one of the vocal loops by Lisa Moscatiello and developed a song around the first phrase which is where the title comes from.
Here’s the original Tapegerm version:
I had started Tapegerm prior to it be coopted by the flowering discussion at homemademusic.com. I had been introduced to loops and making music with them by way of a collaboration project by the late Ian Stewart of AutoReverse Magazine. I bought ACID loop composing software and caught a bug. I thought it might be cool to extract loops from old tapes I had reviewed in GAJOOB Zine as a kind of new experience and a way to keep this music alive while also kind of paying tribute to it.
After the project at homemademusic.com, working with a group of artists in more of a collaborative environment was something different and it sparked an exponential amount of creative activity with bits of audio evolving into new interactions in endless ways. It was our own language model if you think about it.
Here we had this expanding pool of sounds that artists were prompting for inspiration and creating new compositions. Will Suno and other AI models bring about another evolution of creativity? I think it’s likely that some artist will befriend the ghost and make it dance that way.
I used suno’s custom creation mode and pasted my lyric and then asked it to create a lofi ambient pop song. That’s pretty much the extent of the creativity required. Here’s the raw result:
Suno AI’s technology is grounded in advanced algorithms and machine learning models that analyze the structure and elements of countless songs across genres. This extensive database enables the platform to produce compositions that are intended to resonate with human emotions and creativity (TechRadar).
The implications of Suno AI’s emergence raise questions about the future of music production and the role of artificial intelligence in the arts. While some may express concerns about the impact on traditional musicianship, Suno AI positions itself as a complement rather than a replacement for human creativity. It aims to empower individuals to express themselves musically, regardless of their background or skill level.
I think concerns are warranted, however, I’m always the ready explorer. My initial takeaway after only this brief encounter is mixed. At first, I thought the song it created from my lyric and style prompt was very good; at least something I could take as a start and build something from. Maybe come closer to finishing it finally.
For me, the vocal potential from AI is most interesting. I have my moments vocally but I love working with other vocalists and these AI vocals are promising. Suno, at least with this rendition, is similar to other generative AI vocals I’ve heard. Certainly a far cry from the old voice synthesis we used to spend a few hours typing vulgar phrases into and laughing histerically with friends; but not quite there.
But I think it works in this song. Suno create a different poetic rhythm I think actually works. It’s a different meter I hadn’t thought to use and I like the change. These are the kind of happy surprises that come with making songs and recording that make it magical.
As Suno AI continues to evolve and refine its capabilities by harnessing the power of AI, does Suno AI facilitate a more inclusive musical landscape and will it inspire a wave of innovation that will shape the sound of tomorrow? I believe it will and I believe it will bring a lot of dreck too; just like every other thing. We’ll all be guilty of both probably, but I say let’s keep exploring and having fun!
Visit app.suno.ai