As a music fan, I’ve always wondered if AI would eventually replace musicians by replicating their creative process. While the AI music generation tools are still in their early stages of development, there are a few examples which appear to be promising. Deruty et al. (2022) for example, argue that while still in its infancy, audio AI-based tools are better suited than traditional MIDI-based tools.
WavTool is a tool to aid musical production. A key feature of this tool is the “Conductor” product, an AI which helps beginner producers create music and tweak sounds without having to touch a conventional interface. Conductor uses a ChatBot interface (using ChatGPT-4) which presents the user with the option to create music by giving prompts to the AI. As a user, one could for example have a general idea for a beat and the AI will elaborate on this idea and propose ways to enrich it. However, Conductor does not only include a ChatBot but also proposes, within the standard interface, sample beats or melodies to kickstart the track.
As a “beginner” in musical production, I personally tested WavTool to see if I could easily create a simple track. WavTool has a free trial period which allows you to create at most 8 tracks.
One key feature of WavTool is that the AI recommends suitable loops which then help in composing a coherent track, in terms of tempo and melody. In addition, the ChatBot function of WavTool also suggests which instrument should be added starting from a specific beat or may also prompt the user with musical concepts they might not be familiar with.
My overall experience with this tool is positive, as I believe it aids individuals who may not be familiar with musical concepts, and it renders the process of producing music easier especially with unfriendly interfaces which often characterize musical production software.
However, there are some inevitable questions that deserve some attention. Should access to music production be simplified or could it discredit the musical education needed to take up this path? Can AI actually hinder creativity, by suggesting easily available tracks and compatible melodies rather than promote it?
Deruty, E., Grachten, M., Lattner, S., Nistal, J., & Aouameur, C. (2022). On the development and practice of ai technology for contemporary popular music production. Transactions of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval, 5(1).
Relevant article on a tool I didn’t know about! The question of the limits of such tools as the standardisation of musical creation is very interesting.
I find the future of music production as interesting as you! It will be interesting to see to which extend AI can compete with the creativity and education of musicians. I find it nice that unexperienced people can discover the world of music production through the AI tools, however I also believe that the art of creating music by musicians is threatened. It’s also cool that you are testing the ease of using WavTool. I experienced myself that I am more likely to use AI tools that are “straight-forward” to use and quickly give up on complicated ones. It would be interesting to compare the ease of use of WavTool with other AI music generators.