Reader! What a time to be alive, and for the robots to be advancing at an alarming rate! For part two of this ‘exploring AI’ series, I originally set out to explore other music creation tools, but what became vastly more interesting to me while writing was how things are progressing around Grimes’ AI voice model efforts. So, spoiler alert: I’m going to spend lots of time on THAT, and include some of my faves from the Grimes AI tracks people have made so far!
What’s out there beyond AI voice model tech that‘ we should know about that’s worth checking out?
While AI voice models are still the hot topic, there are other AI tools and advancements worth mentioning here. Even non-music focused AI tools like Chat GPT can spin up some lyrics + chords for you in no time. But is there anything out there that’s definitely helpful for musicians and producers?
For starters, I think this video from Busy Works Beats using Fadr may be of interest. I’ve seen a few different music stem isolaters out there, but not for free, and not of such high quality. In this vid, BWB is able to isolate the stems from a live Anderson Paak performance, and THEN downloads them in MIDI (omg). Fadr even gives you the key of the song, which — I don’t know about you, but is a huge headache for me to this day, and I consider myself pretty musically able! This feels like cheating!…
Here’s the video if you’d like to see it in action:
After going through some other music AI tools, the other one that caught my ear (lolz) is called Soundful. While this isn’t free, it’s free to start/play with up front. In the interest of i-wave research, I created an account and made a little ditty in 10 minutes. Upon signing in, you choose some genres of interest and your own role in music (artist, producer, DJ, etc.), and then jump in with some guideline pop-ups. After finding my way to Synthpop Disco Land, they basically handed me a track! LOL I didn’t hate it, either. After switching the key and bringing up the tempo, here’s the hot fire I ended up with. No music creation know-how whatsoever? NO PROBLEM!
What’s new with all the Grimes stuff? Has she ascended as an AI angel into the ether yet?
Let’s get to the fun stuff! In Part 1 of this Exploring AI series, we talked about the Grimes announcement — an invitation to use an AI voice model of her for your own songs — and the UberDuck contest that followed. What has happened since then?
First, Grimes launched elf.tech, a cool af website containing a live AI voice model for users to use, along with some other fascinating art & Grimes lore. Part of the fun and wonderment of all of this for me as been watching Grimes enter a new era via this step into AI. Check out the artwork in the Chaos manual, and listen to this creepy, ominous “program” recording she left for us.
Grimes is an artist who creates most of her work herself, from production to visual art to songwriting, which is one of the reasons I admire her so much. Watching everyone rally around this contest and spend some time with Grimes and her world has been such a treat.
So let’s talk about the contest! We have seen such interesting work submitted so far. Watching the submissions pour in while working on my own contest track (catch a preview at the bottom of this post!) has been a learning experience the whole way. What makes a Grimes AI contest song good? For me, it comes down to a few universal basics, and then that extra Grimes magic on top. The basics: production, lyrics, and songwriting should be strong, of course. Songwriting to me means pacing and thoughtfulness around different sections more than anything, whereas lyrics stand in their own category.
And then, what makes up the Grimes magic on top that sets the song apart? I think songs that show that the artist(s) listen to Grimes — that transmit an understanding both musically and emotionally of her music, and the great heights to which she soars are the ones I’m looking for. I have heard maybe one song that matches all of this criteria for me, and I will share that and other ones here!:
Grimes Time: Let’s check out those contest submissions!
First up, Gorilla vs. Bear calls this the first convincing Grimes AI song, and I have to agree! Quite simply, I just love it like I would love a Grimes song, and that is a hell of a feat, Kotomi!:
Next up: This one sounds more Zedd than Grimes, but I like the melody and chopped vox in the hook:
It feels good! I really like these chords, and I feel the emotion behind this track — especially that ear candy hook. Here’s a super collab from GRL and Leo Pastel:
This “Lockscreen Baby” one arrived early, and remains a fave despite my feeling like Grimes would never sing these words, lol:
Lastly, I will share a snippet of my own work in progress here! I will say that, while I love a good handful of Grimes songs, perhaps my favorite is “You’ll miss me when I’m not around,” and the influence can definitely be heard:
That’s all for now! Enjoy the AI of it all, and catch you next time.
xo C