Joy of Synths #27 AI & SOUND MAKING
Reflecting on the present of sound making in this non-musician’s guide to creating sounds for podcasts, videos, and sampling for music using analog synthesizers.
CONTROLLED BY VOLTAGE
10/16/2024 This issue was delayed by a few hurricanes that passed us by, thankfully. We’ll return to analog synths on November 1st newsletter, specifically ARPs. But for now, AI is the topic of discussion.
10/15/2024 ADOBE MAX SNEAK PEEKS
Adobe Max had an online sneak peek session of features that may or not be released to the public. They promoted a generative sound effects process called Project Super Sonic. You type in a prompt of a sound effect or ambience and an audio file is generated to meet that request.
Subjectively, the sound wasn’t particularly unique or of decent quality despite being 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz. A running thread of Adobe’s promotion of AI tools is it’ll allow a person to get a creative impulse out of their head by describing it in an AI prompt. Based off the results then a choice is made for further exploration with others.
If Project Super Sonic was simply the Google of all recorded sound effects then that would be quite amazing. Alas, it’s generating sounds trained from a sound library. This raises the question: will AI generate the fun out of sound making? What happens to using one’s imagination when listening to sounds and repurposing them for creative ends?
OBSOLETE
“It does the work for you!” was oft repeated at Adobe Max. You can draw that line back to analog step sequencers, which do the work of playing repetitive parts. Or arpeggiators, that do the work of playing arpeggios, or the same pressed notes in various orders if you choose. So it’s all to say innovation is about getting technology to do the work for you because there is a problem the innovation aims to solve. Of course, new problems are introduced in this process and some innovations become obsolete due to non-adoption.
If it works for you then it works just fine. But AI does present an opportunity to rethink creative ideation and one’s creative process altogether.
Analog synthesizers were made redundant long ago. That this newsletter promotes the use and adoption of them for sound making is fairly straight forward. You can create new sounds with current and vintage synthesizers and they are easy to record directly into a portable audio recorder or interface. Synths are tactile and more fun to play by hand as a physical instruments rather than virtual synths guided by mouse clicks. So AI shouldn’t make anyone question the validity of analog synthesizers for building up a sound library.
REBIRTH OF TOOLS
There is no going back with Generative AI. It’s practical and effective, given the proper written result you desire.
At times, AI appears to serve a purpose of destroying creative practice. The graphics it generates are of quality enough and can be up-scaled thanks to AI. So why bother contemplating the infinite and worrying about if it’s been done before? AI already assumes it has been done before. And AI will present variations that may match someone else’s AI generated content. Which is to say, the generated item doesn’t really belong to anyone and can be used by everyone.
HIGH COST OF LOW PRICES
There is a cost to this. There’s paying for credits and the loss of creative jobs which have already been devalued.
Multi-instrument keyboards allowed for the one-person band to play “live”. The presumption is that this would’ve been a four-piece band if not for the damn keyboard taking everyone’s jobs. It’s fair to say the keyboard soloist is doing something with the keyboard, and may not have the temperament or schedule to collaborate with other musicians.
It’s long ago been settled that it’s okay to go solo and do it all yourself due to economics or ethos. Do what you will with it, or don’t. It’s not better or worse. It just is.
END NOTE
Happy October 16th! Next issue of Joy of Synths releases November 1 and will focus on recording ARPs at The Record Co. in Boston. Cheers!
All Content Copyright 2024 Anthony Torres, All Rights Reserved.