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I still have Masterwriter but can't say that I've used it much ever. It does have it's usefulness, but you gotta be careful and creative to avoid the standard cliches it wants to toss your way. Especially with the phrases. And the ever useful rhymes when you need something to rhyme with "been" and it offers "harlequin" as a suggestion.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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There's a tipping point, and I can't tell you where it is, when a tool like AI can REPLACE human thought (eg, composing a complete song) rather than ASSIST with human thought (eg, suggesting a rhyme). This is where I get uncomfortable in the music creation cycle and why I stay away from AI when songwriting.
BiaB isn't really an AI music generating tool today, it's music programming with a couple of AI enabled features. But I'm betting on that changing sooner than later. Will have to see where I land on that...
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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There's a tipping point, and I can't tell you where it is, when a tool like AI can REPLACE human thought (eg, composing a complete song) rather than ASSIST with human thought (eg, suggesting a rhyme). This is where I get uncomfortable in the music creation cycle and why I stay away from AI when songwriting. I like the cut of your jib.  +1 If I'm not really creating it, what is the point? At least with BiaB, I try several options and cut/paste what I like, so I'm still in control. That and we usually end up replacing everything with players anyway. It's just another tool here. I rarely share the BiaB original concept as it is likely going to change before it's done.
Last edited by rharv; 11/02/25 02:53 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Even when using BiaB to make a backing track for a song, I use it more for either ideas, or the "mule work" of comp parts, IF there is a compatible style.
Other parts, rearranging and/or editing BiaB output, enhancing other BiaB parts, and so forth are done after make it my own.
Why? What's the fun of letting the machine do all the work? For me, it's the process, the creativity, and the proud feeling when I'm done that I like.
IMO, humanity's greatest pleasures come from tension and relief. Hungry = tension, dinner = relief. Sexual attraction/foreplay = tension, climax = relief. Figuring out a puzzle - tension, solving it = relief. Practicing a difficult piece of music = tension, getting it under your fingers = relief. Conceiving and inputting/tweaking a new user style into BiaB = tension, listening to it work when done = relief.
So for me, having AI write the song for me, would be equivalent to listening to a song someone else wrote. Pleasant, but no tension and relief. Although, using AI to break writer's block, or to spur new ideas, is similar to tricks songwriters have used for centuries. After all, Mozart used playing cards as a source of inspiration for songwriting, similar to a game where cards determine the melody of a song.
Perhaps if I were in the business of songwriting, it would be different, I suppose, the $$$ income would be sufficient. But the creative tension/relief wouldn't be there.
Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Perhaps if I were in the business of songwriting, it would be different, I suppose, the $$$ income would be sufficient. But the creative tension/relief wouldn't be there.
Notes ♫ Yeah.... very few people make any (significant) money in songwriting. It's mostly just cathartic for me. I just enjoy it. It's certainly not a source of income for me or most folks, I would imagine.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I don't enjoy writing lyrics, but the idea of handing that over to AI?
As Notes says, that removed the joy of actually accomplishing something.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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I don't enjoy writing lyrics, but the idea of handing that over to AI?
As Notes says, that removed the joy of actually accomplishing something. Well, I am currently knee deep in this dilemma. I have the entire song arrangement and music completed (...that is what I know how to do). But this is an original so I don't have lyrics. I have been spinning for days. I think I am mentally making progress but it is slow. Nothing yet on paper! I plan to write down all my thoughts for verses and bridge and chorus, but then at some point will have to go to AI to put it all together. I am afraid that is the best I can do on the lyrics side of the equation.
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...
Nothing yet on paper! I plan to write down all my thoughts for verses and bridge and chorus, but then at some point will have to go to AI to put it all together. I am afraid that is the best I can do on the lyrics side of the equation. Frankly, there's nothing really wrong with that approach. AI is a tool that's available to help deliver lyrics, in the same way that BIAB is a tool to help deliver music. It might even give you a starting point to launch from.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Yeah.... very few people make any (significant) money in songwriting. It's mostly just cathartic for me. I just enjoy it. It's certainly not a source of income for me or most folks, I would imagine. The publishers and songwriters make money from the recordings, the musicians do not, unless they also wrote the songs. Before The Beatles, it was uncommon for the musician to sing his/her own songs, instead the professional songwriters supplied that, like those in the Brill Building, Tin Pan Alley and others. Plenty of one-hit wonders rode their wave for a few years and then ended up needing a regular job to make a living. It's pretty much the same for everyone in the music business. Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen can make billions in the music biz, but for every fat cat, there are thousands who barely eke out a living, and millions to don't make enough to make a living at it. So, if you are writing your songs because you enjoy it, and don't expect to make a significant amount of money at it, AI songwriting will have a minimal effect on you. But for those who make a living at it, songwriters will cut into your job like it did the Grocery Cashiers, Gas Station Attendants, Catalog Clothing Models, Auto Assembly Line workers, and so many other jobs. I've seen DJs, Sports Bars, Open Mic Nights, Karaoke, and so many other things shrink the demand for live musicians. When I started in this business, ever singles bar, every hotel from a Holiday Inn up, and every larger than a tavern club had bands employed 5 o4 6 nights a week. The only TVs in bars were a small set for those with a dozen or so bar stools and perhaps a table or two. Those of us still working have adapted to the changes, I suppose professional songwriters will adapt or get another job. It seems big business wants to eliminate labor costs everywhere. My question is this, if they eliminate all our jobs, who can afford to buy their products?
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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