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Comment by garyrob | Hacker News Reader

It could, but I want it to be even easier and with better results! I think AI has that potential. I am absolutely sure it does, in fact, and that some AI product will obsolete Band In A Box within the next decade. Maybe within the next year. If the people who make BIAB aren't working on it, themselves, with full focus, they are making a big mistake.

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But how will you make your song stand out as something special, when every other aspiring song writer has the same access to the same level of insta gratification for making a full production from barebones song writing?

Or is your target audience only your own ears, and you never plan to publish or even compare your work to others?

Songwriting is songwriting. You make it special by making a great song. You make a demo. You can get a song published if it sounds decent and is a great song. Publishers are influenced by the production quality, but they aren't idiots. They can discern a great lyrics, great harmonic shifts, and great melody as separate matters from whether it has a fantastic lead guitar solo or drum part.

If all someone can manage is "barebones song writing" without great lyrics, harmonic interest, or melody, they need to either be in a fantastic band or give up.

I don't have any connection to anyone at PGMusic but BiaB already implements a technique that could be described as AI or AI-like.

Having played music nearly all my life, songwriting included, and soaked up almost every bit of music-making tech in the process, I'd wager we won't see AI delivering better results more easily and, importantly, with the flexibility of Band in a Box within the next year.

The playing/performance part of making music is a solved problem. You can do this with DAWs and plug-ins today. The truly hard part is coming up with the ideas. That's where AI has an opportunity.

The problem I have with BIAB is my songs often have very specific fingerpicking parts. BIAB can't easily do the same picking as far as I can tell. (Or maybe at all?) So I'm thinking an AI like the one in the OP may be able to pick up on my specific fingerpicking but just do it more accurately. And then add other instruments that closely align with those parts.

If I'm missing something about BIAB, let me know!

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