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Comment by ako | Hacker News Reader

Yesterday i used Claude Code to define and implement a YAML based DSL for playing backing tracks. I can ask an LLM to generate this DSL for any well known song, and it will include chord progression, lyrics, bass, drums, strumming pattern, etc. It's a go command line tool that plays the DSL via midi, and displays the chords, strumming patterns, and lyrics. Also does export to Strudel.

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The problem I see is: people are not going to use a project that is AI generated for long really, unless they do it just for a one-off task. I'd like to constantly generate new music. I also have ideas based on existing music so I want to adjust this, but do so programmatically, and that seems ... hard.

Sure, for something big code needs more review and validation. But this is just a small command line tool that allows you to ask an LLM to generate a DSL to play a backing track: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ako/backing-tracks/refs/he...

Not a big commitment from a user, and nothing lost if it doesn´t work as hoped.

I'm just positively surprised how quickly you can create a prototype for these sorts of ideas with Claude Code. This is literally just a few hours of vibe-coding.

Full vibe coded project: https://github.com/ako/backing-tracks

Depending on the source music, there are many aspects of this that normally require a license with a records company or some proxy. Especially the lyrics part. Be careful not to get into very expensive trouble. Just because the LLM can do it, doesn’t mean it’s ok to do it.

Yes, I noticed that Claude Code silently refused to generate lyrics for some songs i requested. Benefit of this approach is that anybody can quickly generate a YAML file for a backing track, no need to share it anywhere.

I think the problem is that the artist doesn't get anything with this approach. If you really want to use someone else's music/artworks/lyrics, just buy it.

It's not like this is very unique, YouTube has tons of training and backing track videos, which is what i typically use. And artist don't sell it in a way that can be consumed for guitar practice easily.

Most artists don't sell backing tracks though.

If you ever open-source it, I suspect a lot of musicians who don't think of themselves as programmers would still find it surprisingly approachable

2 days of vibe coding: https://github.com/ako/backing-tracks

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