Smule: I am T-Pain | Hacker News Reader

Smule: I am T-Pain

iamtpain.smule.com

79 pointsashishk28 comments

I'd say 98% of the hip hop that's played on the radio and on tv can "not" be classified as hip hop. Here is a fantastic video about the Auto-Tune industry, presented by one of the pioneers of real hip hop, KRS-ONE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8RqgDsO3c4

Also presented by Buckshot from Blackmoon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5nk_J-SQ_4

Aside from that history lesson, this app is pretty hilarious, and I'd love to play with it :)

Wow, would have never expected someone to cite Blackmoon on HN .. respect!

"I woke up in the morning, hopped on a train I saw my man" What happened to hip hop ? It grew up and got rich.

Agreed. That definitely takes a lot of balls, considering how typically averse to hip-hop this community is.

See what I mean?

No, your problem was that this community is in no way averse to hip-hop.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=754160

I'm not sure if you were trying to provide an example or a counter example -- the post you linked to is modded 3 points, but the parent is at 18 points, showing a great deal of respect for the achievements of Mr. Wallace.

Gangster rap isn't hip hop. I hate anything that promotes violence, and would agree that Biggie didn't contribute much to the world. I still like Hip Hop though.

I am fairly certain that people using this will eventually learn to sing in tune with out the app.

I really liked watching how happy everyone was when they were using the demo. They were all so immediately impressed and inspired.

I really liked watching how happy everyone was when they were using the demo. They were all so immediately impressed and inspired.

I think you nailed it. How rare is it that software actually makes people happy?

This app is great.

Well since no-one else has posted their exploits with I Am T-Pain on here yet, here's my first song with it:

http://iamtpain.smule.com/mysongs/uid/44417/1654/?did=

And, no, I'm not familiar with the melody to I'm Sprung at all so I just made it up and I start adlibbing eventually, lol. Definitely worth the £1.79 for the entertainment factor. I wanna do some programming related hiphops next..

http://iamtpain.smule.com/mysongs/uid/1/3532/?did=

This is me doing it...

This is a really great app. We had half the people in my office out in a room we use for presentations with this hooked up to the PA. We were all laughing our butts off the whole time, having a lot of fun.

THAT sort of thing will sell...

Very very good job, whoever wrote this.

This is pretty good! I like how you changed it up a bit, instead of just doing the original song.

Edit: OMG just heard the end. ridiculous.

Hahha, fantastic. Nice job.

If you really want to get a nice effect with autotune, you must sing off pitch, and even better if you don't hold the pitch once you get there. Your wavering note paired with the unnaturally fast pitch correction is what makes it sound robot-y.

I didn't know that. Good suggestion I'll try it.

I wish you could use this to Auto-Tune your outgoing phone calls. Sure, it would get annoying as hell after around 30 seconds. But those first 30 seconds would be glorious.

Very clever piece of cross-promotion here. I'm a big fan of the "Autotune the News" series on Youtube, and their latest video featured T-Pain and his iPhone app. At the time, I had no clue such an app existed and assumed it was just a gag. Now that it exists, I gotta have it. That's about the best I've been advertised to this year.

I downloaded it becuase I like poetry and wish I could sing; I am amazed how much I'm having trouble "letting it out all" even in a room alone...Cool side effect of the app; learn about yourself

Jay-Z stated, "Death of AutoTune, moment of silence". But as many may think hiphop is not dead. And there's nothing wrong with utilizing AutoTune. The problem here is that instead of using the software to enhance music and give an interesting effect, many are simply using the feature to cover up the fact that they just cannot sing. Not everyone is creative enough to properly use AutoTune to make good music. Everyone cannot be T-Pain or Kanye. True creative geniuses at work. Real hiphop is still alive and well. Artists like KRS-ONE, as dylanz previously posted, are not the "end all, be all" in so-called "real' hiphop. Try JayZ, Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Nas, Kanye West, Pharrell, Lil Wayne, T.I., and lets not forget the millions of underground and undiscovered artists that never get the shot at mainstream exposure, or even to earn a living from their craft.

And in response to datums. Hiphop didnt just get rich. It got smart, and diversified itself, as all other genres of music have done before it, and all other areas of the entertainment business. Its hiphop's turn to shine.

How does this compare with the real Auto-Tune plugin? Auto-Tune Evo is a $399 piece of software. Aren't they doing something foolish in selling the same technology for a fraction of the price? I'm sure there are fewer features in the iPhone app, but for some modest uses, it seems it could easily be used in lieu of the full-priced software.

The pre-moderated title was "Smule is killing it."

Seriously though, their apps are always well thought out, tons of fun, and very unique. Their track record is impressive.

Ge is quite the impressive founder. I've been following other stuff he's done, and it's all been fantastic.

This app is awesome. I'm a musical hobbyist, but today was the first time that anything has ever remotely made it sound like I can sing.

Is this the kind of application you can only pull off in a phone? Is this a harbinger of a whole new class of social/casual applications, all of which will have tiny price tags ($2? really?) but make metric crap-tons of cash because so many people can run them?

The app is cool. The market dynamics that produced the app are inspiring.

They could have just made a crappy app, and sold based on a gimmick and an existing fan base, but they actually went and created a really great app with lots of extra features.

After having so much fun with this application, I'm left wondering why there aren't more karaoke apps for iPhone.

Thinking it's kind of a scam. I think those videos are misleading. I think the good reviews in the app store are paid for. I'm going to request a refund, not because it just doesn't work for crap, but because it's scammy.

Edit: Does anyone really believe the 75 5 star reviews it had instantly? All of which sound fake as hell?

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