CloudAI Album

So I have been waiting patiently for a good locally hostable music generation model to be released, and while there have been a few small releases in this space, most of the work is still being done by closed source proprietary companies that don't want to share their code.

So while I would like this post to be about an AI-Assisted Album I created on my own hardware at home, it isn't. It is about a short group of 10 goofy short songs I threw together using someone else's hardware.

The service I have been using is called Sonauto, and it is (at least for now) free to use. There are a few reasons I chose this one instead of any of the competition (Suno, Udio, there are others). First off, it allows you to download the separate stems from each recording for use in a DAW. Additionally, Sonauto gives you a lot of control over lyrics (using advanced mode, I was able to have direct control over lyrics) - Suno and Udio both edited my lyrics for "moderation issues", Udio will let me write songs praising Jesus all day, but the moment I ask it to sing about Satan, I hit a filter. Booo!

All of these services include an LLM to generate lyrics based on a prompt. These are generally pretty awkward and forgettable, but if you need a push or scaffold, they can help. I mostly chose to just submit my own, lyrics (especially pop lyrics) aren't exactly rocket science.

I had some fun playing in different styles, playing with contrast, etc. They are all 95 seconds long, and I did zero post production work on these. I found you could steer the vocals and music pretty well if you are familiar with how to prompt diffusion models. I made these ten songs in roughly three days of playing around for a few hours each evening.

They span the genres, here is a rough breakdown:

1. Want Another Pizza - I told the model to generate something like a Cardi B song. I let the LLM write the lyrics to this one with minor edits.

2. Ode to the Nose Picker - I asked for a Johnny Cash song about picking your nose. It gave me 95 seconds of innuendo. If I didn't include the title, this song might be about something else.

3. Thank You Satan - I asked for a modern pop song praising Satan, and it gave me sanitized bullshit. This is when I decided to start writing my own lyrics. I was delighted when I discovered I could bypass the LLM nanny on this site. My version is way better. I don't actually worship Satan, I just don't like censorship. (Earworm warning - this one is a real banger)

4. Get Down With the Plan - I've wanted a motown inspired song about getting down with the plan for decades. This is a good attempt.

5. Crow Hey - This is a silly showtunes inspired song about tying knots I wrote for Amy.

6. Hot Damn! - Because it is AI generated, I can't really get excited about the trumpet hook in this song, but boy is it catchy and fun to listen to. Don't eat all my tamales!

7. Crazy - I think I like this one because of how broken it is, and that the model broke while doing a song about being crazy. Something about it just felt right, so I kept it. I really like the minimalist guitar riff on the chorus, too. Very 90s indie rock.

8. Lucifer Love - I wrote this song to show Amy that pop lyrics don't need to make any sense, and that the songs are usually better when they don't.

9. Aim for the Middle - Going to just let this one speak for itself, lol.

10. Automate it! - I wanted to see how it handled hiphop. I wasn't impressed. It is..okay.

11. (Secret Track) - You have to pretend you listened to 5 minutes of silence after the last track ended before this one starts. I didn't write this one, I told Sonauto to generate a "Hidden track at the end of the album the listener had to fast forward to hear, with a humorous vibe". I think it did well enough, so I kept it.

Zen Tormey CloudAI 01 WAP