Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently a widely discussed topic that is pushing the boundaries of what is possible. It has already made its way into many areas of music, opening up entirely new paths and approaches in music production and creativity. There are now numerous AI-powered tools on the market that can support artists in their creative process.

For artists, AI-powered creative tools can be immensely helpful. They can speed up your music production and serve as a valuable source of inspiration. These tools make it possible to analyse existing musical compositions, including their structures, dynamics and moods, and integrate them into your own music. They can also be good to generate ideas or fresh impulses to improve your songwriting. AI has enormous potential for developing new sounds, creating artificial voice replicas, designing album covers or generating personalised playlists based on your individual preferences.

How does it work?

AI music production software refers to specialised programs or tools that utilise advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to assist you with your music production. These programs typically employ machine learning technology, training the AI system on a vast dataset of existing music to learn patterns, structures and styles.

The AI system can analyse and understand musical elements like melody, harmony, and rhythm. This knowledge can be used to compose new pieces of music or suggest accompaniments.

By continuously analysing and incorporating new musical data, the AI system can adapt and evolve its compositional style, enabling a wide range of creative possibilities.

This not only introduces new approaches to music production but also encourages collaborations that allow for exploration and experimentation with novel sounds and genres. Although there are still aspects of this field that require clarification, such as copyright issues related to AI-generated music, it holds the potential to enhance and complement traditional music production methods.

To help you venture into the realm of AI-based music applications, here is a selection of useful tools for your music production.

Magenta Studio

Magenta Studio is a collection of music plug-ins based on Magenta's open source. It works standalone or as a plugin for Ableton Live. Magenta Studio has various tools that use the latest research model MusikVAE. With this, machine learning can be used to determine how different melodies are connected to each other. Music theorists used to study melodic and rhythmic changes and often used mathematical formulas to do so. With machine learning, it is now possible to use large data sets, create models, "morph" between patterns and even create brand new ones. This makes it a very interesting tool to try out for your next production.

Wav Tool

WavTool is a free AI-powered program for music producers that provides high-quality music production features. Wav Tool is powered by GPT-4, the same Open AI model used in ChatGPT and is the first text-to-music DAW. With its chat assistant, it can transform text into music creations. It includes Conductor, which offers help in the form of chord suggestions, beat and melody creation through simple instructions. WavTool evolves with its user, adding capabilities like plugin modification and signal routing to provide a full suite of tools. It allows users to record, produce, mix and master audio without downloading any additional software. The straightforward interface requires no setup and includes everything needed to start making music immediately.

AIVA

AIVA is an AI music composer for musicians and game developers specialised in the creation of classical and symphonic music. It is the first virtual composer recognised by a collection society (SACEM) and has the ability to compose its own music by analysing a large collection of existing works by famous composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. AIVA's algorithm uses deep learning and reinforcement learning architectures to detect patterns in music and generate compositions in various styles, such as rock, pop, jazz, fantasy, modern cinematic and more. With three pricing tiers, users can choose the best plan for their needs.

Soundful

Soundful is a platform that uses AI to generate music, allowing producers and musicians to create high-quality music in various styles such as EDM, hip hop, Latin, pop, R&B and reggaeton. The platform offers a free tier that allows you to create music with pre-made loops, samples and song structures. You can also market your compositions on streaming platforms or use them for film, TV and other media, offering licences and stems for download. You can unlock additional features with flexible pricing options and a premium subscription.

LALAL.AI

LALAL.AI is a next-generation vocal remover and music source separation service that enables fast, easy, and precise stem extraction. Whether you're an aspiring music producer or an experienced audio engineer, LALAL.AI is a helpful tool. It allows you to easily remove not only vocals but also instrumental, drums, bass, piano, electric guitar, acoustic guitar and synthesiser tracks ‘without any loss in quality’. In reality, it may slightly reduce the quality of some instruments, making them sometimes sound artificial. Nevertheless, it is useful for isolating certain instruments or vocals. Its algorithms have been designed to provide the most accurate and precise results possible, making it easier than ever to create remixes, mashups and covers.

Orb Producer 3

The Artificial Intelligence Plugin Suite enables you to create complex and Interesting rhythms with polyrhythms, add lyrical melodies to your music and chain blocks to create music in various styles including EDM, Hip Hop, Trap, Rock, Orchestral and more. Orb consists of four fully integrated VST3/AU/AU Midi FX plugins that use artificial intelligence to generate musical ideas on the fly. The Orb Producer Suite is specifically designed for composers and producers to quickly and easily develop musical ideas. The suite offers enough customisation options to dive deep into AI generation and edit according to your preferences, while keeping the workflow simple and fast. The suite includes Chords, Arpeggios, Melody, and Bass tools, as well as a wavetable synthesizer.

Loudly

Loudly's AI Music Generator is a program powered by AI that quickly creates new music. You can choose the genre, energy, instruments, bpm and duration, and Loudly will generate song ideas based on your selections. The aim of this application is to simplify music creation. Additionally, Loudly offers a music library with licensed songs that can be purchased for one-time use. The browser-based interface features a user-friendly search bar and navigation options to help you find the right music. Loudly's AI Recommender can provide personalised music recommendations - the music catalog is available on both the website and a mobile app. You can try the program for free in a trial period, but a monthly fee is required for full access afterwards.

‍

EMERGENT DRUMS 2

Emergent Drums is a groundbreaking VST3/AU drum machine that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to create unique drum samples. It is the world's first AI-based drum machine and is constantly improving through training with a growing dataset. The plugin can generate countless variations of kicks, snares, claps, hi-hats, toms and glitchy, noise-based percussive sounds. It uses the sounds it generates to further learn and train itself. It does not rely on any existing samples or hardware, but only requires an internet connection to access its sound generation technology.

TuneFlow

TuneFlow is a music creation platform that uses AI to help people of all skill levels easily make music. Users can access advanced AI tools such as Smart Composer for creating melodies and accompaniments, Smart Drummer - for drum patterns, Voice Clone - for replicating voices and Ultra-Clean Source Separator - for separating mixed audio. Additionally, TuneFlow provides high-quality audio transcription and a One-Click Lo-Fi plugin for producing lo-fi hip-hop tracks. The platform supports VST, VST3, and AU plugins and can be accessed from any synced device.

Dive deeper into MusicHub’s resources for DIY musicians

Get more useful knowledge and insights on distribution, promotion, rights & royalties, music production and more on our MusicHub blog. We regularly post artist and expert interviews, as well as inspiring articles with lots of tips and advice.

Sign up for the MusicHub newsletter via the form below to get new articles on challenges and opportunities for independent musicians, straight to your inbox!

‍‍

‍