UJam holy cow

That sounds scary good...
I'd like to have UJam as an application on my desktop.
Not crazy about having to connect to "the cloud"    

This reminds me of "Microsoft Songsmith"!

An amazing new step in musical technology and one more nail in the coffin of using your brain for something more interesting than navel gazing.  Music already has almost no remunerative value.  And, with applications like this, it will soon have no value at all.  I was really amused when I watched the two guys who "produced" the "jingle" based on the banal guitar line.  At least one of them did actually play the guitar line.  But they didn't produce jack squat.   I heard a song the other night by ol Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders which was called, I think, "Nothing Maker".  I know I'm from a different "school" and time but I'd be ashamed to call myself either a musician or a producer if I used this.  Let alone try to foist it off as "my" music.  But, as per usual, this is a windmill at which we can no longer tilt;-)

Mesh


I don't think this software is going to replace "real musicians" as it's only limited to the genre's that's available on their list and everything is basically pre-mixed. This obviously is an avenue that allows the general public to put down an idea (fairly quickly) having "ready made music" with the minimal effort. This is a no-brainer for the qualified button pusher.

However, the sound quality of the backup music is quite good which can easily make up for the lack of talent...lol. There's nothing that can be "produced" in this software as everything is already pre-done, so someone can only pretend to be a "producer" (as long as they're behind the computer and not in the public eye). After playing with it for awhile, I actually looked forward to plugging in my guitar, firing up X1, and record some real music. I forwarded the link to my neice's (who are still in highschool) as this might be more suited for them. 
As my dad always said "there's no substitute for talent!!"    

My point exactly.  Thanks for illustrating it.

The "general public" shouldn't be able to make "ready-made music".  All they're doing is clogging our musical arteries and creating posers.  There is no software that will make me Van Gogh, and rightfully so because that isn't my thing.

I'm not judging, but there are some folks that should just remain listeners and fans.

My venom is not directed toward you Mesh, but I'm soooo tired of all this Band in a Box, loopmiester, computer generated music stuff.

All it seems to do is desensitize our audience and distract them from beautiful passages meant to be heard.

These folks today couldn't make a minor chord if I threatened to slap their mommas.  Lol.

I'm riding with Yorolpal and remaining old school.

I don't think UJam (or similar) will ever replace real musicians...
Just like samples haven't replaced real instruments/players
 
I do think UJam would be a cool "springboard" app to have on your DAW.
For those moments when the creative well is dry...
Speaking for myself, when I'm struggling with writer's block... it usually doesn't take a lot.  I just need a small spark.
Some small inspiring bit (rhythm, chord change, etc) and the creativity starts flowing.
 
FWIW, I'm pretty old-school.
I typically don't use loops, BIAB, etc.
But sometimes my creativity could use a kick-start  

I hope I'm wrong. But my bet still stands.

 
Yeah,  I see your point.
 
My kids are exposed to music/instruments/technology (something that would have been absolute heaven to me)...
and they've "flirted" with the idea of getting into music... but they just don't want to spend the time/effort to become proficient.  But hey... CP plays a mean RockBand/Guitar Hero.   Uuuuggghhh!!!!    

yorolpal


Glad ta have ya on board ol pal but just remember I'm not totally "anti-loop" and such...I frequently augment my played in drums with Stylus RMX.  And have used arpeggiations generated by Omnisphere as underpinings to songs I've done, etc....  That said UJam, while quite an amazing thing, does make me sad.  And while I agree with Mesh that "real" musicians might not use it I'm not even sure what or who "real" musicians are anymore.  In fact, I'll bet you that before too long, as UJams pallette of sounds grows, we're gonna hear us a top ten hit song made entirely with UJam.  And it'll have an Auto-tuned vocal  as well.  Just wait and watch. 

I'm not anti-loop either.  In fact, I have RMX.  And, when I'm looking to write that way, it's great.  I speak of folks that wouldn't know a Csus4 if it bit them and don't care to know.  Folks that mix and match loops and call it a song - like Diddy. Lol. 

I'm just tired of the thing I love being diminished to the software world.

kson

yorolpal


Glad ta have ya on board ol pal but just remember I'm not totally "anti-loop" and such...I frequently augment my played in drums with Stylus RMX.  And have used arpeggiations generated by Omnisphere as underpinings to songs I've done, etc....  That said UJam, while quite an amazing thing, does make me sad.  And while I agree with Mesh that "real" musicians might not use it I'm not even sure what or who "real" musicians are anymore.  In fact, I'll bet you that before too long, as UJams pallette of sounds grows, we're gonna hear us a top ten hit song made entirely with UJam.  And it'll have an Auto-tuned vocal  as well.  Just wait and watch. 

 

I'm just tired of the thing I love being diminished to the software world.
 

Yea, It's like watching something trying to devour itself and not realizing it's doing it.  Rock on, ol pal.  Rock on.

 

kson


I'm just tired of the thing I love being diminished to the software world.

Good music is still good music, bad music is still bad music, then there's a bunch of stuff in between. There are much more alarming things to be concerned with regarding The State of Music than your average dubber sitting in his underwear diddling with garage band or whatever. Such as: the apparent infatuation with homogeneity across music styles and productions... at least the stuff you "hear every day". Pop, dance, hiphop, rock, country, etc... it all has that same glossy, autotuned sound. There are standouts, as always, to be sure, but I contend you don't have the level of tonal, textural, and artistic variety today that you did 20, 30 years ago... and it's been going this way for a while, and that to me is a concerning trend. The good news is that in music things seem to come back around, so maybe that pendulum will start to swing the other way at some point...
 
In fact, I give the average dubber a little credit for showing an interest, maybe trying his/her hand at something new, trying to be creative, etc. Even if they don't know or couldn't care less about a sus chord, maybe their interest is piqued and they put some time and effort into actually learning, developing their own style and sound, etc. Everybody's gotta start somewhere, whether it's banging out I IV V triads on an old piano, or paint-by-number loop construction sets.
Shout out to BIAB...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLHoFoRudOM&fmt=18
 
 

I think you missed both points of my post. Two opinions presented on two different issues, and your response mixes them into one.

The homogeneity is a reflection of the music industry and popular tastes, and has nothing to do with the underlying music technology. It's about artistic vision, whether you use technology or not.

The dubbers are all around, whether they're using loops or recording themselves. The dubbers are not on the radio and winning grammys for mediocre products. The dubbers are posting songs to soundclick and soundcloud. You won't hear 99% of what's posted to those sites, and 1% of the 1% that you do hear could be considered well done/top notch/professional/whatever. So why disparage somebody for trying, regardless of their skill level and what technology they do or do not use?  
  

So in your musical world view only a chosen select few should be granted special access to the technology, in order to save the integrity of music as an artform from a bunch of unclean lower class hacks and hobbyists? Cuz that's what I think I'm reading in this thread. Like UJam and BIAB are the death knell of some ancient forgotten way of life, and it's all canned riffs and loops from here on out. Why so pessimistic?

Did great movies cease to be created once youtube became accessible to billions across the globe? Are great books no longer written just because CNN presents it's news stories in little Twitter-sized chunks for people to forget about 10 seconds later?

Sounds more like you're singin' the blues!

As an aside to the original video, I'm very glad that I've have now "discovered" Alison Lewis (the lady who demoed UJam) and will keep her contact information because her test vocals were just the type I've wanted for a song I started.  Hopefully she won't be 80 by the time I can get the rest of my gear out of storage and finish that song though!

Heck no Keith, ol pal.  If you'll re-read my posts you'll see that the very first thing I said was this was "an amazing new piece of technology" and later that "this is a windmill at which we can no longer tilt".  By that I mean it will be an incredible tool for anyone to use and not only have fun with but...perhaps...even use professionally too.  It just doesn't require very much in the way of study, inate musical knowledge or skill to use it.  All the better for folks who have no interest in those things.  And perhaps you don't understand my "windmill" reference.  It means, basically, that it doesn't matter what anyone thinks...least of all me...about this software.  It's here.  It will be used whatever it's long term impact will be.  So get used to it we must.  And, no, I don't think it will replace those who do want to undergo the rigors of learning the craft and art of being a musician.  Tho it might diminish those ranks over time.  Who knows?  But someone's gonna have to play all those parts for Johnny and Janey to assemble with their little computer thingys:-)

Rock on, ol pal.  Rock on.

You're right Mike...I've replaced it with simply "study" which is better anyway.  "Teaching and Learning" is not quite right there:-)

And how much does the dern thing cost.  I bet almost nothin.  That would be even more ironic.