Participants 2023
Melody Makers
AI Song Contest 2023 / participantsTEAM / Melody Makers
SONG / Under Virtual Skies
TEAM MEMBERS / jbr, bolli
About the TEAM
We are a collective of individuals who crossed paths during the "Digital Europe" summer school in Driebergen, Netherlands, while participating in the "AI in Creative Processes" working group. Our shared mission was to craft a memorable AI-generated hit song for the summer school, ensuring that every participant had a delightful melody to cherish. Within our team, jbr and bolli orchestrated the song through an AI co-creation process featuring the singers and with help from sebastian as supervisor. Additionally, we had multiple other teams that had other projects, e.g. matthias, julia, djamila, yann, and michael collaborated to produce the accompanying music video.
About the SONG
The song encapsulates our journey during the "Digital Europe" summer school held in Driebergen, Netherlands, throughout August 2023. This event, jointly organized by the German Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volks), the College d'Europe, and the Austrian and Swiss Scholarship Foundations, was a remarkable experience. Our aim was to preserve the multitude of impressions and joyful moments from this summer school, ensuring they remain etched in our memories long after the event's conclusion.
About the HUMAN-AI PROCESS
Our Human-AI Co-Creation began with an exploration of music generation tools, notably MusicGen from the AudioCraft library. Initially, we were fascinated by the outcomes, but soon realized that the results sounded repetitive. The AI struggled to craft compelling melodies or coherent structures independently. Frustration crept in as our efforts to enhance MusicGen's results often led to an unwelcome surplus of noise, leading to a sense of limitation.
In response, we transitioned to Google's Magenta tools, which allowed us to generate MIDI files. With Magenta, we produced a multitude of MIDI melodies, sifting through them to uncover the gems. While many melodies fell by the wayside, we eventually unearthed compositions that resonated with us.
Our creative journey extended to generating lyrics with ChatGPT, chosen for its availability. Similar to our experiences with music generation, we discovered that AI couldn't autonomously conjure structure or meaning, including rhymes. However, ChatGPT demonstrated proficiency in inspiring our creative process by providing valuable ideas and metaphorical expressions. We selectively incorporated the most compelling lyrical elements, arranging them to form a cohesive narrative.
From that point onward, the creative process was primarily driven by our human touch. We lent our voices to the vocals and fine-tuned the timbre of the MIDI instruments, breathing life into our collaborative creation.
To make the video, we used AI to create dreamlike visuals. We used a technique called the deep dream algorithm, which makes the AI see things in images and transforms them to match its vision. We also tried other AI tools to mimic famous artists like van Gogh's style, and these results were added as a slideshow in the deep dream process. To add a cyber-space feel, we made random images appear, like desserts, which were also created by AI. Finally, we included some photos of our team working on the project.
Under Virtual Skies
Lyrics
Hello World!
This thing, it is a mind
Now, don't be concerned
It's artfully designed
We stand at a door,
Beyond, destinies lie
They whisper of a distant shore
nearby
Living in pixels,
under virtual skies
Decoding the signals
As imagination flies
humans and machines
on a mission to persist
we shall forever coexist
[Chorus]
Join this AI symphony
Dance amongst the bits and beats
Of course, we used Chat GPT
To make these lyrics in a sweep
Sing along the melody
Complement the harmony
Augmenting our reality
Immersive high fidelity
Sing along the melody
Complement the harmony
Augmenting our reality
Immersive high fidelity
[Verse 2]
Donut portals open
To realities online
The threads of fate are strings of tokens
here to intertwine
Crème Brûlée flames
Enlighten the unknown
We don't just play games, no
far away from home
We're wide awake, it's coffee break
kilobytes of layered Cake, Don't player hate
if you came too late, for the creme brûlée
You have wait for the next plate to gain your weight
Brownie bites of wisdom
Beneath teeth (sheesh)
Finally some time to breathe? No
see we are here to change our system
[Chorus]
Join this AI symphony
Dance amongst the bits and beats
Of course, we used Chat GPT
To make these lyrics in a sweep
Sing along the melody
Complement the harmony
Augmenting our reality
Immersive high fidelity
[Meta-Verse:]
Oh, Mr. Metaverse
Watches from afar
Five thousand megahertz
Carry everything we are
In the cosmic dance
We find our avatar
Just a fleeting glance
As we wish upon a star
[Chorus]
Join this AI symphony
Dance amongst the bits and beats
Of course, we used Chat GPT
To make these lyrics in a sweep
Sing along the melody
Complement the harmony
Augmenting our reality
Immersive high fidelity
[Outro]
The clock strikes eleven,
we end this affair
Summer school heaven
beyond compare
Dear world, forevermore
we must now say goodbye
Adventures call to our core
As we watch the clouds go by