🎵 Now there's a ChatGPT for making music (my three-year-old son and I made an opera) (2024)

Shall we make some music?

Last week, I told my son, Teddy, "Now we're going to make music!"

"Yay!" he shouted and started hopping around.

The problem is, he's not even three years old and can't play any instruments. Neither can I.

There are lots of computer programs you can make music in, but then you have to learn how they work and you need to understand something about music. It would probably take hundreds of hours to produce something listenable. Difficult for me, impossible for a three-year-old.

So how could we manage to make music? Through a new generative AI called Suno AI.

Mindblown – again

With all the AI advancements lately, I began to become blasé. Or so I thought. Because when I tested Suno AI, I was mindblown again.

The breakthrough with generative AI is that we can control the computers with our natural language. You don't need to learn to code or special commands. If you can write a poorly formulated email to a colleague, then you can get an AI to write, paint, and program for you.

This means that we suddenly become thousands of percent better at a lot of things. I can't program, but now I can create software for my computer. When I draw, it turns out ugly, but now I can paint beautiful artworks.

I sing out of tune and can't play any instruments... and until now, I couldn't make music. But suddenly, I can!

A sentence becomes a song

Suno AI works like ChatGPT in the sense that you write an instruction (a prompt):

"A 1960s rock and roll song about Warp News fact-based optimistic news."

Out comes a lyric:

[Intro]

[Verse]
Well, I heard the news, it's a fact-based ride
Warp News bringin' hope, side by side (side by side)
From renewable energy to new technology
They're shakin' up the world, for you and me (come on)

[Verse 2]
No more doom and gloom, it's time to shine
Warp News spreadin' facts, oh so fine (oh so fine)
Exploring outer space, and cures for disease
They're rockin' reality, bringin' us to our knees (rock on)

[Chorus]
Warp News, oh yeah (woo-hoo)
Fact-based, optimistic news, it's crystal clear (clear)
Get ready to rock, get ready to roll (come on)
With Warp News, we're takin' control (rock and roll, baby)

And a song. (Press play to listen.)

That was the rock and roll version. Let's try how the same text sounds as heavy metal. I just change by typing in which style I want.

Or why not gospel?

The amount of variations and music genres seems almost endless.

Fine-tuning in Custom Mode

If you switch to Custom mode, you can fine-tune. You can insert your own lyrics, or edit what the AI has created. You can also decide it should be, for example, a piano and a solo woman singing.

When Suno creates your lyrics, they use GPT-4 for it, and of course, you can use ChatGPT for your own lyrics. There are also GPTs just for lyrics, including one for Suno.

Currently, Suno can generate a two-minute song, but it's possible to assemble longer songs than that.

The result is not always perfect. Sometimes part of your instruction ends up in the song lyrics, the end of the song is often abruptly cut off, even if you write that it should include an intro it doesn't always happen, and so on. It manages other languages than English, but the pronunciation in the song sometimes becomes a bit strange, some kind of weird accent.

The opinion from professional music creators seems to be that they are deeply impressed, but say that the quality has not yet reached that produced in a studio. But of course, it's just a matter of time.

Play around

But overall, it's incredible. It's not just simple melodies, but advanced singing and beautiful music. That this can be created by typing a few lines of text is almost unfathomable.

Let your imagination flow. When those of us who can't make music suddenly can, our good, funny, and quirky ideas can be tested. I took one of our news stories, about emissions from chemical waste being reduced, and used ChatGPT to make a song lyric based on the news.

I sit here laughing to myself as I listen to the song. Incredibly silly. No one will want to listen to the news in musical form. But this kind of experimenting is now possible, and among all the coal pieces, there will suddenly lie a diamond.

You can make five songs for free at Suno, which I think you should try.

Inspiration and guide

There's a page where others have made their Suno music public, which you can listen to. I thought this guide on YouTube to get started was good.

Teddy's song

So how did it go with mine and Teddy's music? I explained to him that we would make music on the computer and asked what he wanted the music to be about.

"Pears."
"OK, anything else?"
"Sandwich."
"Anything more?"
"Meatballs."
"Is it you eating it?"
"Yes."

So that was the instruction to Suno AI.

"A happy children's song about Teddy eating meatballs, pears, and sandwiches."

Out came a song with slightly psychedelic lyrics, but with pears, sandwiches, and meatballs included.

Teddy wasn't so fond of the first melody, so we made several variations. Including an opera.

The opera got the Teddy rating of "Don't like." Kids these days.

The favorite turned out to be a bluegrass version. When we played it we couldn't sit still, and got up and danced.

See you on the music charts!

Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist