AI Violin is unstoppable.

[henrypeacham]

This is without any Midi CC or articulation controls. Simply going to become more convincing and IMHO session work is finished. Prepare for a live-performance-only future. 

Ace Studio AI Violin

[Altgeiger]

3 hours ago, henrypeacham said:

Prepare for a live-performance-only future.

Prepare to be disagreed with.

[Will Turner]

Violin playing is as much for the violinist as it is for the audience.   AI will never do that.  

[Brian in Texas]

It is impressive compared to how some canned sampled strings sounds in playback. I could see this being a useful tool for composers or bands on a budget, but my no means do I believe it will completely replace human recording artists.

[Stephen Fine]

Predicting at this point seems silly, but that is a remarkable technical achievement... an extraordinary improvement over MIDI.

[games2gamers]

On 5/20/2025 at 4:30 PM, Will Turner said:

Violin playing is as much for the violinist as it is for the audience.   AI will never do that.  

I agree, even in the future when they get everything right, this may benefit composers, conductors and arrangers save a lot of time which probably the main intention, but not for music halls, yet. Thanks for sharing.

[Pen]

Amazing! Thank you for sharing!

[ChrisBk]

what. the. heck. 

when there is no soul, there is no music.

[Rue]

I wonder how long it will take before "real" becomes the goal again? 

FWIW, I much prefer "real", with all it's imperfections (actual or perceived) to "perfect" or even overly polished.

[Shunyata]

See the David Pye book on “Art and Workmanship”.  Handmade and artisanal is more interesting that factory made because of imperfections, artistically and skillfully managed.  The same applies to music… the reason Maria Callas was so wonderful, a wobbly voice that was a joy to hear.

[Mansfield Piggot]

^It's always been about perfection though.  Historically whatever technology is available gets used to achieve it.

 

[Rue]

Too bad the drive for"perfection" has become fake. Very depressing, if you think about it.

[Mansfield Piggot]

^Many decades ago Glenn Gould was splicing his recordings together as if there was no such thing as a piano.  20 yrs ago I watched a Hillary Hahn video of some piece full of edits where her shirt sleeve went from rolled down to rolled up every few seconds.  If there's a camera cut in a video, it's to make an edit, whether it's music on an interview.  The cut back to the interviewer where he nods.  60 Minutes is paying the price now in court for fake interview cuts.  Luckily there is still a remote chance  2024 YR4 will still hit us.  If it does, maybe in ten million years some highly evolved roaches will be playing some good tunes and doing straight interviews

[GeorgeH]

4 hours ago, Ganymede Piggot said:

60 Minutes is paying the price now in court for fake interview cuts. 

Interview cuts have been standard since the beginning of news interviews including printed interviews. There is nothing “fake” about them.

We are all paying the price in the ongoing destruction of America’s supposedly free press. AI is accelerating it by theft of costly content created by actual human beings.

[Mansfield Piggot]

^If you punch in a note that wasn't really played, of course the result is a fake.  You can lament America's formerly free recording industry all you want .  Same "freedom defense" should apply equally to complete and total fakery (AI) I guess.

[Victor Roman]

On 7/7/2025 at 10:12 AM, Ganymede Piggot said:

20 yrs ago I watched a Hillary Hahn video of some piece full of edits where her shirt sleeve went from rolled down to rolled up every few seconds.

74 cuts in the 3rd mov. of a very classical concerto with very famous, youngish player, in the 80s. Was there, still feel the pain... SEVENTY FOUR !

[Victor Roman]

On 7/7/2025 at 2:05 AM, Ganymede Piggot said:

^It's always been about perfection though.  Historically whatever technology is available gets used to achieve it.

Interesting - thank you very much. Different voices sound different to ... different ears. Two singers I could never stomach were Judy Garland and Barbara Streisand.

[Michael Darnton]

Regarding the topic of editing, here's a comment I have often made on photo forums that's never well-received by both sides: you have begun to edit the moment you decide where to stand with your camera. From that point on, it's all edited. I'm sure there must be some obscure musical and political point in that. :-)

Fine performance is not actually about perfection. In fact quite the opposite.

 

Here as well. Notice how often Chet chooses not to hit right on the beat and slightly differently every time. This is music, as opposed to mindless transcription from paper into fingers. Good luck with figuring this out with AI.

 

[GeorgeH]

48 minutes ago, Michael Darnton said:

Good luck with figuring this out with AI.

Thanks for the posts. Rubato exactly the kind of a musical playing pattern that AI can mimic easily through analysis and pattern recognition of human beings playing. 

That Chet Baker recording is awesome!

[Michael Darnton]

12 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

Thanks for the posts. Rubato exactly the kind of a musical playing pattern that AI can mimic easily through analysis and pattern recognition of human beings playing. 

Garbage in, garbage out.

Now for your enjoyment here's HH playing Brahms as it would be rendered by Sousa's band, as a march. Even when she tries to swing, she gets it wrong. Historically (I don't know what she's currently up to because I'm not a fan) when she does rubato she stretches entire phrases, slowing down, or rushing to catch up, a couple of measures at a time, keeping rigid time within that window. That's not rubato and it's genuinely unpleasant to listen to if you pay attention. It's unfortunate because she clearly has the skill to be great, and it's obvious to me that she absolutely loves to play, which is a rare attribute and lovely to hear in a performance. (Josh Bell gives the same vibe, and few others do.)

 

[GeorgeH]

Just now, Michael Darnton said:

Garbage in, garbage out

True, but “good in - good out” as well.

[Michael Darnton]

@GeorgeH  Who gets to choose, though? That's the essence. If you listen to the masses, as AI is currently doing, HH is the best. 

[GeorgeH]

1 minute ago, Michael Darnton said:

Who gets to choose, though? That's the essence. If you listen to the masses, as AI is currently doing, HH is the best. 

You could ask AI to create solos based on an individual’s work, like Chet Baker.  AI can learn his whole body of individual work and then mimic it, rubato and all. 

[Michael Darnton]

7 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

You could ask AI to create solos based on an individual’s work, like Chet Baker.  AI can learn his whole body of individual work and then mimic it, rubato and all. 

Sure some theoretical "you" could do that. What are the chances that some modern geek raised on poor performance, or the people who make a living pimping bad music, or the listeners trained on bad music, or the musicians mimicking bad performances are going to be able to do, or choose, or demand what they can't understand?

I particularly like a Solti quote to the CSO at a rehearsal: "You play for yourselves, because no one out there in the audience understands."

With that background, context, audience, and market, precisely WHO will be demanding that AI does better?

[Altgeiger]

7 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

You could ask AI to create solos based on an individual’s work, like Chet Baker.  AI can learn his whole body of individual work and then mimic it, rubato and all. 

If Chet Baker were doing it, he wouldn't be extrapolating from his recorded works; he'd be creating something new from his understanding and his soul.  He may do something he's never done before, something new and creative; at least, that's a good musician's goal.  The goal of AI is to sound like everything else we hear from Chet Baker.  It's like the violinist who played along with Kreisler's records until he could mimic every slide, every inflection, every hesitation: it didn't make him Kreisler, it made him a gramophone.