Microsoft Songsmith – the future of music creation?
As a Garageband devotee and fan of accessible music technology software, I am always interested in any new software claiming to be Garageband for the PC. I am a realist and recognise that while Garageband is perfect for music creation from primary right the way through to Key Stage 4 and beyond, not all schools and teachers are lucky enough to have access to a suite of macs for music technology lessons. While there are some very good products out there, M-Audio make a good piece of software called Session which has an interface similar to Garageband. The limitation of this software is it only works with a specific audio interface, not a practical option for many schools. I recently came across Mixcraft by Acoustica (http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft). This is an excellent product that is similar to Garageband in many ways, is easy to learn how to use and also comes bundled with hundreds of loops and some effects and virtual instruments. All this for just $64.95 and discounts are available for bulk purchases. I have included a short video overview of Mixcraft below;
Anyway this leads me to a new piece of software that I came across via twitter earlier this week. Songsmith from Microsoft Research. The article on the macenstein website was entitled “Move over Garageband, Songsmith is here!”. The advertorial for Songsmith had me crying with laughter (see below) and left me convinced it must be an elaborate hoax. A quick trip to the microsoft website confirmed it is for sale for $29.95.
Quite aside from the production qualities of the advert, the script etc, etc ( and the fact for any Apple geeks that the main laptop featured is a Macbook Pro – does this mean even Microsoft accept that the best computer for running windows is a Mac??), it got me thinking about where Microsoft are hoping this will lead. Anyone that has ever used Garageband that will know that while dragging and dropping a few loops has a kind of instant gratification and makes you feel quite creative, you know that you are not really creating music more arranging someone else’s. Students generally enjoy this for a while but then want to develop skills to enable them to craft their own sounds and create their own sequences. I suspect Microsoft would probably argue that Songsmith allows anyone to create their own music without any musical knowledge but the more I think about this the more I think this may not be a good thing. Surely the whole point of technology is that it is a tool to help with the creative process, not take all but one aspect of that away from you. I am sure there are probably a few sliders and dials that allow you to vary the generated music but I am not sure this is the point. If you are going to make the process of making music that easy, why not just generate the vocal too, so that all the user has to do is click a few buttons on their laptop and the music is made.
I feel there is also a danger that we further devalue music too. In these times when we are surrounded by technology we need to instill in children the value of creativity, and as educators we should be facilitating them to be able to express themselves. I have downloaded Songsmith from the Microsoft website and will post some of my songs when I have had a chance to explore it in more detail. One thing though I am certain of is that advert will always cheer me up when I have a had a bad day!
