Saturday, January 17, 2009

Console Organ for the '00s

This looks like an SNL parody, but this really is straight-faced video from Microsoft Research for Songsmith. As a former usability specialist, I shook my head in disbelief at the line, "Microsoft, huh? So it's pretty easy to use?" As a former intellectual property paralegal, I was surprised that their legal department let this out with a © where a ™ should be, even if it's for a fictional product.


The gist of it: you sing into your computer's microphone, and the software creates backing music with customized effects, all of which sound like the console organs that used to be demonstrated and sold in malls. To get a sense of the results, someone ran David Lee Roth's vocal track for "Runnin' With the Devil" through the program.
http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin-With-The-Songsmith

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