And now for something completely different.
Meanwhile Suno happened, and I’m totally blown away by it!
Computer-generated music has fascinated me since my youth. I even wrote my master thesis at ETH Zurich on AI and music. But Suno is in a completely different league to all previous attempts (and there have been many). So it’s high time I played around with it. This technology definitely has a high addiction potential!
In this post, I explore Suno’s ability to create covers of existing songs – my songs, of course. As before, the songs are available under Creative Commons by-nc-sa. Since algorithmically generated works are not copyrightable in almost all countries, I am taking the liberty of making the covers generated by Suno available here as well.
Generating from direct live recording
Let’s start with the original track which I composed and recorded in last November (all instruments are played live by me simultaneously, without overdups): 2024-11-25/1 (from this album).
And here the first cover generated by Suno; as style I entered “prog jazz rock”; the result is pretty close to the original – just incredible how this algorithm works – like magic: 2024-11-25/1 Jazz Rock
For the second attempt I was more currageous and added a brass section with a sax solo, still in jazz rock style: 2024-11-25/1 Jazz Rock Brass Section. The result is just great and very groovy, even with a jazz guitar solo in the middle, and I like how the theme kicks in at the end.
And since my wive is very fond of the various house tracks she found on Suno, here a version in a combined jazz rock house style, still with brass, and some electronics in the middle: 2024-11-25/1 Jazz Rock House Funk. No one can keep still with this groove. Unfortunately the track just ends abruptly.
And last but not least, a rap version with lyrics about computers and music, put together for me by Perplexity; it has different parts and breaks and a great sax solo at the end: 2024-11-25/1 Jazz Rock House Funk Rap. Now if that isn’t a hit!
Generating from direct sequencer mixdown
Here are some tracks from my ToyLand album, which I regenerated with Suno:
Let’s start with an improvised R&B multi-track piece; here is the original track from 2005. And here is what Suno made of it.
Now for RTS, an old jazz-rock piece from the eighties; here is the original track fed into Suno. And here what Suno made of it. It’s interesting to note that Suno had problems recognizing the chords of the bridge.
Now a bossa nova jazz rock piece I wrote for my band in the eighties called “Radha Kundha”; here is the original track fed into Suno. Here are two generated versions:
“Turn around” is yet another piece from the eighties which I composed for my band at the time; here is the original track fed into Suno. And here whate comes out:
- Cuban version; theme is perfect, some chords don’t fit, and Suno added another part, which is ok.
- Bossa nova version; here the chords fit and the piece closely follows the original, but it missed a note in the theme; still great.
“Lonely Friend” is a piece I wrote in the early nineties, which I wasn’t able to record until ten years later; here is the original track fed into Suno. And here the result:
Here are some tracks from this album from 1993:
Here is the original recording. And here two examples of Suno interpretations:
Generating from live performance recording
Here are some tracks from a (not particularly good) live recording from this 1989 album.
“Türkis” is a 7/8 piece which is part of a larger composition of mine from around 1985; here is how we played it in 1989. And here is a version generated with the Bulgarien brass band by Suno; pretty accurate and I very much like the drums.
Here is a slow ballade which I wrote at the time of this concert: A Septembers War. And here is the interpretation by Suno; the piece apparently was a challenge for the algorithm; but still beautiful.
Generating from studio multitrack mix
The following pieces are from this album from 1987, which I recorded on a Fostex eight track tape machine and mixed it down to DAT.
A jazz rock composition of mine, and the Suno interpretation, which is only a subset of the piece because of the two minute limitation.
Yet another jazz rock composition of mine, and the Suno interpretation; the harmonies were apparently a challenge for Suno.
Here is the original recording of a ballad called “High” which I wrote at the time. The interpretation by Suno is surprisingly accurate and comes very close to the original.
More to come.