Creating music with AI generators is an exciting and rapidly evolving field, opening up possibilities for musicians, content creators, and hobbyists alike. These tools can help you generate melodies, harmonies, rhythms, or even full tracks, often with just a few text prompts or simple inputs.
How to Create Music with AI Generators
The process generally involves a few steps, though these can vary significantly depending on the specific AI tool you’re using.
1. Choose Your AI Music Generator:
This is the first and most crucial step. Different AI generators excel at different tasks (e.g., generating instrumental tracks, vocal melodies, specific genres, or providing loops). See the recommendations below for some popular choices.
2. Define Your Musical Idea (Prompt Engineering for Music):
Just like with text or image AI, clarity in your input leads to better results.
- Text-Based Prompts: Many tools allow you to describe the music you want using natural language. Be specific!
- Genre: “upbeat pop,” “melancholy classical,” “driving techno,” “smooth jazz.”
- Mood/Emotion: “energetic,” “relaxing,” “epic,” “mysterious,” “sad.”
- Instrumentation: “piano and strings,” “synth-heavy,” “acoustic guitar,” “full orchestra.”
- Tempo/Rhythm: “fast tempo,” “slow beat,” “syncopated rhythm.”
- Key Elements: “catchy melody,” “driving bassline,” “atmospheric pads,” “drum solo.”
- Example Prompt: “Generate an upbeat synthwave track with a driving retro beat, arpeggiated bassline, and a hopeful, cinematic melody.”
- Parameter Adjustments: Some tools offer sliders or toggles for specific musical parameters like:
- Tempo (BPM – Beats Per Minute)
- Key (e.g., C major, A minor)
- Time Signature (e.g., 4/4, 3/4)
- Form (e.g., verse-chorus-verse)
- Length
- MIDI/Audio Input (for advanced tools): Some generators can take an existing melody (MIDI) or audio snippet and develop variations, add harmonies, or extend the piece.
3. Generate the Music:
Once you’ve provided your input, click the “Generate” or “Create” button. The AI will process your request and produce a musical piece. This can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the complexity and length.
4. Review and Iterate:
- Listen Critically: Does the generated track match your vision? Pay attention to melody, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, and overall feel.
- Provide Feedback (if available): Some platforms allow you to “like” or “dislike” generations, helping the AI learn your preferences.
- Refine Your Prompts: If the result isn’t quite right, adjust your prompt.
- Too generic? Add more specific details about instrumentation or mood.
- Wrong tempo? Explicitly state the desired BPM.
- Need a different section? Ask for a “bridge” or “chorus” variation.
- Generate Variations: Many tools can create multiple versions of a track from the same prompt, or generate variations based on a promising initial output.
5. Edit and Integrate (Post-Generation):
- Export: Once you have a satisfactory track, you can typically download it as an MP3, WAV, or sometimes a MIDI file.
- Further Editing in a DAW: For professional use or more control, you’ll often want to import the AI-generated music into a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) like Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, GarageBand, or Audacity.
- Arrangement: Cut, paste, loop, and rearrange sections.
- Mixing & Mastering: Adjust levels, add effects (reverb, delay, EQ), and polish the sound.
- Adding Live Elements: Record your own vocals, instruments, or sound effects on top of the AI track.
- MIDI Editing: If you get a MIDI export, you can change instruments, notes, velocities, and quantization.
6. Licensing and Usage:
Always check the licensing terms of the AI music generator you use.
- Personal Use: Most allow this.
- Commercial Use: Some require a paid subscription, attribution, or have specific restrictions. Understand if you can use the music for YouTube videos, podcasts, advertisements, or other monetized projects.
Recommended AI Music Generators
The field is dynamic, but here are some popular and capable AI music generators, catering to different needs:
- Suno AI (Suno.ai / Bark):
- What it does: Generates full songs, including instrumental tracks and remarkably coherent AI vocals (lyrics and singing). You simply provide a text prompt describing the song, and it creates everything from genre to vocal style.
- Pros: Very impressive for complete song generation with vocals, excellent for quickly prototyping song ideas.
- Cons: Less granular control over individual elements compared to some other tools; vocal quality can still be a bit “AI” at times.
- Best for: Songwriters, content creators needing background music with vocals, rapid prototyping.
- Soundraw:
- What it does: Allows users to generate royalty-free music by selecting mood, genre, instrument, and length. You can then customize and remix the generated tracks.
- Pros: User-friendly interface, good for quick, customizable background music for videos or presentations. Offers a wide range of styles.
- Cons: Focuses more on instrumental tracks; less suitable for complex song structures with specific vocal needs.
- Best for: YouTubers, podcasters, video editors, content creators needing instrumental background music.
- AIVA (Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist):
- What it does: Specializes in generating emotional and orchestral music. You can choose from various presets (e.g., “Cinematic,” “Ambient,” “Modern Classical”) and customize parameters. It can also generate music based on existing MIDI files.
- Pros: Produces high-quality, often inspiring, classical and cinematic scores. Offers commercial licenses.
- Cons: Steeper learning curve than some simpler generators; primarily instrumental.
- Best for: Film composers, game developers, media producers, or anyone needing evocative instrumental soundtracks.
- Amper Music (now part of Shutterstock):
- What it does: Allows users to create custom music by defining mood, style, tempo, and instrumentation. It focuses on functional music for media.
- Pros: High-quality output, good for corporate videos, ads, and podcasts. Offers clear licensing for commercial use.
- Cons: Less about creative exploration for full songs, more about generating functional background music.
- Best for: Businesses, marketers, video creators looking for royalty-free music for commercial projects.
- Google Magenta Studio (requires a DAW):
- What it does: This is a collection of open-source AI tools that work as plugins for DAWs (like Ableton Live). It focuses on generative algorithms for melodies, rhythms, and improvisations.
- Pros: Highly flexible and integrated with professional music production workflows. Great for generating creative ideas to build upon.
- Cons: Not a standalone web generator; requires technical knowledge of DAWs and MIDI.
- Best for: Musicians and producers who want to use AI as a creative assistant within their existing production setup.
- BandLab SongStarter:
- What it does: A feature within the BandLab mobile/web DAW that generates musical ideas (drums, bass, melodies) based on a text prompt or mood.
- Pros: Free, integrated into a collaborative music-making platform, good for sparking initial ideas.
- Cons: Generates short loops or ideas rather than full songs; you’ll need to develop them further.
- Best for: Budding musicians, bedroom producers looking for quick starting points.
Example of AI Music Generation in Action
Imagine you want a track for a YouTube vlog about travel.
You might go to Soundraw and input:
- Mood: Happy, Energetic
- Genre: Acoustic Pop
- Instruments: Ukulele, Drums, Bass, Light Percussion
- Length: 3 minutes
The AI would then generate a track that fits these criteria. You can listen, tweak, or generate variations until you find something you like, then download it for your video.
For a more complex task, like creating a song for a game, you might use AIVA for an atmospheric instrumental track, and then Suno AI to generate a rough vocal melody and lyrics to fit the mood of a specific scene, which you could then refine and re-record with a human singer in a DAW.
The future of AI music generation is bright, offering exciting possibilities for collaboration between human creativity and artificial intelligence.
