| Microsoft Research Songsmith | |
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 Microsoft Research Songsmith | |
| Original author | Microsoft Research |
| Developer | Microsoft Research |
| Stable release | 1.03 / September 2012 |
| Written in | C# andC++ |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Platform | .NET Framework |
| Size | 100MB download |
| Available in | English |
| Type | Music Software |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Songsmith |
Microsoft Research Songsmith is a musical accompaniment application forMicrosoft Windows, launched in early 2009. Songsmith immediately generates a musical accompaniment after a voice is recorded. The user can adjust tempo,genre (such aspop,R&B,hip-hop,rock,jazz, orreggae), and overall mood (e.g. to make it happy, sad, jazzy, etc.).[1]
The software was developed by a team atMicrosoft Research, led by researchers Dan Morris and Sumit Basu.[2][3][4] The product began as a research project called MySong, conducted at Microsoft Research in collaboration with aUniversity of Washington student, Ian Simon, in the summer of 2007. Songsmith is the second commercial project from Microsoft'sMicrosoft Research, afterAutoCollage.[5]
Morris and Basu starred in aninfomercial[6] that became aviral video.[7][8][9][10][11][12] The video was featured on the Australian ABC TV programThe Gruen Transfer as a competitor for the Worst Ad Ever.[13]
The release of the software spawned aninternet meme where the vocal tracks of popular songs are fed into the program.[14]
Once it was out in the wild, it was ripped to shreds by merciless YouTube video-makers showing exactly how badly the software worked with well-known songs, like Queen's 'We Will Rock You'.
| Main projects |
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| MSR Labs applied research |
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