Microsoft Songsmith Provides Musical Backing and Cheap Laughs

A few weeks ago Microsoft released Songsmith, a product of the Microsoft Research division. As demonstrated in this cheesy but seemingly genuine advertisement, Songsmith takes a recording of you singing a capella and provides music for you.

Some Internet geniuses had the idea of taking the vocals from well-known songs and feeding them into Songsmith. The results show off how well Songsmith works from a technological standpoint—Songsmith's backing tracks sync with the vocals in most songs and seem to use roughly the right key, at least as far as my untrained ears can tell. These videos are also very funny, with music that is totally inappropriate for the songs. My personal favorite is this video of Wonderwall by Oasis. The video's creator said Songsmith thought it was a techno song.

Other Songsmith YouTube hits include The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train and Roxanne by The Police. There are many, many more out there so do a quick search, maybe you can find your favorite song converted into an unrecognizable mess.

Check out the official Songsmith site to learn more about it and download a free demo.

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