Suno.ai: Can Artificial Intelligence Fulfill My Dreams?
Allow me introduce you to Suno.ai, the artificial intelligence program that has put my dreams of creating actual, listenable music within reach.
Today, I have decided to write about what I love the most about music. It’s something I have shared with so few people in my life, and let’s just say it’s time to open up. I love writing music — lyrics, specifically.
I played the drums throughout high school and college. I had a friend who encouraged my playing, and we would spend hours creating music. I mostly took up drums to accompany that music. My playing was never anything special, but I found myself creating lyrics I thought were pretty good, and the friends I would share them with made me feel I was on the right track.
In Back to the Future, you know how George McFly was afraid of whether people would like his writing or not? That’s me. I always wanted to record my songs, and at the start of the pandemic I started applying myself towards learning how to do that in Apple’s GarageBand app. I was pleased with some of the results, but did not consider the songs to have been “polished” enough to share with others.
I have recently started using Suno.ai, which far surpasses anything I have been able to create with GarageBand. AI is a subject of worthwhile debate these days, and Suno.ai has given me some trouble deciding which side of the debate I am on.
I first began testing Suno after purposefully writing a total throwaway punk song. I’m not a punk. I like some punk and ska from the 90’s but the Replacements is as deep as my punk vein gets. I wrote a punk song about Thursdays, mainly inspired by my favorite book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. I liked the lyrics and could hear it in my head and wrote some music as a starting point for putting it down on the iPad Pro. I knew what I’d be up against when it came to the vocals, though, and looked into AI music creation to see whether it might be useful for this purpose.
The first time I used Suno, I clicked custom, then put my lyrics into the appropriate field. It prompted me for what music style I was seeking, and I entered punk, style of Blink 182. The result was ok, but I decided to see what would happen if I tried Green Day instead.
Be forewarned — the lyrics to “Thursday Song” are immature, and yes, explicit. Oh, and my apologies to the Cure, whose lyrics I appropriated at the end of the song.
I don’t know if anyone else will enjoy this song. I was having a bad day, and literally wrote most of the song in about five minutes while working. I chuckled about it the rest of the day, and have played the track each Thursday since to start my workday.
Being pleased with this result, I considered experimenting further with Suno but ran into a slight roadblock. Most of the music I’ve written has chords, and enough structure to consider them “done.” They may only exist in demo format on GarageBand, but I feel they are in a state with which I am satisfied. I would need to use a song that was still early in that process.
I decided on a song called “Not Close Enough.” I would not consider this a throwaway — I just didn’t think the lyrics were finished. I wrote it this past spring. It has a guitar riff inspired by (not ripped off from) a Journey favorite “Hopelessly in Love (The Party’s Over),” which I can tell you I am not skilled enough to play. Play and sing at the same time? Even worse.
But, for the sake of comparison… I share it with you now. Oh, and in keeping with the Back to the Future reference… I didn’t have time to build it to scale or paint it.
For the sake of consideration, I thought it would be important to present “Not Close Enough” in as close to its original form as possible. It’s all me. No help (if you sampled it, you can tell). This is the basics of the melody that I would normally “flesh out” in GarageBand next.
I limited my notions about the music prompt to include only the genre: Classic Rock. I also included the descriptor “70’s jam band,” and let Suno do its thing. On the free plan, Suno generates two samples at the same time, and you get five attempts per day. The first one came out pretty “country fried,” and I discarded it. The second option was this one:
It sounds pretty Joe Walsh-ish, if you ask me. Not a bad end result. There’s a long outro tag at the end, apparently due to my “jam band” request. But this was close to what I had in mind, and I thought it was listenable, honestly.
Again surprised by the end result, I decided to try a few other prompts with the same lyrics. My attempt at a punk follow-up for “Thursday Song” was a non-starter. (I thought it was ok, my wife didn’t make it through the first verse.)
I tried one with the prompt “Journey ballad.” I never thought of the song as a ballad, but I have often liked when lyrics have a different tone from the music on a track. The Gin Blossoms were great at that, so I was curious what this might sound like slowed down. Have a listen:
This version changed my perception of what this song could be and became my instant favorite. I’ve started learning guitar chords to emulate it and its arrangement. What I find scary is that there are points in the version during which Suno is basically improvising on the lyrics and places things that elevate the composition.
I didn’t think this song was done, but it is now. But for good measure, I took a flyer on my last attempt for the day, prompting a version “in the style of Thin Lizzy.”
So, two things: first — I am not sure Suno has heard of Thin Lizzy. Yeah, there’s some guitar riffs, but that’s about it. What it does have is a vibe — so much so that my wife proclaimed this one as the “cool” version and thought it would be even better with a female singer. It certainly is the most “modern” sounding of the versions.
The more I work with Suno, the more I am tempted to start a subscription. One thing I would like is to be able to keep a version, but alter bits and pieces — like changing the singer’s voice, or adding strings — that sort of thing. It is possible these options are available on the “Pro” tier, and when I give it a try I will update this post with that information.
I hope you enjoyed an introduction to my music, and to creating songs using Suno. Part of me is wary of artificial intelligence and wonders the impact it may have on actual music professionals. I will honestly say that I feel like I am cheating a bit with this tool, but I am so pleased to bring my songs to life that I can’t help but be excited.
Do you have a favorite version? Share it with me here! I am curious to know your thoughts! Comment below. Thanks so much for reading!
