Microsoft Research Songsmith
Music software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Microsoft Research Songsmith is a musical accompaniment application for Microsoft Windows, launched in early 2009. Songsmith immediately generates a musical accompaniment after a voice is recorded. The user can adjust tempo, genre (such as pop, R&B, hip-hop, rock, jazz, or reggae), and overall mood (e.g. to make it happy, sad, jazzy, etc.).[1]
| Microsoft Research Songsmith | |
|---|---|
| |
 Microsoft Research Songsmith | |
| Original author | Microsoft Research |
| Developer | Microsoft Research |
| Stable release | 1.03
/ September 2012 |
| Written in | C# and C++ |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Platform | .NET Framework |
| Size | 100MB download |
| Available in | English |
| Type | Music Software |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Songsmith |
The software was developed by a team at Microsoft 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 a University of Washington student, Ian Simon, in the summer of 2007. Songsmith is the second commercial project from Microsoft's Microsoft Research, after AutoCollage.[5]
Morris and Basu starred in an infomercial[6] that became a viral video.[7][8][9][10][11][12] The video was featured on the Australian ABC TV program The Gruen Transfer as a competitor for the Worst Ad Ever.[13]
The release of the software spawned an internet meme where the vocal tracks of popular songs are fed into the program.[14]