Bach vs AI: spot the difference

'We're beginning to see an age where the code and the coder are beginning to separate. So, perhaps the code itself can really be creative and make something new.'

Will computers ever be able to write music like Bach? Popular mathematician Professor Marcus du Sautoy is here to try and answer that question by delving into the mysterious and intriguing world of artificial intelligence.

Catch Professor du Sautoy at our Bach, the Universe and Everything on Sunday 1 December 2019.
In partnership with the Institute of Physics and the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford.

[reuben]

It was easy to tell the difference. The AI's music lacks direction.

[deirdrehbrt]

The first piece just had some of intervals that I've never heard in Bach or in any music from that period really.

[Vextrove]

It was still fairly obvious which one was by Bach.
Bach's piece is more "elegant".

[SirEdwardeight]

Spotted the difference. The first piece had strange pauses in unusual spaces, like it was a jumble of notes, a note-salad, whereas the second piece had a specific pattern that reminded a spoken sentence, a communicative arc.

Briefly, the first was babbled words, the second was coherent sentences.

I am no musician in any way; that's just how it felt.

[trisdavies]

First piece had parallel fifths - dead giveaway!

[am]

I was so hoping it would be the second one written by bach
first one sucked!

[proudsnowtiger]

Listening to the first piece, I realised that that's what the AI in OAI stands for... Artificial Intrelligence makes Awkward Intervals. Anyway, the relationship between maths and music is endlessly interesting - the dice waltz game is an old example. If music is about communicating something deeper than words, then perhaps it'll be the way AIs first convince us they have awareness. That's a decent art movie concept right there...

[arkady]

I mean, name me one piece by Bach which starts by a I-IV-V-I in a key a fifth above the key of the whole piece

[maxwlytle]

The second was more pleasing ... the first awkward, unnatural. Perhaps later generations will not know, or care, about the difference .... interesting quiz, thanks ;-)

[ArnoldVeeman]

When you studied Bach and had a thorough musical composition training for years at a pristine conservatory you'll immediately spot the difference between the two. But I wonder, how long will it take to develop this AI systems to perfection? I think it can be done eventually!
I find it very amusing to see how well it actually already performs!

[alessandroculatti]

I got it right, the first one to me seemed more like a mix of different pieces rather than a single piece. Something I would expect an AI trained on Bach's music to do, but not something I would expect Bach himself doing.

[davidhynd]

I guessed correctly, but I can't say exactly why. The first piece just didn't make musical sense, or something. Although, having said that, I was a bit worried about the dotted rhythm in the bass line, last bar of the second piece.

[marceloz]

My prediction before completing the video: First one is AI, second one is Bach



Edit: Got it right. My reasoning is that the first one felt too "metrical" and strict compared to the mathematical yet fluid style of Bach.

[Laborejo]

The second choral you picked, Christus, der ist mein Leben (Richter 46) is not composed by Bach. You should have picked an authentic one from the Cantatas. The whole point of the video is lost.

[km]

the problem i see with this is that the AI models are getting sheet music as the data. But, that's not the music. It's only a visual representation of the music. The AI models need to have the actual music played by humans as soundwaves in order to get anything close to a more humanlike machine generated music.

[seriousstar]

This man is so painfully out of touch - the existence of this video alone is testament to the need for human artists. My advice to any budding A.I developers is do something useful, like using the technology for improving the diagnosis and treatment of the vast number of diseases and life-disrupting conditions that still exist today. Don't focus your time and effort on shitting on one of the few institutions we have that's arguably entirely unnecessary for survival, yet can be incredibly important in creating meaning. We can't all be sustained on the kitschy animations and exaggeratedly enthusiastic inflections of popular science uploads, who always seem to act as though they imagine they're entertaining a bunch of natives with a cigarette lighter.

[cbmtrx]

I really do hope you're right, but if there's anything that humanity has taught me—specifically Internet-enabled humanity—it's that "if it's cheaper, it'll make more money". More likely, this technology will be used to produce endless playlists of music for undiscerning listeners, while human composers try to find ways to pay rent.

[vikymoejoe]

Creative people are starting to get stuck? I have quite the opposite view on this when it comes to music to be honest.

[alan]

I guessed correctly as well. It seemed to me that the Bach had much more variety and interest and the different ideas seem to follow on logically from the previous idea. Whereas with AI though there are different ideas, they don't flow logically, or make a pleasing whole. I noticed this a few years back when I listened to some AI-composed ragtime pieces in the style of Scott Joplin. In Joplin's rags there are two alternating ideas, and the second one always seems connected to the first (in a way I can't describe musically). But with the AI version it seemed just a formula - do something, elaborate of vary, then do something else. Both the ideas on their own are plausible as the AI can generate melody, but the connection between the two is lost. Until AI can do more than just generate a sequence of notes or chords, and take into account the entire structure of the piece and how it fits together as a whole, I don't think it will measure up to the real thing. It'd be OK for music you don't really listen to, like elevator music, video game scores etc.

[angelhelp]

There was no guesswork at all for this: either you recognized the natural pauses or not. I didn't happen to recognize the second music sample, but its pauses were indeed natural.