Analyzing the Bach Harmonizer Doodle

The Google AI Bach harmonizer doodle is a fun thing to play with, but it...gets it wrong, a lot. I’m going to play with it, explain why it’s wrong, and why you probably won’t be able to cheat with it on your music theory assignments any time soon.

LINK TO DOODLE:

LINK TO MAGENTA/COCONET

ANTHONY JACKSON: The Machines are here

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[Matt-nogg]

All day yesterday I was like "Pretty sure Bach would never do that, but this is pretty fun so it's ok"

[tone]

One thing that's really interesting to me in that second harmonization is that, if you just follow the bass part, the G# actually _does_ resolve to an A, it just does it by staying silent for a couple 8ths and then _jumping up a minor 9th, crossing the tenor in the process._ So it feels like maybe it knew that the chromatic alteration was supposed to resolve but it didn't quite know what that resolution was supposed to look like.

[jeffirwin]

Ah yes, my favorite Bach chorale: Das Licc, BWV 1176.

[hugomcdinosaur]

That's actually emulating the work of Grady Hardison Bach, a distant cousin of Johann Sebastian who, at the age of five, fell off the wagon on the way to church.

[rchlclr]

We'd better hear that Lick harmonization as part of your next Q&A jingle

[toodsf]

Key: C
First note of my melody: E
First chord of Google's harmonization: A#dim
Me: Google please
First chord 2nd attempt: Am
Me: Better
First chord 3rd attempt: Em/F
Me: GOOGLE PLEASE

[epiphanythoughts]

Hey! I didn't see you or anyone else commenting mentioning this, but I thought it was worth mentioning that you can press the big red button with a star on it to get access to tempo changing, accidentals, key signatures, and sixteenth notes!

[jimlapbap]

This really reminded me of Stravinsky's neoclassical works. Which could mean:


1. The AI has developed a consciousness and is purposefully ushering in an era of neoneoclassicism.
2. Someone time traveled back to the 1940s and gave this to Stravinsky, and Stravinsky chose not to revolutionize the tech industry by reverse engineering the futuristic tech, but was inspired by the music.
3. Stravinsky WAS the AI who time traveled in an attempt to further study Baroque voice leading and accidentally went to 1882 instead of 1682.

[ThePianoMan]

All Star but it’s a Bach Chorale but it’s harmonised by Google

[olgierdvoneverec]

it is so strange to watch this when you know more about machine learning than music theory.

[AbhiBass]

I have to admit, those tiny Bach doodle's in the back are cute af.

[komojo]

I find this interesting as a computer programmer, because if you were to look at the actual machine learning code it wouldn't actually mention anything about music theory. It's just treating the notes as numbers and trying to make patterns that look like Bach music. This is a great video, just be aware that any speculation on what the AI is "trying to do" is really a question of what elements of Bach music inspired it to do that.

[Impzhahaha]

ive seen so many lick memes on this bach thing today

[flyingdics]

I wish I taught music theory because I would frequently use "interval con picante."

[janfejt]

it was said like hundert times, but I love you for pronouncing "Bach" correctly.

[andrewprahst]

When I heard that Red G# at 9:29, I thought I was gonna hear the best resolution of all time.
I have been jebaited.

[digitaljanus]

Over a hundred years ago, John Philip Sousa fought the player piano and the infant recording industry back in the wax cylinder era. So the struggle is old indeed.

[martifischer]

Hey Adam, I really enjoy your work on this channel and your burning dedication to music and music production. I share the same fascination producing and mixing my own funky souly music, and I would like to ask a little question: should I at some point upgrade to a UAD interface (right now I'm using a Soundcraft MTK 12 as a multichannel interface) to be able to keep up with modern recording studios' production standards? Or does it really not matter at all? Thank you for your time and effort and keep up that excellent work. Cheers from Berlin!

[HannesSchnaitter]

Apropos the "wrong spelling": The trained model seems to work on midi so it can't really distinguish between flats and sharps.

[yassinet.benchekroun]

"Certainly nothing that anyone has heard before, cauz that would be really bad to include in this video and I could get demonetized" - Hahahahahahahahahah
I can feel a DEEP HATE in here