Can Synthetic Music Have Beauty?

[Marty Grass]

I recently watched a few episodes of Twin Peaks. David Lynch's art is a separate discussion. But I was once again impressed with the Twin Peaks' theme from 35 years ago. There may be some traditional instruments used, but the main instruments are electric. Nonetheless, the sound is powerful. To me, some of the feel comes from the electric keyboard and electric guitar. The theme would still be hauntingly good with traditional instruments, but it would not have the same feel.

Long ago I was a bit disturbed by jazz players using Teles and 335s. I'm not now and find them to be less "harsh mistresses" to have a relationship with.

Take a listen.

[James W]

Yes of course.

[pamosmusic]

Well put together electronic music can be beautiful.

[James W]

Absolutely love this for example -


(n + 2) – x | FURT

[Ingo Lee]

Ambient from a friend of mine, he does jazz too.

The Woods Shall to Me Answer and My Echo Ring | Man With a Movie Camera

[Doug B]

Well put together electronic music can be beautiful.

Exactly. Both electronic instruments and acoustic instruments are just tools for the artist to express themselves. A stick and a hollow log can produce moving and memorable music.

[BWV]

Thought the OP would be referring to Suno and the other AI music tools, which are getting really good at creating mediocre music

Harder Than Human Swing by bwv | Suno

[jameslovestal]

Depends on the beholder.

[emanresu]

Eh, I have always been a bit annoyed by "electronic music". That should be the analogue stuff made with/sourced by electricity.
Should be called "digitronic music" or something like that - those plugins.

But absolutely. If that's the goal. Beautiful, groovy. Or anything you like.

[pauln]

Listened to this (1978) the other night from my record collection; on the big system!

Chords are well defined, individually; but superposition of chords is chaotic beauty.
The unusual division of the 13/8 dink dink sound is not just some irrational number.

[mr. beaumont]

I love Peaks, and Badalamenti's score...its just perfect.

I love a lot of electronic music...even recorded an album of it in the early 2000's...

[emanresu]

Yuzo Koshiro When Making the Streets of Rage 2 Soundtrack | Burning Piano Meme - YouTube

[benhatchins]

definitely yes. The question about beauty in synthetic music is fascinating philosophically. Tools don’t remove emotion — they just change how it’s expressed. I once saw luvme hair reviews appear in a totally unrelated creative discussion about aesthetics and perception, which shows how subjective taste is everywhere. Electronic sounds can absolutely feel meaningful. It often depends on composition rather than instruments. Creativity keeps evolving with technology.

[Litterick]

There's a lot of it about.

[Litterick]

'Last year they removed the last recognisable instrument, the violin, and built these synthetic drums....Next year, Kraftwerk hope to eliminate the keyboards all together and build jackets with electronic lapels which can be played by touch."

[ragman1]

Thought the OP would be referring to Suno and the other AI music tools, which are getting really good at creating mediocre music

Harder Than Human Swing by bwv | Suno

Who's that singing? Or is it an AI created voice? Very good, whatever it was.

[BWV]

Who's that singing? Or is it an AI created voice? Very good, whatever it was.

it’s all AI-just a prompt and Suno made up the lyrics and generated the whole thing. Took maybe 30 seconds

[ragman1]

Thanks. I had a go with Suno some time back, maybe about two years. It made me some quite good blues stuff. Vocals weren't bad either although the lyrics were a bit cringy.

I found one thing out, it doesn't really do classical. What you get is a sort of wash of sound as it covers the chords, there's no real melody, but maybe they're improved it since then. In the end I gave it up because although it was fascinating I wanted to do the music myself.

[BWV]

Thanks. I had a go with Suno some time back, maybe about two years. It made me some quite good blues stuff. Vocals weren't bad either although the lyrics were a bit cringy.

I found one thing out, it doesn't really do classical. What you get is a sort of wash of sound as it covers the chords, there's no real melody, but maybe they're improved it since then. In the end I gave it up because although it was fascinating I wanted to do the music myself.

the jazz is limited - the prompt I used said ‘Bill Evans like piano voicings’ but that’s all for the best. No ROI on extensively training the models on jazz or classical

for example the prompt ‘string quartet like Bartok’ gave some generic 19th-century sounding slop

Untitled by bwv | Suno

[ragman1]

Well, at least you got a melody out of it!

[Dave70]

Here's the version with vocals:

[mr. beaumont]

Here's the version with vocals:

From Floating into the night...such a beautiful album. Thanks for posting, I know what Im listening to tonight.