New product using Garritan technology

[Wheat Williams]

I found this press release on broadcastnewsroom.com.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference is April 14 through 19 in Las Vegas.

--Wheat

Company News: Page (1) of 1 - 04/06/07


Abaltat Muse™ Video-Driven Soundtrack Composer Launches With Special NAB2007 Rebate

Visitors to Abaltat Booth Can Register for 40 Percent Discount on Download



DMN Newswire--2007-4-6--Abaltat, a provider of radical music software solutions, today announced that it will offer a 40 percent discount to NAB attendees who register to download its innovative Abaltat Muse™ video-driven soundtrack composer. The company will showcase the new software application at NAB2007 in its booth, SL7424.

“The highly imaginative technology behind Abaltat Muse allows video editors to actually create original compositions tailored to their specific picture sequences,” said Siun Ni Raghallaigh, managing director (http://secure.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/Hotlinks/hotlinkredirect.jsp?hotlinkid=194) at Abaltat. “The software actually writes the music to the picture and provides the editor with tools for refining or updating tracks at any point. The resulting music has the aural quality of a recorded band and can be altered in real time to achieve just the right sound.”


Abaltat Muse represents a fundamental departure from traditional post-production tools, exploiting artificial intelligence to measure select elements of a moving picture and then composing music to match those elements. Designed specifically for video editors, Abaltat Muse uses a combination of picture window, timeline, and keyframes to compose music, leveraging a video editor’s skills — not a musician’s — to create music.


Among the elements that help the video editor achieve the right sound are the preferred style of music, the elements in the picture, the instruments needed, and the time signature that works best with the edit. Once a best fit is achieved, the user has limitless options in adjusting the composition using factors such as melodic constraints, scale modulation, and audio mix. All these adjustments can be performed using keyframes in a timeline synced to the picture.


document.write('');<IMG src=http://ads.digitalmedianet.com/ads/servlet/view/banner/image/zone?zid=98&pid=0&keywords=Abaltat%2C+Muse%2C+NAB&position=1 hspace=0 vspace=0 border=0 alt=Click Here!> (http://ads.digitalmedianet.com/ads/servlet/click/zone?zid=98&pid=0&lookup=true&position=1) Abaltat Muse composes the music and plays it out using a sample player and virtual instruments. The software incorporates technology from experts in the audio industry, namely Native Instruments and Garritan Libraries. Consequently, the audio and instrument quality is extremely high. The audio can be exported as AIFF or WAV files. The composition can be exported as a MIDI file, should the editor require a composer to do additional work on his or her composition.


More information about Abaltat Muse and other Abaltat products is available online at www.abaltat.com (http://www.abaltat.com/).


# # #
About Abaltat
Abaltat was founded in 2003 in Galway, Ireland, with a daring vision: to create radical 21st-century computer applications. Using a combination of highly experienced television (http://secure.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/Hotlinks/hotlinkredirect.jsp?hotlinkid=100) editors, first-rate musicianship, and the most imaginative programmers in Ireland, the company has created a unique software product for video and film editors: the world's first video-driven soundtrack composer. More information is available at www.abaltat.com (http://www.abaltat.com/).

[Jonny Lost]

Wheat,

Thanks for the post. It's an interesting concept, however, I wonder if this is just another way for film makers to control every aspect of the film process. I have a feeling that this may hinder the life of a film composer, rather than help it. Especially for composers who write for low budget, independent films. It seems to me that this is very similar to the "canned" music film makers can license to put in their films. Only time will tell, I guess. I, myself, intend to continue composing film music the old fashioned way!

Just my $0.02.

Jonny

[Garritan]

Wheat, you certainly are a few steps ahead. I thought this would be announced at NAB but it seems the word is already out.

Albaltat Muse is a very cool program. It is video driven soundtrack composition software for the video industry.

From their website: (http://www.abaltat.com/productsMuse.cfm)

Up to now, video editors in search of a soundtrack have had various options such as original composition, commercial music or library music. Abaltat Muse™ is the World's first video-driven soundtrack composer. This is not a search engine with a large database of library music or music loops. Abaltat Muse™ actually composes a soundtrack.

Abaltat Muse™ is designed to empower video editors by allowing them to further control the generated music. The software is designed so that video editors can find a perfect soundtrack match for their picture sequence by managing the composition of the music i.e.
• the style of music (genre),
• the elements in the picture,
• the instruments needed
• the time signature that works best.

Re-editing a piece of video because of, say, copyright issues or best-fit will be a thing of the past.

Abaltat Muse™ can also give first drafts of a composition so that an editor can have a guide track which can be updated and/or recomposed when the edit is complete or at any stage during the edit.

[Garritan]

Wheat,

Thanks for the post. It's an interesting concept, however, I wonder if this is just another way for film makers to control every aspect of the film process. I have a feeling that this may hinder the life of a film composer, rather than help it. Especially for composers who write for low budget, independent films. It seems to me that this is very similar to the "canned" music film makers can license to put in their films. Only time will tell, I guess. I, myself, intend to continue composing film music the old fashioned way!

Jonny,

I don't think this software is going to compete with film composers (certainly hope not!). This seems more of a compositional sketch tool. There is no compositional program that can replace a real composer (just as there are no sample libraries that can replace a real musician).

It will allow fast sketches and perhaps replace "canned" music. I can see film composers using this as a tool in their arsenal to provide first sketches so that a director or producer can indicate the mood or feel of a scene. Imagine running different sonic scenarios to a film on the fly :)

Gary Garritan

[scf3]

Not sure I would support something that even has the possibility of
making fewer jobs for composers.
It's bad enough already.

[tradivoro]

I think that this is definitely just another tool in the arsenal for composers... Believe it or not, film people are not exactly the most musical, they're still going to need a musical person to use somehting like this, so that's where you come in... this is for those jobs where the film maker doesn't have a large budget for music and with some thing like this , you can offer to do music, and since it elminates a lot of the grunt work, you can do it for very cheap... Or you're helping out a friend... I know some of you would not want your name associated with this kind of work, but sometimes, you just need the money... :) What I would suggest to the people who make the software, that it would very good if they could have several audio exacmples on their website for all their products cause you really can't get an idea ofwhat this can do without sound examples...

[jmpaquette]

Just to throw a few pennies into the pot . . .

I see this as a useful tool for people learning/polishing their video editing skills, in much the same way that sample libraries can help composers and arrangers get a better sense of what to write for "real" musicians.

Would/could this replace live musicians and composers? In some ways, perhaps, but I doubt that AI will replace natural creativity in any of our lifetimes.



Joe

[fastlane]

Remember that technology creates more jobs than it replaces. Except for the bots. They will eventually replace humans in most occupations. Ah, a dogs life.

Eat, sleep and make woopy! )(~

[dermod]

But can it synch music to a wordstring like Siun Ni Raghallaigh? June O'Reilly might be less of a problem.

[germancomponist]

No excitement,

this would be only another way to find fast a temptrack to a scene. A good cutter has hundrets of good temptracks in his head and archive, and he knows whish he best take for this or that scene.

So this software helps to find easyer..., not more and not less. *()

[derekderek]

I think that on its face this is just a tool, as Gary pointed out. But it occupies a very dangerous space, however inevitible. Clearly, it won't replace composers at the highest level. But that's not something budding composers have to worry about anyways. But it will, eventually and almost certainly, replace some entry-level composers trying to get a low-budget gig so they can climb the ladder. And as the product develops, it will replace more and more cues. Heck, Stylus RMX alone can replace thousands of short cues, in the wrong hands.

Granted, the good news is that there is a possibility that composers will be asked to do a soundalike of an Abaltat Muse sketchup, rather than having to match a $250k score by John Williams. (Directors often want what they can't have!) But the bad news is that this could very well be the "Skynet"(for Terminator 2 fans) that eventually puts entry-level composers out of business.

The bottom line is money. And nobody can debate that point. Again, I'm not talking about good films here...I'm talking about the stuff that is on a tight budget and timeline, where "good enough" is the goal. Which is exactly where entry-level composers break in. -also, I'm taking into account that this product will be developed further and have competitors-. If film makers are already using music libraries to replace composers and save dough, do you believe that they'll think twice about using a software program that can save them $??

Bottom line: If the product develops to a point where it sounds "good enough", it will replace some composers.


Also, from one of the press releases posted on their site:
"The composition can be exported as a MIDI file, should the editor require a composer to do additional work on his or her composition."

[Jeff Turner]

Bottom line: If the product develops to a point where it sounds "good enough", it will replace some composers.

Agreed, just like sample libaries have replaced musicians in some cases.

[Tony Monaghan]

I'm getting work I wouldn't have got were it not for sample libraries.

[germancomponist]

A horror conception!

All music would sound directly with low budget films. ~| ~| ~|

This reminds me of the time, when Percussive Adventures came on the market. In Germany one heard nearly only Percussive Adventures in all films.

Now no film producer would like to hear it more....., lalala. *()

[Scott McCallister]

...the bad news is that this could very well be the "Skynet"(for Terminator 2 fans) that eventually puts entry-level composers out of business.
...it will replace some composers.

So, if we get rid of the new crop of composers, who's scorring film 30 years from now?

:mad: :samurai: :mad:

[Jeff Turner]

Anyone can with Apple's new iComposer. )(~

[germancomponist]

So, if we get rid of the new crop of composers, who's scorring film 30 years from now?

:mad: :samurai: :mad:

Noone,

regarding 30 years the world went down long ..... :mad:

[Garritan]

So, if we get rid of the new crop of composers, who's scorring film 30 years from now?

:mad: :samurai: :mad:Perhaps Robocomposers :eek: (and the next generation of Sean's bots)


http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:QMhKE9CMCRjQTM:http://weblogs.variety.com/photos/uncategorized/robot_web.jpg

[derekderek]

So, if we get rid of the new crop of composers, who's scorring film 30 years from now?

:mad: :samurai: :mad:


So you see my point...by denying the crappy entry-level gigs/cues to budding composers, you effectively cut off one of the very few inroads into film composing. Then Johnny Newcomposer decides that maybe he has a better chance as a salesman. Fact is, most young composers who get the crappy gigs are far more talented than the budget film will ever let them show...but they need these crap gigs to build a reel and contacts.

My main beef with the product is that they are blatantly trying to circumvent the composer. From their press page again:

"Designed specifically for video editors, Abaltat Muse uses a combination of picture window, timeline, and keyframes to compose music, leveraging a video editor's skills - not a musician's - to create music."

I would say I rest my case, but I think I have too much to say on this subject. I could be calmed down, perhaps if they were (by licensing) to only allow the product to be used for temp tracks. But alas...

[jmpaquette]

So you see my point...by denying the crappy entry-level gigs/cues to budding composers, you effectively cut off one of the very few inroads into film composing. Then Johnny Newcomposer decides that maybe he has a better chance as a salesman. Fact is, most young composers who get the crappy gigs are far more talented than the budget film will ever let them show...but they need these crap gigs to build a reel and contacts.

My main beef with the product is that they are blatantly trying to circumvent the composer. From their press page again:

"Designed specifically for video editors, Abaltat Muse uses a combination of picture window, timeline, and keyframes to compose music, leveraging a video editor's skills - not a musician's - to create music."

I would say I rest my case, but I think I have too much to say on this subject. I could be calmed down, perhaps if they were (by licensing) to only allow the product to be used for temp tracks. But alas...
Alas, there are good points made here, and in the other posts. Yet time marches on, and the wheels of progress grind harshly. I recall my father telling me how that infernal automobile machine would put our smithy out of business. I guess he was right . . .

The line that I find most disturbing is what derekderek cites:
- to create music. Years ago I spent countless hours programming typefaces to print reasonably high quality text on dot matrix printers. Then came Postscript, and (later) Windows TrueType. I was subjected to the most horrendous lack of taste and of a typesetter's sense seeing everyone printing out pages containing sixty different mismatched typefaces with no sense of art or balance. We might say that everyone became a publisher. And we might say that anyone using this program can make music. We might.

I don't expect to take away from the concern that some production people will eliminate entry-level composers, but I think that beginning from that perspective doesn't take into account the genuine skill and talent possessed by these composers. How long do you think it will take a video editor to realize that s/he's only creating a placeholder until some real music can be written, music that actually matches the scent, the motion, the emotion, the feeling of the actions on the film? Even the program's creators (or advertising writers) say

leveraging a video editor's skills - not a musician's -

It's too soon to give up!

Joe

[derekderek]

Joe, you make some fantastic points.)(~ You've also put it into perspective, as far as other technologies/fields are concerned. You're completely right that time marches on and some things are inevitible.

From Gary's perspective (just guessing), I think that he really wants to spread the composing gospel to as many people as possible. So in that sense it does seem like a good thing...who knows how many editors may turn into composers after fiddling with the product.

Another positive side of this is that there is the possibility that editors/directors using this product will realize the difference in quality and appreciate the skill of a real musician.

As a 'technology horizonist' I am usually very forgiving, if not overzealous with new technologies and ideas. But something about the way they were advertising the Abaltat product really gave me the chills. So I'm conflicted here.

Enough of my ranting...anybody want to take a stab at what other positive things might come from this? Or gripe about the negatives? Or brag about your own compBot?

[germancomponist]

If I sometimes have no idea for a new radiocommercial, then I let me be inspired here:

http://www.sound-library.net/shop/en_UK/products/catalogs/1/1000201/1660899/index.html

Lalala lali *()

[KeithEno]

The way I see it, technology will always continue to march onwards, but people with real skill will always remain at the top. Also, those that require the best will always seek it out, whereas those that can't tell the difference, well, what does it matter? This may sound cryptic (I've just read what I've written! ~| ), but it reminds me of when decent synths came out, and I as a musician was incensed that someone who could play keyboards could now also "play" french horn, cello, cor anglais and so on... But then I listened to the music produced, and you could tell it was artificial. Even sample-based synths can't match a skilled player, as even though the sounds are correct, (and recorded from another skilled player!), the progression through a piece will not always sync up correctly w.r.t. feel/soul/interpretation/whatever you want to call it. Mind you, most people won't notice this, as they are not closely familiar with the instrument from years of playing it. Why, even the modern music buyer is happy to suffer a loss in quality to aid portability. There I was thinking we'd move from CD to SACD or DVD Audio for increased quality (perhaps even getting close to the accuracy of vinyl!), but no, we're all downloading MP3 and AAC files instead and suffering compression in the interests of fitting more tracks on our iPods. So, should I be upset that budding composers are using MIDI and synths to replace real musicians? Does Hans Zimmer have a lot to answer for with his banks of hardware replacing real string sections? Perhaps, but I know that when someone wants to go the extra mile, then the real musician will be brought on-board for that special solo moment. Soundtrack composition will probably be treated the same, with the experts being recruited when it is required. However, feel free to disagree!

[jmpaquette]

Well put, Keith.

It's important to remember that there are two parts, as well as two words, to the phrase "Artificial Intelligence."

;)

Joe