AI chatbots like ChatGPT are all over the place at the moment, and for good reason. They're incredibly helpful assistants that can help out with a variety of tasks, including many of a musical nature: writing songs, making playlists, developing synth plugins and emulating guitar pedals.
What we haven't yet seen is a chatbot dedicated to providing assistance to electronic music-makers - until now. Plugin developer Algonaut has trained an AI on 1000 hours of music production tutorials from musician, educator and YouTuber Tom Cosm to create Cosm Bot, a chatbot geared towards answering questions related to music production.
Cosm Bot appears in the (slightly creepy) video above, introducing itself as "the first audio producer to be transformed into AI", and declaring that it's "here 24/7 to answer your questions on audio production, DJing, or whatever's on your mind".
We've given Cosm Bot a runaround, and the results were surprisingly decent. The bot gave us some solid (if relatively brief) advice on a number of topics, including designing synth patches, EQing vocals, mixing basslines, and hooking up Ableton Live with external gear. As Tom Cosm is an Ableton Certified Trainer, the bot is understandably a little more effective at answering Ableton-related questions, as opposed to queries related to other DAWs.
Here's what the bot offered us when we asked for advice on mixing basslines.
"When it comes to mixing basslines, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, make sure that each bassline has its own space in the frequency spectrum. You don't want them to clash with each other and create a muddy sound. You can achieve this by using EQ to cut out any overlapping frequencies.
"Second, consider the stereo width of your basslines. You can use panning or stereo imaging plugins to create a wider or narrower sound. Third, make sure that your basslines are balanced with the rest of the mix. You don't want them to be too loud or too quiet.
"Finally, use compression to control the dynamics of your basslines and make them sit better in the mix. Remember to use your ears and trust your instincts when mixing basslines. And most importantly, have fun with it!"
Not bad, eh? What's more, Cosm Bot seems to have the right idea with regards to its favourite music tech-related websites. When we asked it, "what do you think of MusicRadar?", the bot replied, "it's a great resource for music production news, reviews and tutorials. They cover a wide range of topics and have a lot of helpful content for producers of all levels". We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
Algonaut is the brand behind Atlas, a plugin that uses AI to analyze and organize libraries of drum samples to produce customized drum kits. The software is built on Algonaut’s SoundClass AI system, which has been created using “customised neural networks, deep learning, and tailored audio analysis techniques”.
