We continue experimenting with nn~, the AI. Dominque talks with it, try to teach how to sing (and AI is a bad singer!), plays instruments to it. There are some nice moments and ideas coming alone.
These try-outs are using style transfer aspect of the neural audio synthesis technology. The sensor input is turned off and value is all set to 1
3 June 2025: “sounds like”
We used instruments, drums and bells, to generate sound. The RAVE model transforms it into ‘human voice-sounding’ output. It reminds me of a child imitating the adults’ pointless ‘blah blah’.
But could it be a tool/ an assistant to a shaman who seeks inspiration from the noise and sounds of the environment, helping to turn noise or even blah into something meaningful: isn’t that the point of the ritual? The AI can assist in creating chants by making sounds that a human voice can imitate. The sound of the gong sounds like a group of people ululating; beating the smaller drum sounds like the counting of Indian raag music; the sound of bells generates a more staccato sound, that sounds like it holds certain emotions. What quality of sound comes out if we play the flute or a string instrument?
The output sometimes sound like words, or phrases. I repeat them, sounds like I am channeling poetry from the unknown, Of course, this is my interpretation, plus it’s an interpretation in a particular language context – English. Mika comments that I have become an oracle. Is the AI an oracular tool?
I am looking for a method that will assist me in channeling the unknown through my art practice. The AI is not a tap, but there is something unknown about the way its output interprets the sounds that are input. My question is… is my activity being ‘useful’ for making sense out of the non-sense of this output? Am I wishing to create meaning through my movements that affect the inner parameters, or my repetitions of the sounds into particular words? Do I gain power – become an oracle – by interpreting the sounds into a human language that others can understand? And because none of us understand how it works or why it is making the bells sound ‘angry’, the one who can turn this into a shared language becomes the powerful one?