Quick Links
The idea of an AI capable of churning out hit songs might sound like science fiction, but music generator AIs are real. One such platform catching attention is Boomy. Could an AI really tap into that elusive soul of music? Let’s put it to the test.
What Is Boomy?
When everyone was expecting machines to take over our manual labor, AI swerved and started stealing our creative jobs. ChatGPT writes better than half the office, and DALL-E turns even me into a skillful digital artist. But one creative realm seemed stubbornly resistant to the AI revolution: music.
Despite that,music generator AIscertainly exist, and one of the more intriguing ones is Boomy. It promises a simple interface where you can create entire songs with the click of a button.
As a wannabe musician who can barely play a recorder, I’ve dabbled with AI composers. The first hurdle is simple: make something resembling music, not random noise. Once you’ve cleared that, you’re faced with instructing the AI to produce the sound you actually envision. Most music generation AIs fall short here.
Music production AIsare useful, or at least inspirational, for skilled producers.AI tools can help mix and master tracksand a tool likeGoogle’s Instrument Playground provides authentic samplesto use in songs, but producing music using just AI is another arena.
Boomy is a contender in this arena, offering both free and paid options. You choose a style, instruments, and arrangement, then click Generate and wait for the AI to do its thing. Intrigued, I decided to give it a whirl. Here’s how it turned out for me.
1. Getting Started With Boomy
2. Making an AI Song With Boomy
Once you’re logged in, you’ll see a new page asking you to pick a style for your first song. There are six options here, the last one being the Custom style. Each of the styles comes with sub-styles, and clicking the little play icon next to each will let you hear a demo of what they sound like.
What Boomy means by Style is not simply the genre, but the instrument kits, the composition, and the mixing altogether. The Custom style lets you mix all these together to come up with something that feels closer to what you have in mind. In my case, since I’ve been listening to a lot of electronic music lately, I went with the Electronic Dance style, and then the Hyperdrive substyle.
Once you’ve picked a style, clickCreate songand you’ll join a queue. The queue is usually short, and within a couple of seconds, you’ll be taken to a new page where you’re able to listen to and edit your song.
3. Editing the AI-Generated Song
Moment of truth! Boomy will automatically start playing the song. If it’s your first time using it, you’ll likely be surprised by how good the output sounds (for something a robot cooked up).
But so far, this song isn’t really mine as my only influence was that initial style choice. Luckily, it doesn’t end here; Boomy offers ways to customize. you’re able to swap instruments, rewrite the entire song, shift the composition, and add vocals.
Unfortunately, the free version makes instrument changes a bit of a gamble. The instruments are bundled in groups; for instance, the harmonics on my track were from a group called Synth Haven.
Attempting to change the lead instrument individually prompts you to pay for a subscription. With a free subscription, your choices are limited to selecting a different group of instruments or re-rolling in hopes of getting the ones you want.
The drums also follow the same rule. You can’t change, say, the snare only. You’ll have to either change the group or re-roll the same group. The mixing allows you to pick from around a dozen different options, each with a description and demo to give you a preview.
You can also choose a sound effect, which Boomy will mix into the song. Don’t worry about experimenting with different stuff, Boomy knows how to make something that, at the very least, doesn’t hurt your ears.
Rearranging the song is also simple. It lets you move segments around, kind of like a cut-and-paste function. This is also the only way you can extend a song in Boomy, by duplicating segments and spreading them around. Unfortunately, that means that the extension will simply be a repetition of the original. No new tunes.
The above is what I came up with after playing around with the different settings for a while. It sounded good to me, but I wanted to make it a bit more personal.
4. Adding Vocals to the Song
Boomy doesn’t make vocals, but it helps make your vocals stick. you may go the basic route, adding simple vocals, or try their wild card: the Auto Vocal feature. With the Auto Vocal feature, you either upload or record a thirty-second vocal track, and then Boomy chops and warps it around the track, using your vocals as an instrument.
This is one of Boomy’s most impressive and, at the same time, disappointing features. I say that because sometimes it manages to exactly hit home with the repitching and chopping. Other times, it keeps playing the first quarter second of a word over and over, making a total mess of the initially decent instrumental.
You have options here too, but in my experience, they simply gave the illusion of having some sort of control over the Auto Vocal feature. Whatever setting you choose, you’re still at the mercy of artificial intelligence and randomness.
Still, after speaking a very depressed 30-second monologue about not wanting to get out of bed in the mornings into my microphone, Boomy finally gave me a decent output (after a dozen retries). Take a listen below:
Verdict: Are AI-Generated Music Tools Like Boomy Any Good?
The million-dollar question. To do it justice, we need to break it down. Can AI create music? Absolutely. Boomy just proved that. Can it produce hits? Sometimes.
But if the question is, can someone with zero music production skills bring their exact sonic ideas to life with AI? Then no. Not yet, at least. The problem that AI music generators are facing right now is the temperature paradox.
A tool likeSuno AI lets you generate music from prompts, which means you can type anything as parameters for the song and manipulate it with your words in any way. The downside is that most of the output sounds awful, and even if you’re happy with it, a pair of trained ears willquickly detect it as AI music.
Conversely, a tool like Boomy doesn’t give you much control. There are no text prompts, and you can only change a handful of predefined settings. This means you’ll rarely get something hideous, but your creative control is seriously limited. You can’t really bring your ideas to life with Boomy.
Ultimately, AI music generators like Boomy are promising, but they’re not a magic bullet for aspiring musicians. They best serve as inspiration, a playful way to experiment with sound—not an instant replacement for a skilled producer.
