Artificial intelligence is pretty much everywhere you look at the moment, churning out reams and reams of text andpiles and piles and images, and its ability to synthesize ‘new’ material out of vast amounts of training data extends to audio too: You can have your own little customized ditty put together for you in seconds.
As with text generators and image creators, numerous AI audio bots are vying for your attention, and we’ve rounded up some of the best we’ve come across on the pages that follow. Pick the one that suits your needs or your budget, and find out the strengths and weaknesses of the latest AI music creators.
1) Suno
If you’re ready to dive right into the world of AI music generation, Suno is the perfect place to get started: You can be up and running for free with just a few clicks. Just type out what you’d like a song about and what kind of music style you’re after (including any instrumentation and pacing requests), and Suno will have something very quickly.
For example, maybe you want a jaunty piano tune about your best friend celebrating a birthday (remember to include their name and a few details about them). You’ll get two versions to save or share, and you can create 50 songs monthly without paying anything. Subscription prices (for more songs) start at $US8 per month.
2) SongR
Load up SongR in your browser, and in less than a minute; you can start the process of generating your first AI song—you don’t even need to sign up for an account to create some audio (though you do need an account to save songs). As online AI tools go, SongR is one of the simplest in terms of its interface and getting you straight to the AI engine.
You don’t get as much control over the sound of your audio track as you do with other AI music generators. Rather than entering a text prompt, you pick a category of music. You can use a text prompt to generate the song’s lyrics and vocals, though, and there are several different AI vocalists to choose from. It’s lots of fun to experiment with.
3) MusicFX
MusicFX is one of several “AI experiments” that Google has made available on the web, and all you need to make use of the tool is a Google account. This is more suited for chill-out or background music—vocals aren’t included, and your clips have a 70-second maximum length (though you can set them to loop around if you want to continue listening).
It’s the sort of app that’s good for playing around with AI and seeing what’s possible because you get a variety of suggestions about how you can edit and improve on your prompts, and you can rate the content that MusicFX produces. There’s also a handy DJ mode, which produces endless mixes of AI music based on the prompts you select.
4) Beatoven AI
Beatoven AI is a little more comprehensive and sophisticated as AI music generators go: It’s aimed at industry professionals who need tracks to order, but really anyone can use it. You can be as particular as you like in your prompts when it comes to the type of track you’re looking to create, but there are no vocals, and songs are capped at 60 seconds.
The app has a mixing component, so you can control fades and add audio or video from your library. You also get a selection of alternative tracks from the same prompt, and you’re quickly able to make tweaks to the tempo and instrumentation. If you want to download songs, you need credits, which start at $US3 for a minute’s download.
5) Riffusion
Over at Riffusion, the approach is slightly different: You start by typing in the lyrics you want for your AI-generated piece of music, and the app then comes up with vocals and instrumentation that fit. You can tweak the sound style with a click and even come up with your own custom music style, and the AI will make suggestions if you want it to.
You don’t even need to register an account to start riffing, but if you do sign up for free, you get access to more features—like the ability to download the stems (or individual components) of your track to use elsewhere. There’s currently a 12-second limit on your tunes, so it suits creating music for social media posts and quick audio snippets.
6) LimeWire AI Music Studio
LimeWire AI Music Studio is from the same LimeWire that used to deal in MP3 sharing back in the day: You type out a prompt describing the song you’d like to hear, and the app takes care of the rest. There are no vocals included here, and your tracks can only be up to 30 seconds long, but it’s straightforward to use and speedy when making music.
You can only create four audio tracks daily on the free plan, but subscriptions start at $US9.99 monthly if you’re diving into AI music. The same platform also does generative text and image AI, so there’s lots to play around with, and there’s a comprehensive management system for keeping track of all your creations.