Rewriting the Music Experiences | Sourabh Pateriya | TEDxSIU Lavale

Quick Overview

The future of music creation involves the merging of visual and audio modalities through Augmented Reality (AR) and AI tools, allowing creators to produce music anywhere without the complex, expensive studio setups required in 2015, ultimately democratizing music production and leading to the birth of new, immersive genres.

Key Points: Music creation in 2015 required significant resources: 6 laptops, 17 plugins, 22 tutorials, 88 snots, 3 MIDI controllers, 1 existential crisis, and a friend to validate the music ('bro, it slaps'). The creator developed an Augmented Reality (AR) application called 'Soundwise' in 2018, designed to allow music creation anywhere by bringing the studio into the user's environment via AR instruments. The AR instruments connect seamlessly to existing Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) like Ableton, GarageBand, Logic Pro, and FL Studio via Wi-Fi MIDI. The paradox of music creation is feeling good while doing it, but having to disconnect from life to produce it, which the AR studio concept aims to solve. The speaker believes the bridge between a beginner and a professional will soon be solely imagination, as both will have access to the same, increasingly accessible tools. Creators who adopt AI tools will be significantly ahead of those who do not, leading to new genres being born. The speaker concludes by thanking the audience for their time.

Context: The speaker, Sourabh Pateriya, discusses the evolution of music creation, contrasting the complex and isolating setup required around 2015 with the potential of modern technology like Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). He shares his personal journey from being a hobby guitarist to founding a company that addresses the difficulties and barriers to entry in music production by integrating creative tools into real-world environments.

Detailed Analysis

The speaker begins by asking the audience how many play a musical instrument, noting that most people never make music professionally or upload it to platforms like Apple Music or Spotify. He highlights the difficulty of music production around 2015, listing necessary equipment: 6 laptops, 17 plugins, 22 tutorials, 88 snots, 3 MIDI controllers, 1 existential crisis, and the need for a friend to give validation ('bro, it slaps'). This complexity created a paradox where enjoying life felt separate from the creation process, requiring disconnection from the world to produce music. To solve this, the speaker developed an Augmented Reality (AR) app, 'Soundwise,' in 2018, which places virtual, Wi-Fi MIDI-enabled instruments into the real environment (demonstrated with images of AR gear on an outdoor table). He showed how users can interact with these virtual instruments anywhere, even while socializing or picnicking, merging visual and audio modalities immersively. He argues that the barrier between beginners and professionals is dissolving because everyone will eventually have the same powerful tools, suggesting that the future of music creation will be driven by imagination rather than technical access. Creators adopting AI will advance faster, leading to new genres emerging.