Sónar: The electric guitar invented rock, what genre will AI invent?

In the early 1950s, sound engineers were trying like crazy to invent a guitar that sounded amplified, clear, and perfect. They wanted the acoustic guitar to have no limitations and to be heard clearly everywhere. However, all they got out of their amplifiers was a dirty, distorted sound, with multiple reverberations . The engineers were desperate, but the musicians heard this new electric guitar and, far from thinking it was a failure, invented a whole new genre of music. Thus, rock n' roll was born. And thus, a new genre of music will be born with the emergence of generative AI. Just give it time. That's Sónar , the place where technological frustrations become art.

The festival kicked off very early without incident after the controversy surrounding the pro-Israeli investment fund KKR and the multiple cancellations it caused. Sónar+D , the professional part of the festival, thus opened with a detailed study of everything AI has to offer for the cultural industries. The basic question was how Artificial Intelligence will change the way we compose, distribute, and consume music and to what extent the human factor will prevail within this new technological paradigm. And no, there's no need to wax apocalyptic. At least not yet.

AI will create models and tools, just like the grand piano emerged in the 17th century, and it will be the artists who will modify and "break" them to their advantage to create a different kind of music, as human as a current pop song can be. "Molds have to be broken. That's what artists do. We engineers create factors, and artists break them and get an emotional response with our creations. It's maddening for engineers, but great for art. We've always known that," says Adam Roberts , head of Google DeepMinds.

The festival kicked off with a demonstration by Marije Baalman and her AI, which studies movement patterns. She moves with sensors on her arms. The AI ​​computes them, memorizes them, learns them, and is then able to repeat them and form its own models while reproducing sounds according to the movements. It's still somewhat rudimentary, but the possibilities it opens up are incredible. "The cultural impact AI will have is still unclear. For now, we see something common in all the generative AI music models: an indissoluble bizarre strangeness. What is clear is that every new technology invents new genres of music, and we're still waiting to see what this one will invent," says Jordi Pons of Stability AI.

Sónar+D is a bit of a fair. The public can visit the project area and try out the new inventions. And it's truly fascinating. We can listen, for example, to a music box that, when opened, never repeats the same melody. And these aren't pre-recorded songs, but rather new creations made by AI. "It's a simple invention, easy to use, like traditional music boxes, but it has that touch of ephemeral art that we love, because what you hear once you'll never hear it the same way again," says Lúa Coderch , one of its creators.

In total, there are 65 projects from 17 countries , most with a science fiction touch. For example, there is a project from the Barcelona Computing Center in which you take a microphone, the computer records what you say and then transforms your words into the voice of singer Maria Arnal , technology that the brilliant artist will take to the stage tomorrow at Sonar Hall. "The AI ​​changes the timbre of the voice and modulates it into the form of a song. We also create visuals from these voice fragments and create immersive experiences," says Fernando Cucchietti, one of the project leaders.

Sensors that communicate with plants through vibration and smell. Communication networks between flowers that have shown that some get along better than others, as if they were friends, and that if one disconnects from the communication network, the others worry about whether something has happened to it. Circuits that use quantum computing to track the behavior of photons and how they react to noise. Even a Hawaiian shirt that prevents surveillance systems from reading you as a person and preventing you from appearing in the image. "There are more and more video surveillance systems that violate our right to privacy. With this project, we want to reflect more on this and what limits we can allow," says German Simon Weckert , author of the project.

The afternoon was already open to the general public and the first concerts and DJ sets. It's the Sónar of a lifetime, in short. Despite the cancellations, there will still be plenty to see until early Saturday morning, from Nathy Peluso 's new album to Alva Noto's union with Fennesz. From then on, exclusive audiovisual shows will dominate, such as those by Peggy Gou, BICEP, Max Cooper, Four Tet, Honey Dijon, Skrillex, and guitarist Yerai Cortés, who will close the festival on June 15 with a special concert at the Fundació Miró.