Musicians Being Replaced by Computers?

I just got back from coaching a hockey tournament. Hockey tournaments are quite possibly one of the greatest experiences a person can be a part of, so it would be an understatement to say that it was a fun weekend.

When I got back and checked my e-mail, I had gotten one from Scott which contained three links to YouTube videos where people had inserted the vocals from famous songs into Songsmith. Now, if you're not acquainted with Songsmith, it's a computer program where you sing a song or put in a melody and it will come up with instrumentation for it. It's admittedly pretty funny when you put in vocal tracks from famous songs. But it worries me. Will the creative process be eased to the extent that music becomes impersonal and generic?

Microsoft came up with an unintentionally hilarious tutorial/ad. There's a guy in a band who's had some trouble coming up with instrumentation for his songs lately. He uses Songsmith to make music to this melody he's been sitting on. The chord progressions of Songsmith are very simple and take no chances. The ones that don't come out conventional are awkward (which is evident if you watch some of the "remixes") and those that aren't are repetitive. They often bounce back and forth between two chords. I'm cool with people using Songsmith for a "general direction" or inspiration, but chances are you won't find either in the program that would be an improvement from the worst accompaniment that you could come up with in your head. If these "remixes" were the progressions that the bands used in the originals, I doubt any of them would have ever had their popularity. Lyrics and a melody can only take you so far.

For now I think music's safe. I don't think computers will be coming up with the most pleasing noises to our ears.