'Photoshop for music' released

A German software company has announced the creation of an application that claims to do what was long thought impossible: the manipulation of individual notes in polyphonic recorded material.

Direct Note Access will be offered as a plug-in to the Melodyne Studio audio software. Thus far, note manipulation has been restricted to individual notes played in isolation, used most famously to correct crap singing after the fact, a la Cher in “Believe.”

The software's creators, however, claim that engineers can pick and change individual notes amongst a group being played simultaneously — allowing guitar chords themselves to be manipulated. In theory this would mean an almost limitless ability to change and alter recorded music in the studio.

According to the company, the application can be used to “tune a guitar after recording, correct harmony vocals that are out of tune, or fix their timing, turn major chords to minor (and vice versa), switch tone scales, mute single notes, remix volume levels, etc. – all after the performance is already taped.”

Good god, it seems we are on the cusp of a dark moment in music history where the notion of a performer and the ability to perform are becoming permanently divorced.

Direct Note Access is slated to be released this coming fall.

Talentless: prepare to rejoice.