Obviously AI hype is everywhere these days, including in music and creative pursuits. When people talk about using AI in the studio they most often think about using AI to make or modify tracks and songs. However, there’s a key usage that I see often overlooked.
AI Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming very good at digesting information and answering questions about it. This is especially true when the information is complete, well organized and formatted, and refers to things with the same names throughout. Companies generally go to some trouble to provide information this way in user manuals as PDF files. I download those for my hardware and software when I buy them. The PDFs are nearly always free and don’t require any login.
I also tend to see a lot of music makers, especially but not exclusively novices, going to YouTube for help. They hope that someone has addressed their problem when they search for a video. If they’re lucky, they have to watch a 5-10 minute video to get a simple answer. But there’s a much better way to accomplish the goal (to get help and return to creating as quickly as possible).
The solution: LLM experts
If we feed these user manuals to a LLM, we can have a sort of “studio assistant” to ask questions. I do this with NotebookLM for instance. NotebookLM has a limit for how many files one can add (currently 50), but you can have multiple notebooks. Each notebook is an expert in a different area. For instance, I have notebooks to give me expert help on:
- Arturia V Collection — over 40 soft synths, each with its own interesting features and interfaces
- Arturia FX Collection — over 30 studio effects plug-ins, again each with its own details
- Studio hardware — covering my digital interfaces, hardware synths, rack effects, and other physical gear
- Avid Pro Tools — a whole topic unto itself, with a set of enormous user manuals
Of course, this could apply to any kind of manuals — but this article is about using AI in the studio. Now when I have a question, I open NotebookLM and ask it questions. For example:
- (Studio hardware) If I load a new default kit on the Digitakt II, does it overwrite the kit on other patterns?
- (V Collection) What is the maximum number of voices on MiniFreak V?
- (Pro Tools) What’s the shortcut to move a selection to a new playlist in a track?
This is a pretty basic way of using AI in the studio, but it’s very effective. Since the answers come quickly, I can get back to creating and stay in the flow. It’s like having an assistant who’s read all the manuals for me. I sometimes still like to read manuals, but I can stick to memorizing only key information.