Song style recipes

Asking for instruments that are not on the list

The instrument list is short, but the lyrics box is not. Anything you write in square brackets travels to the music engine as a stage direction, next to the verse and chorus markers. Put each one on its own line, where you want it to happen.

It is a request rather than a command, so the engine does not always oblige. Try an idea twice before giving up on it.

What quietly modernises a song

These pull a song forward in time

These pull it back

If a period style comes out too clean or too new, this is almost always why. Unless the period itself is the 80s, remove the first group before adding more of the second.

How to use a card

• Start with the genres. They set the rhythm more than anything else does.
• Add one or two moods, one or two tempos, and no more than three instruments. Long lists pull against each other.
• Change one tag at a time between attempts, so you learn what each one does.
• The same tags give a different arrangement every run, so regenerating is a tool in itself.

Missing a style? Write to us and name it, along with the instruments you expect to hear. The list grows from requests.