AI-Powered Plugin Creates Music Samples from Text Inputs

The developers of Samplab, an AI-powered sample editing software, have released a new VST3 plugin called TextToSample. This plugin, which can be used within your DAW or as a standalone tool, enables you to generate samples by simply typing text prompts. For instance, if you type “bubbly synth melody,” TextToSample will create a lively synth melody that you can use according to your preferences. Best of all, this plugin is available for free.

TextToSample leverages Meta’s open source AI-based audio generation toolkit, MusicGen, and is trained using information provided by the algorithm. You can also drag and drop pre-made sounds into the plugin and have it generate related samples in addition to typing commands.

The interface is very minimal and sparse, which makes it easy to use, but comes with some inherent limitations. For example, it doesn’t take into account the pre-existing music on your song, so the first, second, and even third attempt probably won’t match the tone you want. It also has difficulty recognizing basic musical concepts such as keys, scales, and BPM. Like most AI creation platforms, you won’t get the perfect pair right away. You have to adjust, supplement and provide additional instructions gradually until you are satisfied.

However, once you get there, it’s a hell of a lot of fun and causes the kind of happy accidents you’d never come across on your own. See the demo video and the little flourish of the guitar at the back end of the sample as an example.

This is an AI tool in 2023, so it has some bugs. During testing, we ran into issues like adding drums to the interface when we clearly stated that we didn’t want percussion. To that end, Samlab says the tool isn’t meant to “replace human musicians, which it can’t do anyway.” It’s free though, so there’s no harm in checking it out, and the technology should improve as more people use it.