Auditory Illusions: Hearing Lyrics Where There Are None

Purgatory

Purgatory

Purgatory

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I thought this was pretty cool and thought would share it with you all.


https://youtu.be/ZY6h3pKqYI0


Do read the info in the You Tube video from the OP, states the software and has example midi files too to prove he's not messing with the audio. I played the midi files on my sound card and electronic keyboard and it really works well and even better on my electronic keyboard because I have better sound samples on it than the standard General Midi voices you get with sound cards.


The Bee Gees one is really good but I think it depends on how well you know the song too and you hear the words then clearly. Enjoy :)
 
Midi data does not contain sample data (Sample data is recorded sound) it only carries event messages that specify notation, pitch and velocity, control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato, audio panning, cues, and clock signals that set and synchronize tempo between multiple devices.


The only instrument that is being played is a piano in that example but could be any instrument really selected on the sequencer.


It's surprising because there is no vocals in the midi track, it's your brain filling in the vocals ;). That's why I said it works best if you actually know the song, otherwise it sounds like a horrible mess otherwise.


Think of it this way if you were sat at a real piano and could actually play that fast as does the Midi file on the sequencer of an electronic keyboard/piano it would sound to some that know the song as if the original singer was singing the vocals too but not really there. To others that don't know the song they would hear a mess, as if a drunk was hammering at a piano randomly.
 
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Only very small bits of it works for me - where the instrument sounds are very close to an approximation of the vocals anyway the rest just sounds like noise.
 

Not sure about your example but I remember it blew my mind when I found out that there is no vocals on the old Adam West Batman theme.

I had always assumed there were and hadn't heard it for a long time. Turns out the 'Batmans' in the track are just trumpets.
 
Purgatory said:
Midi data does not contain sample data (Sample data is recorded sound) it only carries event messages that specify notation, pitch and velocity, control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato, audio panning, cues, and clock signals that set and synchronize tempo between multiple devices.


The only instrument that is being played is a piano in that example but could be any instrument really selected on the sequencer.


It's surprising because there is no vocals in the midi track, it's your brain filling in the vocals ;). That's why I said it works best if you actually know the song, otherwise it sounds like a horrible mess otherwise.


Think of it this way if you were sat at a real piano and could actually play that fast as does the Midi file on the sequencer of an electronic keyboard/piano it would sound to some that know the song as if the original singer was singing the vocals too but not really there. To others that don't know the song they would hear a mess, as if a drunk was hammering at a piano randomly.
Click to expand...

I think what he's trying to say is that the voice track has been taken and the ups and downs, treble and bass in your voice pattern has just been replaced with an equal or close representation using the same note on a piano, so it's essentially still a vocal track, that's the way it seems to me anyway..
It's not hard to hear words and sounds in any of the tracks, even the ones I didn't know but I will admit that as soon as I looked at the title of the song I could hear it clearer, particularly the pokemon one.
 
I am sure I have heard two different recordings of the Batman theme, the one on the actual program I believe has voices. But there is one on youtube somewhere that I think is off a Batman LP and it sounds different like it is just brass. However with just the brass you can totally still hear the lyrics in your head.

I will try and find it later.
 
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