Utrecht University and Chordify introduce revolutionary interactive application
Dr. Bas de Haas (Computer Sciences) is affiliated with the music service Chordify, which is introducing a new, interactive ‘chord edits’ option. This will allow users to manually enter corrections to the chord progressions for songs automatically recognised by the machine. This will allow the machine to learn to listen better step-by-step.
Chordify is an online music service that allows the user to convert music to chords. It automatically recognises the chords from the song and displays them measure-for-measure in a simple player, so that users can play along to their favourite songs. In the two years since it went online, the Chordify library has collected more than two million songs that have been ‘chordified’ by the users. Unfortunately, the machine’s ‘ears’ are not always perfect; the service has an accuracy of 75-90%, depending on the style of the music and the sound quality of the recording. Utrecht University and Chordify have found a new way to make the automatic chord recognition even more precise: an interactive ‘chord edits’ application.
Cooperation
Utrecht University and Chordify have initiated the development of a new state-of-the-art crowd sourcing platform. Researchers at Utrecht University are studying how manually edited chords can be combined into even more accurate chord progressions. These progressions can then be used to evaluate the chord recognition algorithms and to train them to ‘listen’ better. With the help of millions of users each month, Chordify hopes to be able to collect large amounts of data to feed this research project.
The presentation of ‘chord edits’ marks a new chapter in the fruitful collaboration between Utrecht University and Chordify, and will significantly accelerate the developments in research into automatic chord recognition. The two partners expect that this implementation will eventually result in the most accurate chord recognition software in the world.
Prizes, nominations and more
Chordify has already earned considerable praise in its short history. Last year, the start-up was nominated for the Shell LiveWIRE and Deloitte Rising Star Awards. Chordify was also a finalist in the Accenture Innovation and Buma Music Meets Tech Awards during the Eurosonic Noorderslag Conference. The company also won the Dutch Pitch Session at the Northside Festival in New York, and received a subsidy from the Creative Industry Stimulation Fund. In December, Chordify was also selected to give a pitch at the Next Web Conference in New York City. In January 2015, Chordify hosted the first Music Hack Day Groningen, and the results of the event were presented at the Eurosonic Noorderslag Conference.
200,000th registered user
Chordify has proven to be a formula for success, with millions of visitors and more than 200,000 registered users who have provided the service with chords for almost 2 million songs. Musicians from around the world, amateurs, experts and everyone in between have found the service to be an irreplaceable element of their musical experience.
More information