AIs to brainstorm pedal names! No shit!!
Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 11:37 am
I don't know if anyone else here has been reading aiweirdness.com, formerly lewisandquark.tumblr.com, in which Janelle Shane documents her efforts to train neural networks on real-world lists and then lets them generate their own versions. Personally, I find the AIs' qualified successes and abject failures hilarious.
Last year I suggested to Janelle that she should let the AIs loose on a listing of pedal names, and I sent her a few examples. She was into the idea, but pointed out that hundreds or thousands of names would be required for robust training. I said I'd see what I could do and sat on the idea.
Last month I used some downtime to scrape the entire contents of the harmony-central.com user reviews of effects. It's in a *pitiful* state, with inconsistencies, duplications, and page after page of non-effect listings. But it still yielded several thousands of pedal names from the last quarter-century, some of them fabulously obscure. I will forward an edit to Janelle shortly.
Some points, in no particular order:
* This is a creative exercise. My objectives are mostly giggles, but there is the possibility that a network-generated name will start a pedal builder thinking in new and unexpected ways.
* If you maintain a listing of pedal names and would like to add it to the AI's reading list, step right up. I'm thinking of UglyCasanova's recent thread on inappropriate names (viewtopic.php?f=149&t=60487) but others may maintain their own. Please make it easy for me by inputting each name on a separate line in the format {name of maker} {name of pedal}. You can post here or PM me. I'll set an arbitrary cutoff date of May 20, one week's time.
* Many ILF favourites are absent from harmony-central.com -- if you want to support your favourite maker, consider posting your review of their product. I have no particular fondness for h-c but maintaining their listings of decade-old pedals is a way to keep the darkness at bay.
* If anyone wants the raw h-c listing, my edit, or the collated listing earmarked for Janelle, PM me.
Last year I suggested to Janelle that she should let the AIs loose on a listing of pedal names, and I sent her a few examples. She was into the idea, but pointed out that hundreds or thousands of names would be required for robust training. I said I'd see what I could do and sat on the idea.
Last month I used some downtime to scrape the entire contents of the harmony-central.com user reviews of effects. It's in a *pitiful* state, with inconsistencies, duplications, and page after page of non-effect listings. But it still yielded several thousands of pedal names from the last quarter-century, some of them fabulously obscure. I will forward an edit to Janelle shortly.
Some points, in no particular order:
* This is a creative exercise. My objectives are mostly giggles, but there is the possibility that a network-generated name will start a pedal builder thinking in new and unexpected ways.
* If you maintain a listing of pedal names and would like to add it to the AI's reading list, step right up. I'm thinking of UglyCasanova's recent thread on inappropriate names (viewtopic.php?f=149&t=60487) but others may maintain their own. Please make it easy for me by inputting each name on a separate line in the format {name of maker} {name of pedal}. You can post here or PM me. I'll set an arbitrary cutoff date of May 20, one week's time.
* Many ILF favourites are absent from harmony-central.com -- if you want to support your favourite maker, consider posting your review of their product. I have no particular fondness for h-c but maintaining their listings of decade-old pedals is a way to keep the darkness at bay.
* If anyone wants the raw h-c listing, my edit, or the collated listing earmarked for Janelle, PM me.
