Google recently announced their Lyria 2 model, and it supposedly sets a new performance benchmark in AI music generation.
But what can it do? Does it truly match up to the hype? Any limitations to its capabilities? These are just some of the many questions I wanted answers to, as I'm sure you would too.
So, let me break it down for you and tell you what my experience with it was like.
Google Lyria 2 Overview and My First Impression
For starters, Lyria 2 is the latest AI music generation model from Google DeepMind. It is developed to be their most advanced and controllable AI music interface.
Built with and for musicians and producers, Lyria 2 provides even more granular creative control to help artists generate high-fidelity songs across numerous genres.
So, if I'm creating electronic, jazz, pop, classical or film scores, I can use text prompts for the starting points and control intricate aspects like key and tempo for refined audio compositions.
Lyria 2 also introduces a new lyrics section for generating vocals that even lets users precisely position the lyrics on a sliding timeline under the audio's waveforms.
This ensures the lyrics can begin and end at the desired timeline spots. The AI model also offers audio extension, which lengthens existing songs in the same style for faster creative thinking.
Lyria 2 also supports transformation arcs, which means I can control the degree of change within track segments for more professional-grade results.
These unique innovations make it possible for anyone like me to create intricate songs that go beyond familiar genres and tinker with all sorts of unique melodies and arrangements.
All this made me excited to try out Lyria 2, and the following is about my personal experience with it.
Versatility and High Quality Combined
I wanted to know how well it could handle different styles, so I tried three tracks with pretty different genres.
The first track was a surf rock song with a little bit of a spaghetti western vibe.
Lyria 2's creation came with the electric guitar that had that classic, echo-y sound you'd expect from surf rock, and the melody was simple but really catchy. The bass and drums worked together perfectly to create a fun, upbeat rhythm.
Even though it was only 30 seconds long, it felt like it could be the perfect background music for a sunny road trip or a cool beach scene. It had this retro, laid-back energy that made me want to keep listening.
The next example is an electronic track. This one had a totally different vibe—it was slower and very atmospheric.
The bass was deep and gave the music a strong foundation, while the background pads and melody created a mysterious, almost emotional feeling. The drums were soft and didn't stand out too much, which made the whole track feel smooth and calm.
Honestly, it sounded like something you'd hear in a movie during a sad or thoughtful moment, or maybe in a video game that takes place at night in a big city. It was really cool how the music made me feel something so quickly.
The final example is an epic orchestral piece.
It started slow and serious, with strings that set a dramatic mood. Then it built up with horns and percussion, making it sound huge and powerful.
It felt like the climax of a big movie scene, the kind where the hero shows up or something really exciting happens. If you're a game creator or filmmaker, this is the kind of track for getting unstuck when you need fresh ideas or inspiration.
Create and Control Music Live – Lyria RealTime
Lyria RealTime is a cool new AI studio released along with Lyria 2 from Google that lets you create and control music live.
You can tell Lyria what kind of music you want by typing prompts like “ambient house” or “classic funk,” and it will create music samples for you to build on. You can even change instruments, mix genres, or adjust the mood on the fly.
One of the coolest parts for me was how I could tweak the music live. There are sliders and settings for tempo, key, brightness, and even the mood of the song. Changing these felt like adjusting the dials on a DJ mixer, and the music would smoothly shift as I played.
Using Lyria RealTime felt more like jamming with a creative partner than just pressing a button to get a song.
I could experiment with mixing genres, switching instruments, or making the music sadder or happier just by typing prompts or sliding controls. It really encouraged me to explore sounds I wouldn't normally try.
What is Bad About Lyria 2
Right off the bat, my first impression upon landing on Lyria 2's music dashboard was the advanced nature of the interface.
The virtual music studio has quite a few bells and whistles, but I am not sure it would cater well to beginners since it comes with a steep learning curve.
This is especially true of the editing interface. It's nice to see that it gives professionals greater control over the tracks, but it can be tricky to navigate, especially as a first-time user.
Aside from that, Lyria 2 is still limited in terms of the number of music genres it supports. It is also yet to support native languages, so its global music audience reach is currently restricted.
But the biggest downside of Lyria 2 is that it is not yet publicly accessible to users worldwide. For this reason, finding an alternative AI music generation tool is a must in the meantime.
Best Lyria 2 Alternative for Music Generation – Tad.ai
Since Lyria 2 is still a work-in-progress, the best alternative that I would strongly recommend you check out is Tad.ai.
Powered by its Tad models, Tad.ai is a powerful AI music generator that allows anyone to produce professional-grade music using simple text prompts.
All you need to do is input a song title, add the lyric content, select a genre, choose your desired mood, and voila! It will generate a beautiful composition that matches your inputs perfectly.
Tad.ai offers dozens of genres to choose from, such as pop, rock, folk, and electronic, not to mention that it covers countless moods, be it upbeat, relaxing, sad, angry, warm, etc.
It also supports AI lyrics generation, so Tad.ai can help give your tracks more depth, especially if you happen to be struggling with writer's block.
Best of all, all tracks generated on its paid plans are royalty-free. So, you can use Tad.ai to produce all kinds of unique tracks for commercial uses like videos, podcasts, vlogs, ads, etc.
Final Words
It's safe to say that Lyria 2 shows a lot of promise in the AI music generation space. There are still a few things for the platform to improve upon, but based on my first impression of it, I find Lyria 2 to be an intuitive and effective AI music creation tool.
However, Tad.ai is a more accessible, flexible, and reliable AI song generator. The best part? You can try it out for free now!