I explore the fundamental tension in AI music generation: parametric models (MIDI-based, structured control) versus non-parametric models (text-to-audio, spontaneous texture). Parametric systems like AIVA let you define musical building blocks - chords, tempo, key - and mirror traditional composition but feel rigid. Non-parametric tools like Suno feel more intuitive yet often miss the intended emotional mark. Drawing on Brian Eno's generative philosophy, Pharrell Williams' synesthetic production ("make it more purple"), and Herbie Hancock's observation that music "transcends language," I examine what's fundamentally missing: the wordless, intuitive telepathy musicians share when creating in real time. Hybrid systems combining structured logic with deep audio synthesis may offer a path forward, but the deeper question remains whether AI could ever capture what Miles Davis meant by "don't play what's there, play what's not there" - the magic that emerges when musicians stop thinking and the music itself begins to speak.
Phil Conil - Berklee College of Music