New Podcast episode from Steinar Jeffs: Sebastian Pfeifer: AI, Dubstep and the Jazz of Tomorrow
In this episode we listen to and talk about music by Sebastian Pfeifer who is a pianist, producer and composer blending jazz, dubstep and experimental electronic music. He tells the story of how getting kicked out of classical piano lessons as a child led him to dubstep production, and eventually into jazz.Â
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We talk about how he uses AI tools like Neutone to transform his own voice into something strange and expressive, how he tricks Ableton’s audio-to-MIDI engine to generate dense string arrangements from distorted piano recordings, and why glitchy, broken-sounding algorithms are more interesting to him than polished prompt-to-music tools like Suno.
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He also shares the process behind the track Endling from his trio Endern — a one-take improvisation transcribed and re-orchestrated for saxophone and synth, ending in a chaotic crescendo of distorted drums, screaming sax and fake soprano sax generated by AI.
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This episode digs into hybrid workflows, AI as a performance instrument, and the blurred lines between improvisation, composition and machine learning.