For some of you, this will be old news, in which case, accept my apologies and move on. But for others … get ready for a musical experience that will rock your world.

It’s called “Microsoft Songsmith.”

It happened like this: the research labs at Microsoft had an idea for a new piece of software. The user could sing a song and record it on their computer, and then Songsmith would analyze the vocal track and create an instrumental backing to it, perfectly in synch, and with an appropriate introduction. Even musical novices and American Idol-wannabees could “write” their own songs.

Somehow, the execution was not up to the original concept. The program sometimes makes bizarre assumptions about to what genre a particular vocal track is supposed to belong. The software was made available for download, and quickly became the object of ridicule.

Then, someone decided to try an experiment. People with more sonic knowledge than you or I can easily use various filters and equalizers to create a track with just the vocals from a commercially-released song. What if you isolated the vocals from a song like “Roxanne” (hat tip to Jay Voorhees) and then fed those vocals into Microsoft Songsmith? Would Songsmith’s accompaniment sound anything like the original version? Or would it be a cheesy, surreal departure from the original?

And what about … this?