Title: End-to-End Musical Key Estimation Using a Convolutional Neural Network,
Abstract: We present an end-to-end system for musical key estimation, based on a
convolutional neural network. The proposed system not only out-performs
existing key estimation methods proposed in the academic literature; it is also
capable of learning a unified model for diverse musical genres that performs
comparably to existing systems specialised for specific genres. Our experiments
confirm that different genres do differ in their interpretation of tonality,
and thus a system tuned e.g. for pop music performs subpar on pieces of
electronic music. They also reveal that such cross-genre setups evoke specific
types of error (predicting the relative or parallel minor). However, using the
data-driven approach proposed in this paper, we can train models that deal with
multiple musical styles adequately, and without major losses in accuracy.