Create your own virtual music room with Google Magenta’s Lo-Fi Player

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A new Google Magenta project lets you mix hip-hop music tracks to build a custom music room in your browser, with no musical ability required. Magenta is designed to use Google’s machine learning systems for the creation of art and music, and the Lo-Fi Player is a fun example of what it can do. “The view outside the window relates to the background sound in the track, and you can change both the visual and the music by clicking on the window,” Lo-Fi Player creator Thio wrote in a blog post. Thio writes that the team chose the format of a music-generating room rather than a composition tool or musical instrument because it’s “a popular genre with a relatively simple music structure.” It’s powered by magenta.js, the open source JavaScript API for using Magenta in-browser. Lo-Fi Player also has an interactive YouTube stream, a ‘shared space’ where people can be in the same music room together. But instead of clicking on elements in the room, players can type commands into the live chat window to rearrange the tracks. Magenta is powered by Google’s open source TensorFlow system, part of an ongoing research project “exploring the role of machine learning as a tool in the creative process.”


Facebook blocks live stream of an ill French man who wanted to broadcast his death

Facebook has blocked the live stream of a man in France suffering from an incurable ailment who planned to broadcast his death. Alain Cocq, 57, has a medical condition that causes his arteries to stick together, and stopped all food and drink. He has used his condition to try to bring about changes to France’s right-to-die law, and announced he would live-stream his death on Facebook. “Our hearts go out to Alain Cocq and those who are affected by this sad situation,” Facebook spokesperson Emily Cain wrote in an email to The Verge. “While we respect his decision to draw attention to this complex and difficult issue, based on the guidance of experts, we have taken steps to keep Alain from broadcasting live, as we do not allow the depiction of suicide attempts.” Cocq had written to French President Emmanuel Macron in July, asking to be allowed to ‘die with dignity,’ using ‘active medical assistance,’ CNN reported. However, French citizens can decide to cease medical treatment, and French law has no provision to prosecute people for suicide. According to Agence France-Press, Cocq said he would seek another way to post his live stream video after learning Facebook had blocked his attempt.

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