How Jacob Collier helped shape the new MusicFX DJ
Last summer, we launched Lab Sessions, which brings together experts like artists, academics, scientists and entrepreneurs to explore the potential of AI and inform our product development. Today, we’re unveiling our latest session, collaborating with Jacob Collier, a six-time Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist.
Jacob has spent the last year working with Google DeepMind and Google Labs to help shape MusicFX DJ, a generative music creation tool that makes you the conductor of an AI-powered jam session. By mixing prompts like instruments, genres and even emotions, MusicFX DJ lets anyone steer a continuous flow of music, to spark ideas or sample within one’s own music creations.. These updates to MusicFX DJ are available starting today.
He explained his creative process sometimes starts with a simple question: Well, what am I dreaming up today? “That’s always a good first question with anything you make,” he says. “You answering that question gives you access to a kind of flow — once you’re in that flow you’re off, you’re going.”
Jacob’s work with the team was geared towards that user flow state — making creative expression and inspiration more accessible to people of all backgrounds and skill levels. He helped develop an expanded set of intuitive controls and a reimagined user interface that provides advanced capabilities for new or aspiring musicians.
MusicFX DJ’s new user interface provides more capabilities to shape music in real-time
His perspective helped inform the team’s approach to offering creative control and tools for musical collaboration and artistic innovation. These controls, including the ability to make the music fast or slow and bright or dark, lets people transform the music in both deliberate and surprising ways.
Users can now share up to 60 seconds of their MusicFX DJ sessions with others, who can use it as a starting point to create something new.
The team developed the ability for a MusicFX DJ segment to be shared with others to use as a creative starting point. People can watch a 60 second playback of a performance and remix it by taking over the controls, which lets them continuously build upon and explore new directions from their initial creations.
Our collaboration with Jacob demonstrates the importance of experimentation in the creative process, and how working closely with artists can push the boundaries of creative tools.
Google Labs partners closely with artists, technologists and fellow creatives to co-create and build technology. Visit us at labs.google to explore our products and tools, follow us at @labsdotgoogle, and join our Discord at discord.gg/googlelabs. You can view all of our Lab Sessions at labs.google/sessions.
