

Google says in a blog post that the experiment “pays tribute to and explores the original musical instrument: the voice”. Or you can switch to Christmas mode, and watch the blobs sing festive songs while wearing Santa hats – who needs carol singers! As you play around with their voices, they harmonise with each other creating a mesmerising performance, which you can record and send to a loved one. They were trained on the voices of four real opera singers, a tenor, bass, mezzo-soprano and soprano, and by dragging and stretching them you can control the pitch and vowel they sing. A new machine learning experiment by David Li for Google Arts & Culture, the online interactive instrument features four animated blob characters which you can conduct to create your own music. Whatever you’re doing right now, it can wait – because Blob Opera is probably the most fun you’ll have today.
