GSoC '25 week09 update by Elwin Li (sugarlabs#355)

Author: ebeetles

src/constants/MarkdownFiles/posts/2025-08-02-gsoc-25-Elwin-Li-week09.md

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+---
+title: "GSoC '25 Week 9 Update by Elwin Li"
+excerpt: "Improvements on the musicblocks generation RAG pipeline and a new MIDI file uploading widget"
+category: "DEVELOPER NEWS"
+date: "2025-08-02"
+slug: "2025-08-02-gsoc-25-Elwin-Li-week09"
+author: "@/constants/MarkdownFiles/authors/elwin-li.md"
+tags: "gsoc25,sugarlabs,week9,RAG pipeline,MIDI widget"
+image: "assets/Images/GSOC.png"
+---
+
+<!-- markdownlint-disable -->
+
+# Week 9 Progress Report by Elwin Li
+
+**Project:** MusicBlocks Generation Model
+
+**Mentors:** [Walter Bender](https://github.com/walterbender), [Anindya Kundu](https://github.com/meganindya), [Devin Ulibarri](https://github.com/pikurasa)
+
+**Reporting Period:** 2025-07-27 - 2025-08-02
+
+---
+
+## Goals for This Week
+
+- **Goal:** Complete the MIDI generation RAG pipeline
+
+---
+
+## This Week's Achievements
+
+This week I upgraded the RAG pipeline with the Gemini embedding model, which resulted in very accurate retrieval. I also used Gemini for the generation component, which also showed much better results compared to previous approaches.
+
+The biggest update for this week is the creation of a MIDI upload widget. This widget allows users to upload any MIDI file and it will automatically generate the corresponding MusicBlocks. In the video demo below, I demonstrate using the widget to upload a MIDI file that was generated using the RAG pipeline with the query "guitar solo with similar style to hotel california". The widget also includes the option to directly generate a MIDI file and convert through a prompt, but it currently does not work, and will be next weeks plan.
+
+[youtube: B0lPJwHc4pI]
+
+---
+
+## Challenges & How I Overcame Them
+
+- **Challenge:** The RAG pipeline was not able to generate music directly to MusicBlocks format.
+  
+  **Solution:** Used MIDI as an intermediate format, creating a MIDI upload widget that converts MIDI files to MusicBlocks, effectively bridging the gap between the generation pipeline and the MusicBlocks format.
+
+---
+
+## Key Learnings
+
+- Gained deep understanding of RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems and their application to music generation.
+- Learned about the importance of better embedding models (Gemini) for improved retrieval accuracy.
+
+---
+
+## Next Week's Roadmap
+
+Connect the MIDI generation pipeline with the MIDI upload widget, so that the generated music will automatically be in MusicBlocks format.
+
+---
+
+## Acknowledgments
+
+Thank you to my mentors, the Sugar Labs community, and fellow GSoC contributors for ongoing support.
+
+---