Modulate This! - News, Tips and Links for Electronic Musicians and Producers

Modulate This! Interview With Smule's Dr. Ge Wang (Maker of iPhone Ocarina)

Want to know what one of the leading iPhone developers has on his mind?

I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Ge Wang, CTO and Co-founder of Smule.com. Smule are the makers of extremely popular and innovative iPhone applications such as Sonic Lighter and Ocarina. Dr. Wang is also an assistant professor at Stanford University, at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Princeton University and a BS in Computer Science from Duke University. Ge is the creator and chief architect of the ChucK audio programming language, and the founding director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk).

I asked a wide variety of questions in this interview - so - whether you are a musician, a developer, an iPhone user, or an entrepreneur, I hope you find this interview interesting and enlightening.

I've provided this audio interview in YouTube (for computer or iPhone users), and in MP3 formats*.

Part 1 - Dr. Wang discusses the iPhone as an application platform, how constraint leads to innovation, and his vision for using technology to bring people together. Watch on YouTube or Download MP3.

Part 2 - Dr. Wang discusses how people are using Ocarina and how Ocarina has brought music to the disabled. He also discusses the future of the Ocarina and Smule, and what it's like to be "Smulian". Watch on YouTube or Download MP3.

 

Links:

• Smule.com
• Orcarina Site|Buy Ocarina on iTunes
• Smule's "This Contest Blows" Contest!!
• TheGoodBlogs Midi file to Smule Ocarina Score Converter
• More Smule and Ocarina Videos on YouTube
  
• Stanford Laptop Orchestra
• Dr. Wang's Page @ Stanford

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com
www.markmoshermusic.com

---- Production Notes ---
Audio was taken from a phone conversation between myself and Dr. Wang. I originally intended to publish as transcribed text but felt of the tone of conversation would be lost so I instead published an audio version. I decided to present both sides of our conversation at phone quality to preserve the feel of the conversation. Note that for a short time in the beginning of Part 1, Dr. Wang was on a mobile phone with some signal drop out and the quality improves as the conversation continues. In addition to MP3 format, I've provided a YouTube format so you can easily listen to this from an iPhone or web browser.

LA Ballet Opens Inaugural Season with Combo of Live & Virtual Players

I just got a newsletter from Cakewalk  with a link to an interesting story from Broadcast Room.com about the use of a virtual orchestra in Los Angeles Ballet's latest production.

"The Los Angeles Ballet launched its inaugural season at the Beverly Hills Wilshire Theatre with an original production of 'The Nutcracker.'  In a landmark first, 22 live musicians were augmented by 33 virtual players to round out the 55 musicians called for by the Tchaikovsky score."

Ends up they only had room in the orchestra pit for 22 players yet wanted to play the full score - so they augmented real players with virtual players using Garritan Personal Orchestra (Learn more | Buy ).The software instrument was hosted out of Sonar 6 Producers Edition  (Learn More | Buy ). Gary Garritan even helped with the production.

The story also indicates that the "Musician’s Union Approves Landmark Use of Garritan Personal Orchestra" :^).

Read the full story here...

Kraftwerk - technology brings simplicity

More and more live theatrical presentations are driven by software. Of course Kraftwerk are the godfathers of technology in the arts.

Kraftwerk began touring again in 2004. They captured the performance and are offering an right now audio cd  and in the near future will be releasing a double DVD. This site has some clips that will be on the DVD - http://kraftwerk.technopop.com.br/video.php

After watching this footage, I think it's fascinating how these pioneers in synth music continue embrace technology and have radically simplified their stage setup to deliver their music live. Each member has a laptop (sony vaio) and small midi keyboard controller - that's it!