Where I’m at

Update: I now have a functioning prototype of my thesis app. If you’d like to try it, get in touch.

Hi internet friends. Just wanted to give a quick summary of what’s going on with me at the moment, if you’re interested.

The most important thing going on with me is, of course, my son Milo. He’s starting to eat solid food now, grabbing and holding onto things, and generally lighting up the universe with his radiant adorableness.

Waiting to board the plane

The other big thing is that I’m graduating from NYU’s Music Technology program this December. I’m done with everything except for my thesis and a little light mopping up.

My thesis is a drum programming tutorial system called The Drum Loop. I’m collaborating on the code with my buddy Chris Jacoby. The program uses a novel circular notation system, and has a video-game-like progressive build in complexity and challenge. However, it’s not a game. I love music games very much, but because of the win condition, they aren’t really compatible with self-expression. The Drum Loop has no winning or losing; the user decides when to advance to the next level.

Take Me to the Mardi Gras

The basic functionality of the Drum Loop is in place. Chris and I are currently ironing bugs out of the interface. Next, we’re going to create the actual tutorials. We’ll have a fully functional build ready for user testing later this summer, at which point I’ll be actively recruiting testers at all levels of musical experience (beginners especially welcome.) The program will be taking the form of a Max/MSP/Jitter executable, which will run on Macs and Windows. My original vision was for this thing to be an iOS app, and in the fullness of time I expect to rebuild it as one. But Objective C is hard and Max is (relatively) easy, so for the moment, here we are.

So that’s job one this summer. I have another idea for an iOS app that I’m going to try to get moving on as well; it’s going to basically be Fruit Ninja for music. I’ll write more about it when it coheres more in my head. Chris is going to help me write that one too. In our mini software company, I’m effectively the product designer, and he’s the engineering department. I’m finding this role a very congenial one, and I’d like to continue to pursue it after school. More on that below.

I’m also going to continue to record, produce and teach music, both for love and money; freelance here and there in various professional capacities, and hopefully get myself involved in an educational initiative spearheaded by NYU Poly. So all that should be cool.

In the fall, I’m going to finish my thesis, wrap up a few outstanding academic tasks, compose some orchestral music, and look for jobs. The product designer hat is the one that fits me the best, so I’ll be looking for places where I can work toward such a role. Ideally, I’d like to be involved in the making of beginner-friendly music-making tools, at a place like Ableton, Propellerhead or Smule. I’m most attracted to apps that enable real music-making by coming to grips with real musical concepts, presented in a fun and non-threatening way. I’d prefer to be doing this work in New York City but am open to any location if it’s the right opportunity. If you have any pointers or leads, let me know.