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Trion's Elizabeth Tobey departs
Trion Worlds Director of Global Communications Elizabeth Tobey announced today that she's leaving the studio to work for Smule. She also firmly squashed any speculation that her departure signaled that Trion is conducting layoffs: "Firmly no to downsizing; in fact, I've been working with our amazing team for quite a while to get some great people on deck for you." Tobey chronicled her history with RIFT and Defiance on her personal blog. "Trion's taught me a ton," she wrote. "I learned what it meant to run an MMO community (which, in comparison, makes anything I'd ever done before look like child's play). I also not only launched RIFT's first expansion but also helped it transition into (in my completely unbiased opinion) the best free-to-play MMO on the market." She also testified to the addictiveness of ArcheAge: "ArcheAge, you are going to blow people's minds. I could write an entire swan song on the awesomeness of raising livestock, charting the open seas, and hijacking my fellow coworkers as they try to complete trade routes, but I want everyone to experience that for themselves. Trust me, it's better than any blog post." [Thanks to Sanguinesun for the tip!]
Smule opens the doors to its musical social network
Sure it's launched plenty of successful music apps, but to us, Smule will always be the company that gave us iPhone-based AutoTune in the form of I Am T-Pain (which we managed to try out on half of They Might Be Giants). Obviously, the Bay Area developer is looking to be a lot more. In fact, it's opening itself up to the web in the form of a social network that'll let visitors peruse its one billion or so user-generated songs. You can create playlists of Smule-created music and find folks to collaborate with for cloud-based jam sessions. The network opens today through Smule's site. There's a tad more info in the offering just after the break.
Daily iPhone App: Guitar! by Smule plays a familiar tune
Smule is the company behind a lot of excellent music apps, and its latest release is called, simply, Guitar! by Smule. Just like much of Smule's other work, the app is designed to let you "play" a guitar via your iPhone, tapping and strumming various notes that run across the screen. That in itself is not all that innovative, but Smule's tie in to its other apps and the company's substantial licensed music library is. With Guitar!, you get access to some really great guitar pop songs, and the team has also connected this app up to the Sing! karaoke app, which means that the singers putting in their voices to match your guitar are just fans playing along as well. That makes this app a little more special than just a standard music game. Still, despite that extra connection, there's not much else to make this one stick out -- you only get two songs for free, and then you'll either need to pay for a few more songs, or earn a whole lot of points to purchase others to play. It's nice that Smule has provided the app for free, and if you like these games they've made, this one is worth a download. But Smule is definitely starting to follow a formula here, successful as it may be so far, rather than inventing something really brand new.
Smule users record 1 billion songs
Smule may be only 5 years old, but the California development firm started in part by Jeff Smith and Stanford Assistant Professor Dr. Ge Wang has had an amazing impact on the world. The company shared some stats with Evolver.fm that are incredible -- Smule's apps have been downloaded over 100 million times, are used by 15 million people a month and that audience has recorded over 1 billion songs. Sure, those songs may be amateur auto-tuned, auto-rapped or karaoke trash, but the statistics -- and Smule's bottom line -- prove that the company is on to something. While such venerable music gaming titles as Rock Band and Guitar Hero have seen better days, Smule's apps are all about actually making music, and that seems to make a difference to app consumers. Smule pulled in US$12.6 million in revenues last year, and is expected to reach the $20 million mark in 2013. The latest addition to the Smule stable is Guitar! (free), a music game released yesterday in which users play along with recordings of popular songs to gain points and where practicing opens the door to new levels and songs. [via GigaOM]
Smule Guitar app plays nicely with Sing (video)
Bay Area app developer Smule has amassed an army of mobile instruments, but really, what fun are all those music makers without a little good old-fashioned jamming? Today, the company's offering up the simply named Guitar, an app that lets you strum along to songs recorded through its equally straightforwardly named Sing. At present, the company has hand-picked a dozen or so singers, letting you play along (though expect that number to increase, as time goes on), becoming "the first pair of [Smule] apps that actually talk to each other," according to the company. Using the app will be pretty intuitive for anyone who's messed around with Guitar Hero and its ilk, letting you know when to strum via swipe through a dynamically scrolling layout. On more advanced modes, you can choose the chord you want to play, but in Easy, it'll just do it for you. You can pick a single string with a tap and add vibrato by shaking your iPhone / iPad. We got a preview of the app during a recent visit to the Smule office for the Engadget Show, back when it went under the (arguably superior) name "Strum." Check out video of that and the final version after the break.
The technology of Stanford's Laptop Orchestra (video)
SLOrk's not the most elegant name, so far as acronyms go, but Stanford's weird and wonderful Laptop Orchestra wears it pretty well. The group dates back to 2008, an outgrowth of the school's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, culled together from a mishmash of parts, including car speakers, pillows and salad bowls, led by future Smule co-founder Ge Wang. Fittingly, the project made an appearance at a party thrown by the darlings of the music app scene, and we took the opportunity to speak with club member (and computer music doctoral student), Spencer Salazar, who told us how SLOrk transformed a golfing game peripheral into an instrument for strange and ethereal music creation. Check out that video after the break.
Daily iPhone App: Sing! shares music and voices around the world
Smule has released another musical app called Sing!. It's a Karaoke app that leverages Smule's technological know-how to make the act of singing a social activity on a global scale. As with Smule's other offerings, you can buy various songs with in-app purchase, and there are a few standards included for free. You can sing along solo, or open up your session for others to listen to and join. That's fun, but the social aspect of Sing! sets it apart. You can browse other people's performances on a global map, listen to karaoke sessions from around the world and comment on your favorites. You can even add your own track to someone else's recording (with songs you haven't yet purchased). For example, you can sing backup on someone else's tune, or just the verses of a rap song, leaving the chorus open for someone else. It's a fun time, and thanks to Smule's hard work on music sharing technology, it all works amazingly smoothly. Uploading and downloading songs and performances all happens in a snap. Smule has been at this for a few years now, and they've mastered this kind of sharing. Even if you're not interested in performing any karaoke, it's fun to hear what others are sharing. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Smule launches AutoRap for iOS and Android, Engadget's editors drop some mad beats (video)
Sure, we're often mistaken for some of hip-hop's illest emcees in our day-to-day lives, but the sad truth is that Engadget's editorial team could use a little help with our flow. Thankfully, technology has come to the rescue, yet again -- this time in the form of AutoRap, the latest app from the people who brought you such mobile blockbusters as I am T-Pain and Songify. Those who've spent time with either of the aforementioned apps know what to expect from this latest addition to the Smule family: talk or rap into your iPhone or Android device, tap the button, and then wait for the magic. AutoRap will go to town, or as Smule puts it: "turn[ing] speech into rap and correct[ing] bad rapping." Talking and rapping are the two primary modes here. With the former, you simply speak into your phone, and the app chops your voice and buries it in a whole mess of autotuney goodness. There's a pretty broad handful of songs at present, including 30 premium tracks from the likes of Snoop Dog, the Beastie Boys, Outkast and Kid Cudi -- naturally, if you want access to those, you're gonna have to pony up some cash, or earn some credits doing things like watching instructional videos or filling out auto insurance quote forms. The free tracks mostly get the job done, however.
Daily iPhone App: Ocarina 2 makes for more virtual tunes
I'll be honest -- since the first Ocarina app came out, I've become a fan of Smule, the company behind it. Its mix of creative energy and technical know-how is a great match for Apple and a good example of software made well. But I have never really been a fan of Ocarina the app, just because I think blowing into your iPhone is kind of silly. Ocarina 2 doesn't dissuade that notion. It's about the same app as the first one, though Smule has wisely applied all of its knowledge from the intervening years, including a sort of Magic Piano-style play mode, as well as the freemium "get some tunes free, pay for more" model from Smule's past few games. There is still a freestyle mode to play with, as well as a world mode that lets you hear what other users are playing from around the rest of the globe. Ocarina 2 is a smooth, well-packaged app, and if you loved the first version, you'll enjoy this update. The freemium features might turn some people off, but in general, Ocarina 2 is a good time for players of all ages. I just wish it wasn't quite so, you know, silly.
Ocarina 2 arrives on iOS
Smule has released Ocarina 2, a sequel to its immensely popular Ocarina app for iPhone. Like the original, the app allows you to blow into your iPhone's microphone to create a tone, which can be changed and adjusted depending on where you hold your fingers on the touchscreen. The new version brings features like a dynamic harmony, and the ability to choose songs to be played rather than just playing freestyle (which seems similar to the options in Smule's Magic Piano app, and means Smule is once again selling extra songs as an in-app purchase). And there's also a new "Whistle Mode," and achievements that make the whole thing a little more game-centric. The last Ocarina created plenty of really wild videos and cover tunes, and odds are this version will do exactly the same. Below, you can see a video of a beta tester playing the Tetris theme on the new app. If you want to start tooting away on your own, you can grab the app right now from the App Store for free.
Daily iPhone App: Beatstream
Beatstream is the latest app from the folks at Smule (who recently acquired Khush, another music-loving developer, and I can kind of see their influence here as well). Usually, Smule's apps are based around creation of music, but Beatstream is a little more targeted towards listening to your music (at least at first). The idea is that you can pull any music from your iTunes library, and Beatstream will turn it into a game, the game-iest game that I've ever seen Smule make. You basically control an arrow running along a path, and you can tap on the screen to flip it through two different colors, which match barriers running along the path in front of you. The goal is to make sure that when your little arrow crosses the barriers, it's the same color. Matching colors and going through levels you up, and missing the colors brings you back down. It's fun, and even on the easiest setting, the barriers show up on the screen quickly enough that there is a little bit of a challenge trying to make sure the arrow is flipped the right way before going through them. There are also badges to earn, and unlike standard achievements, these actually change the gameplay a little bit, or even trip up the way the music sounds, like making it go faster or play in some crazy fashion. The one caveat with the music in Beatstream is that, like all other apps that pull music from your library, it won't work with DRM-protected songs, so if there's anything on your device from before 2009, you might not be able to play it. Same deal with long songs -- I had a few really long songs that just didn't work. But I was able to get a shorter song working without a problem, and while you could tell the song was matched with an algorithm (rather than by hand, like a Rock Band or Guitar Hero song), it still played well along with the music anyway. Beatstream is a cool way to experience your music while tapping along with that little arrow. I don't think it'll be a tentpole release for Smule -- it doesn't quite have that music creation streak that has led them to so much success with apps like Ocarina and Magic Piano. But it's a quality addition to their library for sure -- it's 99 cents on the App Store right now.
New games and updates on the App Store: Hunger Games, Dragonvale, more
Angry Birds Space wasn't the only big new release to hit the App Store last night. Here are some other noteworthy apps and updates that are now available (all prices are USD). Canabalt creator Adam Saltzman's new game, which is based on the upcoming Hunger Games movie, is now available as a free promotional app. It looks excellent, and features Saltzman's game design prowess as well as music from composer Danny B. Hunters 2 is a sequel to the great turn-based strategy title that looks awesome. It's $4.99. Chillingo has dropped an endless runner game in which you control a roller coaster called MadCoaster, as well as a good-looking physics puzzler called Light the Flower. Both are 99 cents. Swordigo is a 2D hack-and-slash RPG with impressive graphics. It's launching at $1.99. BattleLoot Adventure is a Final Fantasy-style RPG that looks excellent. It costs $0.99 Smule has released a brand new title called Beatstream that turns your own music into a playable game for $0.99. Pocket Gems has released a new freemium title called Tap Paradise Cove. 99 Games' Nightclub Mayhem has arrived on the iPad for $0.99. Big updates include the beautiful Zen Bound 2 ($0.99) which is now ready for the new iPad. DragonVale (free) got a nice update with a new dragon to seek out, and new buildings to put up. And Scribblenauts Remix ($0.99) has some new spring break content to download and play with. Man, that's a lot of new games and content to play with. Stay tuned, as we'll be covering a few of these more closely in the days to come.
Stanford University and Apple: A beautiful relationship
Apple, Inc. and Stanford University go together like apple pie and ice cream -- they're outstanding on their own, but put them together and you have something very special. USA Today's Talking Tech reported on the close ties between Apple and Stanford in a posting and video last week. Many people are aware of the relationship between the university in Palo Alto and the company in Cupertino from the Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs. In the book, Jobs is often taking long walks "in the hills above the Stanford University campus," he gave his famous 2005 commencement speech ("Stay hungry. Stay foolish.") at Stanford, and son Reed Jobs attends the university. But the largest connection between Stanford and Apple these days is in the way that many Stanford grads, students, and dropouts are making it rich as iOS developers. The university's entrepreneurial atmosphere has given birth to a gaggle of startups, many of which are well-known to iPad and iPhone users. Talking Tech's Jefferson Graham discusses Ankit Gupta, a Stanford student credited with helping create the highly successful Pulse News Reader. Ge Wang, the Stanford assistant professor who co-founded music app-maker Smule, has created virtual musical instrument apps for iPhone and iPad. He hired recent graduate Nick Kruge, who created the fun and unique MadPad app. Graham also highlights Matt Sullivan and Zach Weiner, creators of the Storytree app that is a finalist for the SXSW Interactive Awards tonight. Weiner, who is still a senior at Stanford, notes that developing apps and starting companies "is just really kind of emblazoned into the culture here," in reference to the university. Graham's interview of several past and present Stanford students who are making their name in the app world is embedded below.
Smule's Ge Wang plays Magic Guitar for us at CES
We got to sit down for a quick chat with Smule's own Dr. Ge Wang at CES in Las Vegas last week, and the result is the video below. Not only is the co-founder overseeing Smule's musical experiences for mobile devices (and its recent merger with Khush, another musical developer), but he's also an assistant professor at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. And, as you can see, he's a mean Magic Guitar player as well. Those gloves he's wearing are Altec Lansing speakers sewn onto some gloves (with the fingertips cut off) for the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra. Wang was actually in Vegas to accept the Kids at Play Interactive's Emerging Pioneer award, which is an impressive achievement as well. Always good to see Smule's co-founder out and about. He says Magic Guitar is selling well, the merger is moving along smoothly, and Smule continues to aim towards expanding its social connection features across apps in the new year. He couldn't share specific plans, but we'll wait and see. When he's kind enough to strum a few virtual bars for us like this, who are we to argue?
Daily iPhone App: Magic Guitar
Smule, as we've said before, is an interesting company. Its goal is to bring new musical experiences to people through technology like the iPhone. The company's latest release, Magic Guitar, definitely follows that philosophy. Like the very popular Magic Piano for the iPad, the app enables you to "play" guitar music, even if you don't have any experience with the real thing. The most interesting thing about Magic Guitar is you hold it. The idea is that you're fingering chords on a guitar neck, so you're supposed to hold the iPhone in the palm of your hand, with your fingers wrapped around the far side. As "notes" fall down towards a line on the screen, you're supposed to put your fingers down where they drop, and as you do, various notes in the song will be played. It's tough to explain, but once you see it in action, it makes sense. Unfortunately, while Magic Piano offers a variety of songs to play, Magic Guitar takes a freemium route. There are only a few songs that come with the free download, and some of those are very short, with only one verse and a chorus. Additional songs need to be purchased through the app, and Smule has chosen a weird, currency-based system for purchases. You buy points instead of the songs. There are some good pop tunes available, and it would be fun to hear and see some of them being played, but I felt awfully limited by the initial choices and didn't buy any. The app itself doesn't do a great job, either, of giving you specific feedback on the notes you play. Hitting the screen a little ways off from the target note does make the sound come out differently, and a match is scored with one to three lightning bolts. I found it fairly easy, even when I thought I'd made a few mistakes, to score well. Of course there are other difficulty levels, but I think the app itself pales in quality to something like Magic Piano, where there were a lot more choices of both songs and game modes. At any rate, all of those arguments are somewhat moot, given that the app in question is free to download anyway. If the idea of playing a guitar on your phone sounds interesting at all, you should definitely give it a shot, though I think Smule will find that there's not quite as much interest in in-app purchases on this as on their other musical apps. That balance of free content versus paid content is often a tough one to hit right, and I think Smule fell just a little short of the line this time.
Smule acquires Khush, two music-making app companies join forces
Here's an interesting acquisition that completely makes sense in hindsight. Smule, the company behind popular iOS apps like Magic Piano and the original Ocarina for iPhone app, has acquired Khush, an iOS developer that also makes musical apps, including LaDiDa and Songify. These two companies were basically meant for each other -- both use music and new interfaces in iOS to make one-of-a-kind experiences for the App Store. Songify, for example, has over 5 million downloads, and Ocarina boasts over 6 million downloads. Together, these two companies know how to make these things work. As you can read in the press release below, Smule will use Khush's assets, and vice versa, to keep producing these types of musical apps and expand the company's "Sonic Network" of social connections and creative sharing. Should be interesting to see what these two come up with working together. Their first work is a video, which uses both companies' apps to make some crazy music. The most interesting part of this merger, however, might be the one thing we don't know: the numbers. Smule has been extremely popular on the App Store, but the fact that it would acquire another company like this shows it's been earning some money to go along with that popularity. This is obviously not just about money -- watching the video above, you can see that these two groups have very similar backgrounds and goals, and having met Smule's Ge Wang myself a few times, I know that Smule's work really is about making these musical experiences come true in a way that almost anyone can experience. That said, these are both for-profit companies, and it'd be interesting to see just how much Khush went for. The iOS developer acquisition game is serious business, and if Smule can acquire another company like this, it shows they have at least a little profit to throw around.
Daily iPhone App: MadPad
Smule's latest app is called MadPad. It's somewhat similar to Harmonix's VidRhythm in that you can take regular everyday sounds and turn them into music. But instead of combining sounds into a premade video, the app will turn sounds into different parts of an instrument, which you can then play with impunity. You can mix your own sets or use a series of premade sets from various musicians. You can use the created instrument to make songs or share sets on Twitter, Facebook, or over email. Smule has created a quality app here, and while it's not quite as easy as VidRhythm, in the hands of capable musicians, MadPad can make something special. It's available on the iPhone for 99 cents or in HD on the iPad for $2.99.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Magic Piano
Smule has brought its popular iPad app, Magic Piano, over to the iPhone and iPod touch this week, and one of the best things about it is that it's completely free. It still features all of the various music modes that the original app offers, including that one cats like so much, and the mode that allows you to play any number of famous songs just by tapping the screen on your own rhythm and time. This is a great app, which isn't a surprise from the fine folks at Smule, and it's good to finally have it available on the smaller iOS devices. The company is making its money through in-app purchases. While there are quite a few songs available when you download the app, you can buy more in packs, and there are even more coming out every single week. But it's nice to have the main app as a free download anyway. Whether you have enjoyed the app on iPad or haven't been able to see it yet, Magic Piano is a great one to pick up for free. It's a little bit of a shame that this wasn't made into a universal version, just to keep things a little more organized in iTunes' apps section, but the price should quiet any complaints about that. Go grab it right now.
GDC 2011: Smule's retrospective
Our friend Dr. Ge Wang of Smule kicked off the 2011 Game Developers Conference with a panel providing a nice overview of all of the company's apps so far. The theme of his talk was basically what we spoke with him about at CES earlier this year: as computers grow from mainframe to personal computer, and now to smartphones and mobile devices, the technology is disappearing into the background, and the connections it creates between us are coming to the forefront. Lately, he said, "technology is so personal, it's pervasive." That's the realm Smule has tried to enter into with its apps, from the early Sonic Lighter up through Magic Fiddle. "Old computing is about what computers can do," said Dr. Wang, "and new computing is about what people can do with them."
Smule's Dr. Ge Wang on what's next for the company and the App Store
Smule is one of the oldest names on the App Store. Ocarina was one of the App Store's first big successes, and they've continued to make music and social-based apps like their most recent app, Magic Fiddle for the iPad. Dr. Ge Wang is not only the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of the company, but he's also an assistant professor at Stanford. We caught him right after his CES keynote last week and asked him a few questions about what Smule's been up to lately and what they're working on next. Magic Fiddle has done very well, Wang told us, after releasing last year. "The very next day, it was actually our fastest app to reach the number one paid iPad app. We saw off the charts engagement with the app. So it's been really positive." Lots of users they've heard from are not necessarily violinists or magicians, just people interested in using their iPads to make music. Read on to hear more from Dr. Wang about why Smule's apps have gotten more complicated over time, and what the next app from Smule will be like.
