DJ Pangburn | The Verge

Splice is building a collaborative tool for music production

2016-04-01T17:05:47-04:00

What if Ableton music software had a built-in Github so musicians could contribute and modify samples? That’s essentially the idea behind Splice, a cloud-based music production platform built for collaboration and remixing, and its Beat Maker tool, a new sequencer that allows users to play with close to one million samples from the Splice Sounds library.

Splice’s Steve Martocci and his co-founder Matt Aimonetti, music fans who happened to be programmers, wanted a “Github for music,” or something like a fusion between Dropbox and Spotify designed for music creators. The result, Splice, launched in 2014, allowing users to upload and collaborate on projects.

They wanted a “Github for music”

Offering Beat Maker’s sequencing and sampling capabilities seemed like the logical next step in Splice’s evolution. With Beat Maker, Splice wanted to offer high quality, royalty-free audio files. All of the nearly one million samples available on Beat Maker are distributed royalty-free through Splice Sounds, Martocci says, which includes packs from producers like Carl Cox, deadmau5, and Lex Luger. Tracks and project files shared by the Splice community are distributed with a non-commercial creative commons license.

“When most people think of ‘samples’ they think of stealing a piece of audio from someone else’s song and using it without their permission, but it’s much wider than that,” Martocci explained. “There are entire labels that fund musicians to produce samples designed to be sold in royalty free ‘packs’. This means as long as you pay for the sample, you can use it in any of your musical work without paying any fees back to the sound designer.”

“We’ve seen more and more artists making significantly more money selling samples than they make counting on their music sales or streaming revenues,” he added. “These sounds range from ‘one shots’, which could be a recording of someone hitting a snare drum, to loops which could be 30 seconds of a full drum kit. The vocal samples have also been very popular on the platform—they help give your song an organic feel. Splice Sounds also has presets files for popular virtual synthesizers like Massive and Serum.”

Splice focused on ease-of-use and shareability

With a lot of virtual sequencers on the market, Splice Sounds decided to focus on ease-of-use and shareability for its initial release. Martocci said they had to resist the urge to build some of the commonly-requested features — for instance, they decided to automatically correct volume rather than offering a manual control.

So what exactly can Beat Maker do? First of all, even though it’s a streamlined digital audio workstation (DAW), Beat Maker features a 32-step (32 notes) sequencer and arpeggiator. These features alone, particularly for a cloud-based DAW, distinguish it as software that could be useful to artists working in electronic, hip-hop, and other genres where sequencing is vital.

Users can also trigger and edit kick and snare drums, open and closed hi-hats, floor toms, and a shaker. Beyond that, Beat Maker has BPM control (beats per minute editing) and allows users to trigger sound effects that have been uploaded as samples. These sampled effects are currently limited to sounds like filter sweeps (think any Daft Punk song) or air horns. Logic Pro and Ableton it is not, but Martocci isn’t interested quite yet in going the route of those preeminent DAWs.

Logic Pro and Ableton it is not

“Beat Maker itself will get basic pitching, reverb, delay, etc.,” Martocci said. “We’re also discussing the idea of allowing you to apply these effects to existing samples in our library and repost them for others to download.”

“While there are some limitations right now, they are very intentional,” he said. “For example, we wanted to keep the beats short to encourage sharing so we limited the beat to 32 steps. If we allowed for longer beats we were afraid people would think their beats were incomplete unless they filled out the entire grid.”

Splice Sounds subscribers can load any sound into Beat Maker. (Subscriptions start at $7.99 a month and go up to $21.99 depending on how many samples are downloaded.) Non-subscribers, on the other hand, have access to some of the platform’s top drum sounds and effects, which serves as a good look at the Splice Sounds catalog.

In the future, Splice plans to add better loop support, more steps for the sequencer, as well as more scenes and basic effects. A section that allowed users to control ASDR (attack, decay, sustain, and release) to shape the contours of notes would be nice, but it’s not in Beat Maker’s cards at the moment. Martocci and his team are clearly happy with the platform’s current stripped down iteration. Rather than build it out into a fully fleshed-out DAW, they want to keep Beat Maker minimalist and work on smoother ways to export work.

“Once you’ve got that [export function] you can get pretty far with the Beat Maker before exporting to your DAW,” Martocci said. “What we love though is that because it uses a javascript based audio engine, we can easily link to the beats on any web browser.”

“Before adding more DAW-like features, we’re going to go deeper on mobile,” he added. “It’s very compelling to be able to sketchpad with a library this big on your phone then export right into your DAW.”

Martocci is happy with the platform’s current stripped down iteration

Martocci says Splice is growing well. “Last month there were over 850,000 sounds and we have a massive queue of content waiting to be uploaded and tagged,” Martocci said. They’re importing new sounds from labels and distributors, and working with partners like Loopmasters and Prime Loops. They’ve also started commissioning packs with producers like Dot Da Genius and Lex Luger.

If Splice can make a mobile export function work in seamless fashion, Beat Maker could mutate into a nice go-between for artists who like to sketch music on the road, but who want a clip in Logic or Ableton when their in their home or professional studio. In that case, paying for the subscription might be worth the price of entry.

A startup is using a mesh network to bring free Wi-Fi to Philadelphia

2016-01-04T09:00:02-05:00

The Bamboowifi panda mascot and members of the local neighborhood | Bamboowifi

Mesh networks are typically seen in areas experiencing natural disasters, political upheaval, or repression, where chaining routers together into a mini Wi-Fi network can provide a secure and low-cost connection. But one such network recently popped up in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Northern Liberties, home to a young and increasingly wired population. It’s called Bamboowifi, and its founders see it as a potential alternative to major telecom providers like Verizon or Philadelphia’s own Comcast.

Bamboowifi’s founders, James Gregory and David Platt, come from quite different backgrounds. Gregory worked in public relations for the US State Department, handled marketing for an investment house, and started a profitable translation company. Platt, on the other hand, got a close-up view of giant internet service providers Time Warner and Comcast before starting his current gig at a global carrier and cloud exchange.

“The internet is such a big part of our lives that people want to be connected everywhere they go,” said Platt. “Cell phone data is costly and most ‘free Wi-Fi’ is spotty at best, so I saw a need and tried to fill it.”

Its founders see it as a potential alternative to major telecom providers

The network is for-profit and free to use, but ad-supported: users simply log on, watch a 25- to 30-second local advertisement, and get one hour of internet access in return, which they can renew by watching another advertisement. It’s currently in test mode, with one access point that covers the two-acre Liberty Lands Park, plus a neighboring block or two.

Gregory sees the project as an opportunity to change how people access the internet. “Everything in the online world evolves so quickly, but the connection to the internet itself remains stuck in the past,” Gregory said. “Particularly given our free service model, I feel we can really create something that makes a fundamental and meaningful contribution to the world, while at the same time building a great business.”

Bamboowifi’s access points have to be set up by the company, but Platt said that once the main mesh is up and running, they will offer plug-and-play access devices that can be shipped to a host. The mesh can also function locally when the broader internet is down, creating a local intranet for communications.

The mesh can also function locally when the broader internet is down

Bamboowifi was recently awarded a $15,000 grant from the Penn Treaty Special Services District (PTSSD), a nonprofit, private foundation, to begin expanding the Wi-Fi network into the N3rd Street Tech Corridor (formerly N. 3rd Street), which stretches from Market Street to Girard Avenue. Gregory said the expansion should be complete by the end of March or possibly sooner. Eventually, the mesh network will come to include all of Northern Liberties. The goal is to install 20 to 25 access points, but there is no limit to how many they can have in the network. And the more they have, the stronger the signal will be.

Gregory said that Philadelphians have grown tired of traditional internet service providers like Comcast, which he characterized as an “oligopoly.” The people, he said, are excited to see an alternative.

The more access points they have, the stronger the signal will be

They are currently connecting up to 60 users per hour to this single access point, Gregory said, for a total of of 200–300 “visitors” a day. On the busiest days, he said that Bamboowifi has supported 2,000 passersby. He added that the people in the network stay logged on, on average, for five minutes or more. Bamboowifi hopes to expand that number to 300–600 active users per day when N3rd Street’s Wi-Fi goes live in the spring of 2016.

“We’re building a mesh network that basically covers an entire neighborhood instead of a college campus or a business campus,” Platt, Bamboowifi’s CEO and CTO, told The Verge. “So that while you’re on the network you can be connected anywhere you go, whether you’re at home, in a dog park, at a restaurant or the gym.”

How Bamboowifi Works

Bamboowifi uses Cisco Meraki access points, Wi-Fi devices that function as both gateways and repeaters. The Meraki comes equipped with three radios. One radio is user facing, another faces its neighboring device, and the third constantly scans the network looking for rogue devices — hackers trying to gain access to the mesh network and/or its users. If it finds security threats, the radio isolates them. A couple of access points will be connected to a hard fiber optic line, but most will be stand-alone repeaters that communicate through the mesh.

The Meraki repeaters are preconfigured to a maximum 30 dB signal strength, the FCC cutoff designed to keep radio frequencies clear for aviation and point of sale devices. But they’re strong enough that Bamboowifi can space them out over several blocks. Bamboowifi’s proposed N3rd Street mesh network will give users between 5 and 7 megabytes per second, which Platt said is a bit better than a person’s cell phone speed.

Bamboowifi can space them out over several blocks

Local businesses near the network seem to like it so far. Justin Greskiewicz, owner of Stay Fly Muay Thai gym in Northern Liberties, said that connectivity in the park has been as good as his home internet. Greskiewicz said the idea is attractive since it allows people to access Wi-Fi constantly while avoiding data charges or subscription Wi-Fi fees.

Zach Feldman, chief academic officer and co-founder of New York Code + Design Academy, said that he used Bamboowifi briefly at the N3rd Street birthday party. Feldman said that it was easy to connect to and worked well in most areas, even with just one access point.

“The signal was strong at one end of the field, but there was a small dead zone,” he said. “Browsing speeds seemed pretty standard, not super fast or super slow.”

Feldman believes a mesh network is a great way to build a public Wi-Fi network quickly, while getting the community involved in its construction. “The more easily people get online, the more easily they can connect with each other,” he said.

Expanding the Mesh

If the expansion to N3rd Street and the wider Northern Liberties area is a success, Gregory said Bamboowifi aims to create a Philadelphia-wide network.

“The building topography in Philadelphia helps as well,” Platt said. “It’s full of two- and three-story buildings and homes, where not many high rises and skyscrapers are interfering with the signal. After Philadelphia, the next place would be some place like Boston, which has similar topography and demographics.”

Bamboowifi aims to create a Philadelphia-wide network

Gregory imagines a future where Wi-Fi, whether it’s a private sector mesh network like his or a public service, replaces much of what cell service currently does. Other communities are experimenting with mesh networks, like Red Hook Wifi in Brooklyn, Meta Mesh in Pittsburgh, and the Detroit Community Technology Project in Detroit. Gregory says he and others are sick of the high phone company data bills, especially when the transmission of data packets is relatively cheap.

The Wi-Fi mesh networks mentioned above, unlike Bamboowifi, are nonprofits — community-run, public, and ad-free. And several dozen cities around the country already offer free municipal Wi-Fi, with other cities across the globe currently experimenting with it.

Many cities already offer free municipal Wi-Fi

But Platt argues that Bamboowifi’s model can circumvent bureaucratic pitfalls because Wi-Fi — 2.4 to 5 gigahertz — is an unlicensed radio band. He also thinks Bamboowifi’s for-profit model is more sustainable, immune to the political changes that can cut funding for public Wi-Fi. Five years ago, John DeSpirito, who handles Bamboowifi’s web app development, thought that the city’s public Wi-Fi initiative would help change this, but grew discouraged when the effort collapsed.

“Technology moves quickly and it’s only getting faster,” said Platt. “A startup like ours is just able to move along with it better since we aren’t burdened by the multiple levels of approval and inquiry that can tie down a public project.”

“I think it helps to promote the neighborhood.”

Steve Richman, treasurer of the nonprofit Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, agrees with Gregory and Platt’s vision. He was instrumental in helping Bamboowifi obtain financing from the Penn Treaty Special Services District.

“I think it helps to promote the neighborhood,” Richman said. “It would be nice to say that Northern Liberties has a free Wi-Fi network. And if it works out I think it’s a significant benefit to people who are currently paying for internet service or who are maybe on a data plan but don’t want restrictions.”

Jarvus Innovations, a software company headquartered on N3rd Street also supports Bamboowifi’s efforts. The company supplied the access point, but also helped Bamboowifi unveil the mesh network at N3rd Street’s first birthday party on October 24th, 2015.

While Jarvus’ Danny Harvith thinks Bamboowifi will help create more connections between people in the community, he is equally excited about the prospects of providing free Wi-Fi to people who wouldn’t normally be able to afford it.

“Internet access should be a public right or utility — it’s that vital to the community, business world, and your own education most importantly,” Harvith said. “If we can give that to people for free, then we’re helping the underserved help themselves in a way that is almost immeasurable.”

“You could be on Wi-Fi for everything.”

Eventually, Bamboowifi would like to grow beyond Philadelphia. But for now they see the mesh network as an adjunct to community members’ home internet and cell data plans. In other words, a means of saving a bit on bills while walking down N3rd Street or hanging out in the park.

“Your talk and text is going to be a big part of your [data plan],” Gregory said. “I can talk on a Wi-Fi calling app or text someone on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or any number of these apps. Your cell phone might turn out to be your landline in a sense when Wi-Fi is universal, because as long as the network is large enough and strong enough, you could be on Wi-Fi for everything. That’s where it’s going in the future.”