NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
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led the Beatmap. As they drove the car across the<br />
Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the beats overlappe<br />
d, creating complex mash-ups.<br />
But Bluebrain’s project goes further, creating mus<br />
ic that not only must be listened to in a specific<br />
place but also is inspired by the landscape itsel<br />
f.<br />
“It’s not just that they are using this as a novel<br />
delivery mechanism,” said Peter Kirn, an electron<br />
ic composer who edits the Web site Create Digital<br />
Music. “It’s part of their musical process. They a<br />
re forcing you to go to a place because that place<br />
for them is musically meaningful.”<br />
The idea for such a project came to the Holladay b<br />
rothers more than two years ago, as they brainstor<br />
med about ways to use new applications available f<br />
or the iPhone. “Wouldn’t it be cool if there were<br />
an album that you would interact with in Central P<br />
ark?” Hays recalled saying. “Then we started think<br />
ing about what would you be controlling, and we ca<br />
me to the idea of: What if it were your movement?”<br />
It was easier said than done. It took months to fi<br />
nd Brian Feldman, a Brooklyn software developer wh<br />
o was willing to work for little money up front. T<br />
hey worked out bugs in the program as they compose<br />
d their first location-aware piece of music for th<br />
e National Mall in their hometown; they released t<br />
hat app in May.<br />
Mr. Feldman wrote a new software engine, which he<br />
named Sscape, for the application, borrowing ideas<br />
from video games that have different sound effect<br />
s and background music tied to places in their vir<br />
tual worlds. To use the program, the composers est<br />
ablish map coordinates for each track, and those t<br />
racks, usually loops of several minutes, are set o<br />
ff as the listener approaches. Last month the brot<br />
hers hired a second software firm, Zamtools, in To