Hi All,
I’m compelled to tell everyone I know about this beautiful
iOS App called iLooch, created by Brad Garton, a Professor
of Music at Columbia University.
One of the many things Brad creates is real-time composition
software that generates endlessly evolving ambient synth
textures. They usually have the word “Looch” in them to honor
his beloved dog. I’ve been playing with these apps for years on
my office’s Mac whenever I have to write text or do any chores
that don’t involve sound.
On a whim last week, I typed “Looch” into the App Store and
was thrilled to see that I can now have one of his current music
generating algorithms on my iOS devices.
I wrote Brad for the very first time last week and was saddened
to learn that he is in the hospital fighting a six-year battle with
Multiple Myeloma. But he took the time to write me back anyway
to tell me about future projects. I have since made it my goal to
alert the music community about this incredible app.
Just trust me and invest the $0.99 for iLooch. It’s fantastic for
playing mono synth lines over the ambient music as it’s always
evolving. It’s also cool to take long walks with earbuds or just
let it play out of your phone’s speakers. Multiple devices playing
iLooch creates even more complex music. (And it’s a perfect
way to get a stupid song out of your head that won’t stop.)
iTunes App Description
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ilooch/id379528794?mt=8
Brad Garton’s Blog
http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/writing/mm-blog/
Brad on “Looching”
http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/looching/
Wiki on Brad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Garton
From Brad:
"iLooch is an iPhone/iPod-touch application designed to generate
evolving ambient sounds. The music is not “sampled”; it is instead
created by generative and algorithmic rule-sets coupled with
various synthesis techniques. They’ll go on forever and ever! Because
the music is being constructed on-the-fly, each time it plays it will
be slightly different. Such is life.
I used a synthesis and signal-processing code library based on RTcmix
to realize the audio, including many physical-model algorithms to
produce the snazzy sounds. For those interested in such things, the
iPhone/RTcmix code is here:
http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/iRTcmix/
It was like the proverbial Trip Down Memory Lane to code this app using
the Interface Builder and Objective-C, as I did the first “Looching” to learn
the [then new] NeXT MusicKit many years ago. Although all of the iLooch
musical algorithms were built for this app, I did base a few of them on
code from previous looching programs."
If you love this app as much as I do please share it with any forums and
friends that would appreciate having access to this computer artistry. I’m
certain it would brighten Brad’s day to know that people are enjoying it.
