Music Machinery

This weekend brought me to Cannes and the French Riviera for the MIDEM Music Hack Day where I’ve spent about 40 hours working on my music hack called Cannes Burn.  Cannes Burn is a visualization that accompanies the song Burn by Ellie Goulding. Go check it out if you haven’t already seen it before reading on. It requires a modern computer and browser that supports webgl.

The Hack uses the new ENsync.js library that I created last week. ENsync uses the Echo Nest analysis to provide synchronization of a JS web app with music.  With ENsync you can setup elaborate animations that are triggered by musical events (such on every bar, beat or tatum).  The Hack also uses threejs – the amazing 3D library by Mr.Doob.

Creating the hack was a whole lot of fun – I spent hours building 3D shapes out of flying cubes. I probably listened to the song Burn many hundreds of times this weekend. (Thanks to my hacker neighbors who put up with my endless Ellie looping without complaint).  

It has been a great weekend here in Cannes. It is so inspiring to be surrounded by a bunch of really smart folks who are passionate about music and technology and see and hear how they are building their stuff.  Such a great, sharing vibe from all of the hackers. I feel really lucky to  part of it all!   

Check out all the hacks on hacker league:  MIDEM Music Hack Day Hacks and check out my hack at:  Cannes Burn