July 24, 2014
Smackathon Winner: Smule Drums - Best Vision The inspiration for “Drums" arose mostly from a desire to build it as the next Smule app.  Anyone whose ever enjoyed dancing or tapping their fingers along with the beat will appreciate the pleasure of moving to the beat.  It just seemed like the next logical addition to the Smule portfolio. Design principles: 1) Be simple and intuitive so that anyone can play2) Sound good—even for users with no musical experience3) Enable and encourage expression4) Allow collaboration with other users to enhance and create songs Read on to hear what we came up with. [[MORE]] After percolating on these ideas, we eventually settled on three core game mechanics: TAP — Tapping on the screen will trigger a drum sound.  This creates a simple, intuitive hand-drumming interface.  It’s pretty standard stuff, and even your Mom can figure out in a couple seconds. HOLD — Holding down a finger will cause a drum loop to start playing in perfect time to the music.  Hold down two fingers, and you’ll hear two loops matched together. For example, one loop is playing the kick drum, and one loop is the snare.   SWIPE — Swiping a finger will trigger a drum “roll” or “fill,”perfectly in time with the music.  The swipe is a simple, dramatic gesture, and so it seemed naturally suited to triggering a dramatic music event like this.  Even if you have no rhythmical TAPPING ability, you can use the loops and fills to be expressive and musical just by changing which loops you’re playing. We added “guide notes” (similar to Guitar Hero) to help suggest when the player might want to play certain drums, but they are just suggestions. This video gives a sample of what it looks like: In the demo song here, we used a sound-alike backing track for “Call Me Maybe”, but this can just as easily be any backing track from Sing! or shared performances from Sing!, Guitar! or Magic Piano. Nuts and Bolts: From our experience using Java Native Interface, or JNI, and OpenGL we knew they performed well. However, development times with these technologies are much slower, sometimes painfully so.  Because of this we decided to minimize our usage of JNI and OpenGL to enable faster prototyping, and to discover exactly what performance bottlenecks we would encounter with the Android framework.  This has the added bonus of helping to inform our future Android development efforts. Indeed, we did have issues with frame rate on some devices, even with our simple graphics. More importantly, we ran into problems with touch latency. Because by nature drums are a very “timing critical” instrument, excessive touch latency is harmful to the experience when attempting to play fast or complex drum parts.  Fortunately, we can still create a satisfying musical drum experience with simpler, yet challenging, drum parts. Hard-core “digital drummers” looking for an intense experience on mobile will have to wait for hardware to improve. <sad panda> Looking forward: The proof of concept was successful, and gave us valuable feedback on how to move ahead without getting tripped up by hardware limitations. Thanks for reading! — Jon Moldover, Smule Software Engineer and Client Lead Team Drums: Amanda Chaudhary, Devin Smith, David Young, Jon Moldover, Nicole Borrelli, Oscar Corral, Randal Leistikow and Yana Kunitskaya. Special thanks to Anthony Urso, Turner Kirk and Nick Kruge.
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Smackathon Winner: Smule Drums - Best Vision

The inspiration for “Drums" arose mostly from a desire to build it as the next Smule app.  Anyone whose ever enjoyed dancing or tapping their fingers along with the beat will appreciate the pleasure of moving to the beat.  It just seemed like the next logical addition to the Smule portfolio.

Design principles:

1) Be simple and intuitive so that anyone can play
2) Sound good—even for users with no musical experience
3) Enable and encourage expression
4) Allow collaboration with other users to enhance and create songs

Read on to hear what we came up with.

Read More

July 23, 2014
Smackathon Winner: Chuck Teaches Singing - Most Polished Hack* Nothing in this world terrifies me more than singing. Not ghosts, not terrorism and not even public speaking. Singing, by far, takes the cake. For Smule’s Annual Smackathon, Xi Xiang, Hanna Beaton, Oscar Corral and myself — all designers and non-singers — decided to take on the task of learning to sing and make it as disarming and playful as possible. Our vehicle would be a nostalgic side-scrolling adventure in the spirit of “Mario Teaches Typing.” Read on to see what we came up with! [[MORE]] We started with a similar concept to “Flappy Bird,” where a player’s vocal pitch could navigate obstacles, but decided that matching specific tones would be a better exercise for non-singers as well as singers in need of a warm up. The game needed a star, so we picked Chuck, another Smulean who happened to be out of the office and, therefore, couldn’t veto the idea. As an homage to Donkey Kong, the game’s objective would be to evade rolling barrels. And so, “Chuck Teaches Singing” was born. [[MORE]] The entire game was designed in darling 8-bit graphics, set in a fictional (but San Francisco-like) city and packed with inside jokes that wouldn’t be funny any more if we explained them. Really, you had to be there. As you help Chuck jump over barrels by singing along, you trace through a song inspired by Rocky’s Gonna Fly Now. It’s pretty rad. We put it on the Web to make it easy to set up and share. There was just one problem: none of us were skilled enough singers to successfully demo it for the team beyond just a few notes. Fortunately, Smule is brimming with musical tallent and the demo ended with the entire office singing along, successfully guiding Chuck past quite a few obstacles. Unfortunately, it eventually got too hard and Chuck stumbled on a barrel. Our humble game received the award for the Most Polished project, which goes to show what happens when four designers team up in a hackathon. (We were actually aiming for "Most Brilliant Hack, To the Point of Moving Grown Men to Tears and Stirring Up Religious Feelings in the Hearts of The Most Hardened Individuals" but were told afterwards that particular award didn’t exist.) Play it for yourself here. It works best in Chrome and when you use head phones. There’s a special prize for whoever can beat Chuck’s score! - Ben Hersh, Smule Product Designer Team Chuck Teaches Singing: Ben Hersh, Hanna Beaton, Xi Xiang, Oscar Corral * Editor’s Note: If we had a prize entitled “Most Brilliant Hack, To the Point of Moving Grown Men to Tears and Stirring Up Religious Feelings in the Hearts of The Most Hardened Individuals” this project would certainly have been a top candidate. Alas, “Most Polished Hack” was the 
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Smackathon Winner: Chuck Teaches Singing - Most Polished Hack*

Nothing in this world terrifies me more than singing. Not ghosts, not terrorism and not even public speaking. Singing, by far, takes the cake.

For Smule’s Annual Smackathon, Xi Xiang, Hanna Beaton, Oscar Corral and myself — all designers and non-singers — decided to take on the task of learning to sing and make it as disarming and playful as possible. Our vehicle would be a nostalgic side-scrolling adventure in the spirit of “Mario Teaches Typing.”

Read on to see what we came up with!

Read More

July 22, 2014

Freestyle Mode: Create Your Own Guitar Arrangements

Howdy folks!

The purpose of Guitar! is to help people of all ages and backgrounds express themselves through music. In the past, you did this by tapping and strumming along to notes on the screen.

However, we realized that following notes can feel limiting for some of you who may have felt pressured by the scoring system to play a certain way. Over time, all recorded performances started to sound the same. Where’s the fun in that?

What if you just wanted to listen to the lyrics and strum along at your own pace? What if you wanted to create something original because you’re smart and awesome and creative and don’t want to be restrained?

We’re happy to announce that starting in version 1.4, you can let your inner rockstar run wild! Simply select any song from the Songbook and choose “Freestyle” as your difficulty. (NOTE: If Freestyle is greyed out, just complete any song on “Pro” difficulty and you’ll unlock it across all songs in the app).

In Freestyle mode, there are no notes. Instead, you listen to the singer’s voice and “feel the music,” strumming and picking whenever you feel it’s appropriate. Now, you are the arranger and you’re doing it in real-time! Check out our short video above, if you haven’t already done so, to see how it’s done.

There’s no longer a right or wrong way to play a song. You can be yourself and make the song the way you want it to sound. Of course, it will sound awesome because you are amazing. Then, upload your unique composition to the web with the tap of a button for others to enjoy.

Or better yet, go sing a song in Sing! Karaoke and then create your own unique backing track in Guitar!

This is just another small step in our ongoing mission to let you use music to express yourself.

- Kevin Sung, Smule Product Manager

July 21, 2014
Be Your Own Legend With “All of Me” When John Legend released “All of Me,” few except the singer himself expected it to be a hit. It does not have a drum track. It was not considered “dance-able.” And aside from a piano track, it has no other instrumentals. It is a bare-bones ballad, a love song Legend co-wrote and dedicated to his then-fiancee, Chrissy Teigen, whom he’s since wed. Yet, “All of Me” sold more than 4.2 million copies in the U.S. alone and has been on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in excess of 39 weeks. Legend explained in an interview with Billboard’s Gail Mitchell why he felt “All of Me” resonated with so many people, saying, “Every once in a while, you want to hear something that pierces your heart.” That’s what you have been telling us as well — making “All of Me” one of the most requested songs of the year for Sing! Karaoke and Magic Piano by Smule. Well, we heard you loud and clear! On July 16th, we added “All of Me” to Magic Piano. And today, July 20th, we are adding the song to Sing! Karaoke as well. We’re kicking off the addition of our first John Legend song to the Smule catalog with a legendary Guitar Idol contest. The winner gets to be the Featured Sing!er in our Guitar! app, where their performance can be heard by millions of listeners around the world. Entering is easy. Just warm up those vocal chords, channel your inner soul singer and follow these three simple steps: 1. Fire up Sing! Karaoke and sing “All of Me.” You can record the song as a solo performance or as a duet.* If you are on an iOS device, just click here to start Sing!ing. If you are on an Android device, click here to launch Sing! Karaoke. 2. Add the hashtag #GuitarIdol to your performance in the song description. 3. Upload your performance by our contest deadline on July 30th, at Noon Pacific. We will notify the winner on August 1st, and post their performance as the Featured Sing!er in our in Guitar! app. The winning performance will also be available for millions of fans to listen to on Smule.com — the official home of Smule Nation. Do you have what it takes to be Legendary? We think you do. Just listen to these powerhouse performances that some of you have submitted for our previous Guitar! Idol contests — and won! Winners of “Happy” — JessiJHard + SoundMind137 Winner of “Let It Go” — Maria66 Winners of “Home” — iRoyal_Angelo + LesterHarmony *PLEASE NOTE: Group performances are not eligible for Guitar! Idol contests at this time.
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Be Your Own Legend With “All of Me”

When John Legend released “All of Me,” few except the singer himself expected it to be a hit.

It does not have a drum track. It was not considered “dance-able.” And aside from a piano track, it has no other instrumentals. It is a bare-bones ballad, a love song Legend co-wrote and dedicated to his then-fiancee, Chrissy Teigen, whom he’s since wed.

Yet, “All of Me” sold more than 4.2 million copies in the U.S. alone and has been on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in excess of 39 weeks. Legend explained in an interview with Billboard’s Gail Mitchell why he felt “All of Me” resonated with so many people, saying, “Every once in a while, you want to hear something that pierces your heart.”

That’s what you have been telling us as well — making “All of Me” one of the most requested songs of the year for Sing! Karaoke and Magic Piano by Smule.

Well, we heard you loud and clear! On July 16th, we added “All of Me” to Magic Piano. And today, July 20th, we are adding the song to Sing! Karaoke as well.

We’re kicking off the addition of our first John Legend song to the Smule catalog with a legendary Guitar Idol contest. The winner gets to be the Featured Sing!er in our Guitar! app, where their performance can be heard by millions of listeners around the world. Entering is easy. Just warm up those vocal chords, channel your inner soul singer and follow these three simple steps:

1. Fire up Sing! Karaoke and sing “All of Me.” You can record the song as a solo performance or as a duet.* If you are on an iOS device, just click here to start Sing!ing. If you are on an Android device, click here to launch Sing! Karaoke.

2. Add the hashtag #GuitarIdol to your performance in the song description.

3. Upload your performance by our contest deadline on July 30th, at Noon Pacific.

We will notify the winner on August 1st, and post their performance as the Featured Sing!er in our in Guitar! app. The winning performance will also be available for millions of fans to listen to on Smule.com — the official home of Smule Nation.

Do you have what it takes to be Legendary? We think you do. Just listen to these powerhouse performances that some of you have submitted for our previous Guitar! Idol contests — and won!

Winners of “Happy” — JessiJHard + SoundMind137

Winner of “Let It Go” — Maria66

Winners of “Home” — iRoyal_Angelo + LesterHarmony

*PLEASE NOTE: Group performances are not eligible for Guitar! Idol contests at this time.

July 19, 2014
Introducing the Alternative Country Guitar Greetings, Guitar fans! We’ve just released a brand new guitar for Smule Pass and All Access Pass holders. It’s called Alternative Country, and you can see it pictured on the far right in the illustration above. Upgrade to Version 1.4 from the iTunes App Store today to check it out. To shed more light on the development of the guitar, our Guitar team was on hand to answer questions. So… what exactly is Alternative Country? Alternative Country is a sub-genre of country music that has picked up a lot of steam in the last 15 years. It has origins in bluegrass, rockabilly, and honky-tonk but also incorporates elements of alternative rock or punk. The truth is, if you ask 50 people what they think Alternative Country is, you’ll get 50 different answers. But the best way to describe the sound is alternative rock meets country. Blue Mountain, Whiskeytown and The Cardinals are good examples of Alternative Country bands. Read on to watch a video of the guitar and get more answers about this new instrument that we can’t wait for you to get your hands on. [[MORE]] How is the Alternative Country guitar different than the other guitars in the app? The Alternative Country guitar has a noticeable twang that should really please fans of the genre. Overall, it’s a lot sharper sounding, especially when you’re picking a string. People who aren’t familiar with guitars might think of the Alternative Country guitar as just another rock guitar but if you play them side by side, you’d hear a clear difference. How did you guys settle on Alternative Country? First, it has to sound good with our songs. We want people to play songs they love with guitars they’ve never heard of. (Can you imagine playing “Let It Go” using the Alternative Country guitar?) But if it sounds utterly terrible, then what’s the point? Second, we have to understand the limitations of the app with respect to hardware and sound rendering capabilities and whether it supports the play styles of a particular genre of music. At the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do with a touch screen on an iPhone or iPad. A tablet is not a substitute for a real guitar with real strings. Of course, we’re always looking for creative ways to incorporate new play styles into the app. For example, 1.4 introduces tremolo. And in the future, we’re going to add palm muting. Finally, the guitar has to sound different from the guitars we’ve already chosen. If we wanted to, we could release 50 different acoustic guitars. But after a while, all of the guitars sound the same and people will get bored. We chose Alternative Country because it’s sharp and twangy. But most importantly, we believe the new guitar has a unique sound. What songs would sound best with this new guitar? There are so many! Here are a hew of our favorites: “Making Memories of Us” by Keith Urban “Only Way I Know” by Jason Aldean with Luke Bryan and Eric Church “I Won’t Give Up” by Jason Mraz “Say Something” by Christina Aguilera What sort of mojo had to happen to make the guitar sound as sweet as it does in the app as it would in real life? All the sounds you hear in the app are recorded from real guitars and then modified using special audio effects. We had an audio engineer create the original sound and our lead developer tuned the samples until they sounded perfect. Are you going to release more guitars in the future? Yes. We don’t want to give too much away. But some of the other ideas we tossed around included a jazz guitar, blues guitar, and even a retro British invasion guitar. There are a lot of other ideas we’re excited to pursue. If you feel strongly about a certain type of guitar, you should let us know! We’re always open to suggestions. Stay tuned. It’s going to be awesome. - Kevin Sung, Smule Product Manager
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Introducing the Alternative Country Guitar

Greetings, Guitar fans!

We’ve just released a brand new guitar for Smule Pass and All Access Pass holders. It’s called Alternative Country, and you can see it pictured on the far right in the illustration above. Upgrade to Version 1.4 from the iTunes App Store today to check it out.

To shed more light on the development of the guitar, our Guitar team was on hand to answer questions.

So… what exactly is Alternative Country?

Alternative Country is a sub-genre of country music that has picked up a lot of steam in the last 15 years. It has origins in bluegrass, rockabilly, and honky-tonk but also incorporates elements of alternative rock or punk. The truth is, if you ask 50 people what they think Alternative Country is, you’ll get 50 different answers. But the best way to describe the sound is alternative rock meets country. Blue Mountain, Whiskeytown and The Cardinals are good examples of Alternative Country bands.

Read on to watch a video of the guitar and get more answers about this new instrument that we can’t wait for you to get your hands on.

Read More