Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Smule

Music App Company Smule Acquires Khush

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:21:32 +0000

Smule is a music app company that created Ocarina, I Am T-Pain, and Magic Piano apps for the iPhone. Smule has announced that they are acquiring Khush. Khush created LaDiDa (When you sing, a beat is generated) and Songify (Turns speech/coughs/howls/etc. into beats). The financial details of the acquisition was undisclosed.

The acquisition was made in a combined cash-and-stock deal. A good amount of it was in stock. Interestingly Smule and Khush’s co-founders are music professors. Smule’s co-founder Ge Wang is an assistant professor at the Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. Khush co-founder Parag Chordia is a professor of music at Georgia Tech and director of the Music Intelligence lab at the school. Khush will continue to operate out of Atlanta.

The two companies released a video about the acquisition as inspired by the Double Rainbow song:

Lang Lang Plays Piano Using The Smule iPad App During A Concert [VIDEO]

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:16:35 +0000

Pianist Lang Lang has done something different during a concert. He pulled out his Apple iPad and played “Flight of the Bumblebee” on the Magic Piano application, designed by Smule. “I’ve never seen the freestyle Magic Piano played like he [Lang Lang] did,” stated Smule co-founder Ge Wang in an interview with the WSJ. I’d love to see Lang Lang and A.R. Rahman do a concert together with their iPads. [WSJ]

Smule Releases Magic Piano App For iPad

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 03:09:47 +0000

Smule has released the Magic Piano application exclusively for the iPad. The application was inspired from renowned pianist Lang Lang. Smule is also best known for developing the iPhone apps I Am T-Pain and Ocarina.

You can customize how many keys you want on the Magic Piano. The app also lets you play the piano in circle form. The piano has preloaded songs that show the keys lighting up as it plays so you can learn how to play certain songs [iTunes link].

Check out the video demo below of the app:

I Am T-Pain App Developer Smule Raises $8 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:48:37 +0000

Smule, the company that has developed the I Am T-Pain application has raised $8 million in a third round of funding. The I Am T-Pain application has been downloaded over 700,000 times and there are in-app purchases that allow you to do karaoke to some of T-Pain’s hit songs like Bartender and Got Money. Smule has another application called Ocarina that has been downloaded over 1.65 million times. Smule expects to make about $3 million in revenues this year. Smule’s most recent funding round was provided by Shasta Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Granite Ventures. Smule has raised a total of $13.7 million.

University of Michigan Has An iPhone Instrument Class [Video]

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:23:29 +0000

This one time at band camp, I played an iPhone. Next week at the University of Michigan there will be a public performance of a band playing instruments. These aren’t ordinary instruments. As a matter of fact, they are iPhones. The public performance will be taking place as part of the “Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble” course.

Every iPhone played by the band is programmed to make different sounds when each function of the phone is used. This includes the microphone, GPS, compass, wireless sensor, touchscreen, and accelerometer. The professor behind the project is Georg Essl. Essl was instrumental (pun intended) for the development of the iPhone app Ocarina, developed by Smule. Smule is the company that recently released the auto-tune I Am T-Pain app as well.

Essl and his colleagues were the first ones known to have used a micrphone as a wind sensor. This is one of the tactics that is used by Ocarina. The Mobile Phone Ensemble course is believed to be the first of its kind where music, engineering, and interactive media arts are combined.

To follow the performances of the Mobile Phone Ensemble band, you can check out their Facebook page. You will also notice that the band’s uniform is the signature black shirt and jeans look that Steve Jobs goes for.

Smule Makes Another iPhone App Hit Leaf Trombone

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:06:08 +0000

Smule raised $3.9 million two months ago. Dr. Ge Wang, Assistant Professor of Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford is the co-founder of the company and their first application was a hit. The first app is called Ocarina and now they have released their next application Leaf Trombone World Stage [iTunes link].

The Leaf Trombone is a traditional Chinese leaf instrument. To use the application, players run their fingers across the touchscreen and blow into the iPhone microphone. Leaf Trombone has a music box that also accompanies the music you play. You can also download music for Leaf Trombone. The application tells you if you hit the notes correctly with the music when blowing into the microphone.

[via Macworld]

Ocarina iPhone App Company Smule Raises $3.9 Million

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:57:37 +0000

Sonic Mule Inc. (Smule) has created several interesting applications for the iPhone including Ocarina, Zephy, Sonic Vox, Sonic Boom, and Sonic Lighter. The Ocarina application did pretty well because Smule held a competition to determine who could create the 10 best videos using their app. Smule announced today that they have raised $3.9 million in funding led by Granite Ventures. Other investors participating include Bessemer Venture Partners, Maples Investments, and Jeff Smith (the founder of the company).

Dr. Ge Wang, Assistant Professor of Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford is the company’s other co-founder. Wang helped develop ChucK, the audio programming language that is used for some of the apps. ChucK is used to transmit voice and convert it into music over the iPhone.

According to a press release, “Smule will use the new funds to enhance its position as a leading developer of innovative applications and services for mobile users.” This does not seem very specific, but Bessemer is confident enough in Jeff to see a return on their investment. Jeff gave Bessemer a 30x return from an investment in his previous company.