Greetings all L2Ork enthusiasts! I am pleased to report that as of May 25th, 2009, DISIS has embarked on its implementation of what is to the best of my knowledge the first Linux Laptop Orchestra in the World. Despite a shaky economy, over the past year we’ve been extremely lucky in securing funds and sponsorships for this project. Apart from our external sponsors who at this point include MSI Computer, Roland Corporation, and Sweetwater, I would like to extend special thanks to the Virginia Tech Stakeholders who have made this project a reality.
Our summer research consists of the following milestones:
- Identifying optimal configuration for speakers and other supporting hardware
- Design, prototyping and production of hemispherical speaker systems
- Optimization of the Linux platform
- Development of the supporting software infrastructure
Inspired by the successes of the Princeton (PLOrk) and Stanford (SLOrk) Laptop Orchestras, our main aim is to produce the infrastructure necessary to support a 15-member Linux Laptop Orchestra (L2Ork), while pursuing cost optimization and maintaining of a maximum compatibility with the two existing orchestras. While in the long-run we anticipate using Chuck and Supercollider, in the short-term we are focusing primarily on Pure-Data as our DSP platform of choice.
It is indeed my great pleasure to announce that the project has attracted an interdisciplinary team, consisting of Faculty from Art (Prof. Eric Standley), Engineering (Dr. Tom Martin), and Music/DISIS/CCTAD (yours truly), as well as Students (Art, CS, Engineering, Music).
In addition to our internal and external sponsors, L2Ork is also in part supported by the NSF’s Research Experience for the Undergraduates (REU) program. I am also pleased to announce L2Ork’s partnership with the Linuxaudio.org consortium that offers invaluable resources to the Linux audio community.
Our summer project is set to end on July 17th, 2009. Coming this fall, we plan to introduce a pilot curriculum in support of the new found ensemble. We hope to have a public debut sometime in early December of 2009. In the meantime, we will use this blog to share our progress with the World. So, if L2Ork is your cup of tea, stay tuned for updates as we continue to fill this site with content.
