11Jul 2009

Congrats

Posted in Announcements

Entrusting the L2Ork Hemi Cohort to Our Benevolent OverlordAnd so the first phase of what is hopefully going to be a very long (in a good way :-) saga in the life of L2Ork draws to a close and it seems like a perfect opportunity to once again thank all involved for their hard work and dedication. Not only have we met most if not all of our projected summer milestones relying exclusively upon a cohort of undergraduate student researchers, but have also managed to squeeze-in a few extras and to top it all off have a good deal of fun doing so!

So, once again I thank all Students and Colleagues: Dr. Martin and Prof. Standley for your hard work and dedication, I wish you a very pleasant and restful summer and I hope to see at least some of you in the fall as part of what is to become the very first generation of L2Orkists. Until then, be safe, get plenty of rest (you have definitely deserved it), and perhaps most importantly be proud of what you’ve accomplished!

Now, back to packing… Vacation, here I come!

Share Button

11Jul 2009

Unsuspecting Visitor

Posted in Uncategorized

Unsuspecting VisitorLast Friday we’ve had a great honor of hosting Dr. Gary Lee Nelson, a legend among the computer music community and a great friend. For the uninitiated, Gary is the founder of Oberlin College’s famous TIMARA studios and an amazing composer and teacher. He is also known for being the co-author of the MIDI Horn, the World’s first wind-controller-based MIDI instrument produced in collaboration with John Talbert (another really cool guy!). Gary recently retired from Oberlin, yet it seems he is now busier than ever.

So, we managed to convince Gary to take a photo with our Hemis in hope his endorsement would convince you that L2Ork is indeed as cool as we think it is ;-).

Share Button

10Jul 2009

A Farewell Pun

Posted in Uncategorized

“And he’ll be chasing them with the soldering iron..”
“Talk about a BRANDING campaign!”

I was told not to indicate who created that little number.

Share Button

09Jul 2009

What L2Ork has taught me…

Posted in Uncategorized

This is a list of knowledge I have gained from L2Ork. I will probably end up adding more to it later.

1. DISIS is cool. No really, the AC is always blasting. (Well I knew that already, but I am constantly being reminded.)
2. When various parts of speakers, wires, and cable housings are burned, they smell like McDonalds.
3. Soldering is fun!
4. After a period of about two weeks, lesson #3 is void.
5. Linux penguin is sneaky.
6. When I have enough money I’m going to get some BMWs. That’s right, ALL five seasons.
7. Cory may not be as attractive as Shawn but he is “boyfriend” material whereas Shawn is not.
8. Mister Feeny may be grumpy but he holds in him countless life lessons.
9. There are many names with which one may refer to a wire stripper.
10. Anything can be accomplished if you can get enough people to help. (Easier if you can grow an ico-stash.)
11. L2Ork=L2Ove.

Share Button

08Jul 2009

L2Ork Hemis Spotted in the Wild

Posted in Announcements

This being the last week of our summer project, I feel rather good as we’ve accomplished most if not all of the goals set back in the Spring of 2009. We’ve:

  • Researched the most cost-efficient version of the L2Ork hardware and supporting infrastructure;
  • Designed, prototyped, and developed L2Ork version of the hemispherical speakers;
  • Produced mono and 6-channel versions of cables so that the 6-cone speakers can be driven as a mono or multichannel sound system with simply swapping the speaker cable;
  • Optimized Ubuntu 9.04 Linux distribution for L2Ork use;
  • Overhauled Linux GUI for the Pure-Data rapid multimedia prototyping and development software platform (no worries, we’ll be posting source soon);
  • Prepped 12 out of 17 MSI Wind netbooks for the Fall L2Ork curriculum (we should hopefully take care of the rest tomorrow);
  • Developed a threaded version of the wiimote Pd external that is Pd-audio-thread safe and dramatically lowers latency for the LED and vibration feedback (source distribution coming soon);
  • Designed branding logo and produced the L2Ork website (based on the amazing WordPress);
  • Shot tons of instructional footage, and photos, some of the said footage has been already produced (thanks Maya!) and is available on the DISIS Youtube channel and L2Ork media pages (and more coming soon!);
  • Painted tons of wiimotes and nunchuks black (yeah, we also heard about the E3’s big announcement regarding upcoming release of the black wiimotes but we simply did not want to wait until the end of the year for the cool stuff to hit eastern shores of the Pacific);
  • Designed and prototyped cost-efficient netbook performance holster, and
  • Secured additional partners and sponsors.

Finally, as promised, we are sharing our first photos of the L2Ork hemispherical speakers with the World. Enjoy!

Share Button