Real Time On Line Music Collaboration Software

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The introduction of the personal computer has been a technology that has changed so much about every aspect of the music industry, it has changed the way we record music, how we buy music and how we listen to music. However it was the introduction of internet 2.0, (see appendix 1) combined with the ever increasing speed of internet connections that has now facilitated a change in how the musician can now produce music. Now with the help of technologies like Ohm Studio the geographical divide can easily be bridged between musicians living on perhaps even two different continents, all that is needed is a relatively fast internet connection.

This technology has existed in some top of the range media production packages such as Steinberg Nuendo [i] (Nuendo, starts here) for some time now. Users could connect to each other’s machines using an internet connection and a static ip address and collaborate in real time where parameter changes on one computer would appear almost instantly on the computers of other parties connected in the collaboration. While this was all well and good for big studios with lots of capital at their disposal, it is the prohibitive cost of software packages such as Nuendo (€5000) that has put this technology out of the reach of most musicians and would be producers. Up until recently, online collaboration between musicians has been achieved mostly through the sharing of files using such services as Dropbox and UTorrent or other file sharing programs.

Ohm Force, who are they?

It is the development of a new breed of applications such as Ohm Studio that have changed the way we as musicians can connect, collaborate and share ideas and opinions. The people responsible for Ohm Studio, Ohm Force a German based company will be no stranger to music production enthusiast. This company have been involved in the development of digital signal processing plugins since the mid-90s and as a company have a pedigree second to none. They have developed a reputation for providing a quality product at reasonable prices, a fact that has made them a favourite of many computer musicians around the world. Their range of products includes such releases as Homicide, Quad frohmage and Symptohm, [ii] (the Ohm Force Bundle) and can be found in many bedroom and professional studios around the world. It is from the development of what have now become such iconic plugin’s that Ohm Force both developed the technical skill and saw the need to develop a DAW with the capability of online collaboration such as Ohm studio.

A brief walk through the GUI

The first step in using Ohm Studio is for the user to proceed to the Ohm Studio website (Ohm Studio homepage) [iii] where an account must be created; once this has been completed the application is then downloaded to the user’s local machine and installed. When the installation process is completed the user logs into the program which in turn connects to the Ohm Studio server and the creator is ready to start creating either by themselves or together with other users on the Ohm Studio network. The user interface, (see appendix 2) of Ohm Studio is divided into 2 main environments, the dashboard environment and the project environment.

The dashboard environment

The dashboard environment is the first screen that the user sees when they login to Ohm Studio, this window contains a chat room to the left which shows a list of online users and contacts and friends who the user may collaborate with if they so wish to do so. This feature can be extremely helpful for the purpose of providing communication between the owner of projects and their fellow collaborators who may share ideas and provide feedback to the other members of the project. This window also contains a public chat room which is used more for general chat between users. The biggest part of this environment is handed over to the list of projects that a user may be working on; it is here the user can create a new project view a list of previous projects and make these projects public or private and invite users to participate in their project.

The project environment

When a user creates a project or opens an existing project they are brought to the next environment called the project environment. This environment will be familiar to anyone who has used any of the more conventional DAW software packages, it contains all the familiar features you would expect to find in such packages, such as track lanes which can be audio or midi tracks. Audio tracks as the name implies may contain audio files and the midi, or instrument tracks on the other hand can be used to trigger Ohm Studio’s built in instruments of which there are only 2. This may seem as a limitation of Ohm Studio however the developers have kindly added support for Steinberg's Virtual Studio Technology (VST) platform of plugins first developed by Steinberg GmbH in 1996, [iv] (Steinberg, Our Technologies) this platform allows for 3rd party developers to design their own virtual instruments that will work within their DAW applications. The project environment also contains a window referred to as the gear panel, the insides of this environment is similar to the mix window in conventional DAW applications, it is in this panel complex routing options can be made such as side chain compression, reverb and delay to mention just a few. To the right of the gear panel is a complete list of the effects and instruments at the user’s disposal and to the right we again see the chat room which is private and only visible to users connected and participating in the project. The top of the project environment contains the transport panel and the arrange window showing the arrangement of the project. Here users can see audio tracks and instrument tracks in which they can input midi notes to create clips of information such as chords or melodic patterns, these midi clips can be edited using the normal tools such as cut, copy, paste and a pencil tool for the inputting of notes. Edits may be applied to audio tracks in real time such as crossfades panning and channel routing.

Where, When, Why is it used.

As the software is still in the beta testing phase and free to download and use, Ohm Force have stated that when beta testing ends, a lifetime licence for Ohm Studio will cost €224 and a 6 month licence €54. (Pre-order Ohm Studio!) [v] Due to the applications feature rich content that we as computer musicians have become so used to on our DAW machines can now exist on the cloud also, and all for €224. This attractive price tag can put this technology in the hands of almost anyone who wishes to collaborate on real time projects. Already the developers of Ohm Studio have organised a mass live free collaboration project where users create a project and they are given 45 minutes, where other users are encouraged to join in and layer their elements over the other user. Events like these are accessed through the last but not least element of Ohm Studio is the web interface. Here members can all other online who they can communicate with through the public chat or personal message; user profiles may be accessed and viewed by relevance such as genre, musical experience which is categorised form the beginner to the professional.

User Testing

Information collected through a questioner, (see Appendix 3) that was circulated too my class mates indicated the application had some small problems in relation to difficulty of use; however the concept of the application was very well received and when asked the question "would you recommend Ohm Studio to a friend?" The information returned shows that 100% of participants answered yes. When asked "how much would you pay?" opinions varied greatly. The overall user experience and the effect the application had on the creative process when again 100% of participants stated that they had a good overall experience with the application and that it had helped somewhat with the creative process

Summary

So not only can Ohm Studio provide the environment for us to create and collaborate on music projects in real time, it offers us a platform where events can be held anywhere and at any time. The application’s resemblance to the DAW interface that all computer musicians will be familiar with is something the developers have intentionally incorporated into the GUI that makes this application so attractive and familiar to the user. This fact combined with the support for the vst standard of plugin’s puts this company in a strong position to dominate and develop the area of real time online music collaboration technology.