Inspiration
- COVID-19 is impacting all musicians, from students to educators to professionals everywhere
- Performing physically together is not viable due to health risks
- School orchestras still need a way to perform to keep students interested and motivated
- A lot of effort is required to put together separate recordings virtually. Some ensembles don't have the time or resources to do it
What it does
Ludwig is a direct response to the rise of remote learning. Our online platform optimizes virtual interaction between music educators and students by streamlining the process of creating music virtually. Educators can create new assignments and send them out with a description and sheet music to students. Students can then access the assignment, download the sheet music, and upload their recordings of the piece separately. Given the tempo and sampling specificity, Ludwig detects the musical start point of each recording, then syncs and merges them into one combined WAV file.
Challenges we ran into
Our synchronization software is not perfect. On the software side, we have to balance the tradeoff between sampling specificity and delivery speed, so we sacrifice pinpoint synchronization to make sure our users don't get bored while using the platform. On the human side, without the presence of the rest of the ensemble, it is easy for students to play at an inconsistent tempo, play out of tune, or make other mistakes. These sorts of mistakes are hard for any software to adapt to.
What's next for Ludwig
We aim to improve Ludwig's syncing algorithm by adjusting tuning and paying more attention to tempo. We will also refine and expand Ludwig's platform to allow teachers to have different classes with different sets of students.
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