#loopable performance

[kply-industries]

This actor in the foreground just randomly gave an incredibly loopable performance.

[gerogerigaogaigar]

can we have that lecture on the history of electronic music? 😊

You asked for it lmao. I'll go from the foundations of electronic music to the development of house, techno, jungle, and drum and bass. This is gonna be a long post.

The history of electronic music starts where the history of everything starts-- 7 million years ago with Sahelanthropus Tchadensis smacking two rocks together. There may have been one or two developments in the field of music between then and the 20th century but they aren't really that important for our purposes. In fact the early pioneers of electronic music are not especially important either. The very first name you need to know is Robert Moog¹.

The Moog synthesizer was not by any means the first electronic instrument. The Theremin, Electronde, Croix Sonore, and Ondes Martenot all predate it. But the Moog was a huge programmable monstrosity that also featured a playable keyboard. Finally an instrument for huge nerds! The Moog was invented in 1964 but wouldn't see its big breakthrough until 1968 when electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos released Switched On Bach, a collection of Bach pieces performed on the Moog. With Mort Garson's synthesized soundtrack to the Apollo 11 mission happening the very next year it put the Moog into the public eye. 1969 saw another landmark moment in electronic music history with the release of Amen Brother by The Winstons. Put a pin in that cause it will come up a lot later on.

So it's the 1970s now and every nerd ass band from ELO and ELP to Goblin and Gryphon is using the Moog to whip up some very impressive keyboard solos. But this is an essay on electronic /dance/ music so where do we find the rhythm in all this nonsense? The same place that everyone else in the 70s found it-- Disco!² There are two huge names that were all over the disco charts by the mid 70s-- Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder. Moroder produced a shitload of music, but the most influential was his work with Donna Summer. Namely the song I Feel Love.

This is one of the most culturally significant pieces of music ever. Seriously it is up there with like Bach's Well Tempered Clavier³, the works of Hildegard Von Bingen⁴, and that Sahelanthropus with the rocks from earlier.⁵ The steady, hypnotic energy of the synth line captured the imaginations of audiences and artists alike. One of those artists was a DJ by the name of Larry Levan who worked as the resident DJ at the Paradise Garage nightclub in NYC. Levan had a bass heavy style that used drum machines and synthesizers and I Feel Love slotted right into his set.

While Larry Levan's sound would go on to define house music there are also two other DJs from the 70s who were massive influences on the burgeoning club scene. Firstly DJ Kool Herc, the father of hip hop music. He brought the Jamaican tradition of toasting, or rhythmically speaking over an instrumental, into the mainstream. Combined with his signature break beats he is considered the first rapper and hip hop musician. Walter Gibbons is the last of our holy trinity of 70s DJs. Gibbons pioneered the remix and the beat juggle as well as popularized 12" singles.

Now the stage is nearly set for the 1980s. We have the DJ set, rapping, beat making, turntablism, remix culture, and synths. There's just one problem-- we haven't talked about Jamaica yet. Now I'm debating how far back I should go, it would be funny to just jump back to like 59 and start talking the origins of ska. But I've given myself a pretty easy inlet with Kool Herc and Gibbons. The influence of Jamaican DJs is deeply ingrained into our music culture. So in the early 70s reggae was starting to be a well defined genre and one of the tendencies was to put instrumentals on the b-sides of the singles. These instrumental versions were irresistible to DJs looking for loopable bass and drum tracks. Soon remixing these reggae instrumentals took on a life of its own spurred on by the likes of ska pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry, the aforementioned DJ Cool Herc and Walter Gibbons and a stable of other artists the genre of Dub music started to form. By the late 70s dub was starting to be a major influence in us and uk club music. And now all the pieces are in place for the 1980s. For real this time.⁶

The 80s saw an explosion in electronic music. The price of synths were going down and the number of artists integrating them into their work skyrocketed. What synths were capable of was also rapidly expanding. The Prophet-5, introduced in 78, had the ability to store sounds for playback which was the dawning of the era of sampling. The synths had also moved from analog to digital playback. The synclavier was the first fully digital synth⁷ and the sound difference is very noticeable. Now analog vs digital is one of the most irritating debates in all of music nerd-dom so understand that when I say analog synths have a warmer fuzzier sound that is a morally neutral statement. They are not better than digital synths and they aren't worse either. The ability for digital synths to produce a clean sine wave was novel at the time and artists embraced the sterile sound for what it could do. Synth pop and new wave artists made liberal use of the bleeps and bloops of these early digital synths but the dance scene was completely exploding. I Feel Love had ushered in the first electronic dance music genre Hi-NRG, yes it is really called that. Hi-NRG was basically just any disco song that used mainly synths. The Hi-NRG and synth pop scenes of the 90s were deeply intertwined with acts like Frankie Goes To Hollywood and New Order dipping into both sides. But the core of the Hi-NRG scene was the gay bdsm club culture of the 80s. And they were not ashamed or trying to play it coy or anything. Just check out these song titles-- It's Raining Men by The Weathergirls, Menergy by Patrick Cowley, Megatron Man also by Patrick Cowley and released the same year as Menergy! Man 2 Man released a song called Male Stripper. Everything good about the 80s belongs to gay black men and drag queens. Where was I?

Ok so the takeaway is that these songs were very intense, rigid, ryhthmically focused tracks and it was an inevitability that DJs would want to start playing around with the instrumentals. So we return to Larry Levan whose focus on synth heavy beats would go on to influence DJs to start playing with melodic synths and samples. Samplers started to become more affordable and specialized in the 80s and they let producers really transform a track. In comes Franky Knuckles, a close friend⁸ of Larry Levan. A Chicago gay club called The Warehouse hired him as a regular DJ and he gained popularity bumping disco and Hi-NRG music. As disco was entering its death throes Knuckles started playing around with tracks to reinvigorate old songs. Looping intros, beat switches, sampling. More and more the instrumental became the centerpiece with vocal samples being relegated to just another instrument in the mix. This new genre of music would bear the name of the club it originated at. House music was born.

As house was becoming a force to be reckoned with another titan rose from the primordial disco soup-- Techno. Where the house scene preferred the melodic elements of Hi-NRG tracks a trio from Detroit would start to strip down tracks to their bare ryhthmic essentials. Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, and Juan Atkins. Anyone who has ever listened to EDM has certainly heard a track made by, or that samples one of these artists. Hell I'd wager that anyone who has ever listened to a 90s DJ mix has heard the song Strings Of Life by Derrick May. The early Detroit techno scene was a mix of four on the floor Hi-NRG beats with early hip hop and kraftwerk influences thrown in. A lot of these early tracks actually used vocoders for vocals and these more kraftwerk inspired tracks with vocals are usually lumped into the electro subgenre. A lot of early electro was literally just Juan Atkins under various pseudonyms. Cybotron, 3MB, Model 500, Channel One, and Infinity are all Juan Atkins projects. The other two Detroit techno originators-- Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May had a stronger tendency to be actively influenced by Frankie Knuckles and the house scene to the point where a lot of their late 80s-90s work is more house than techno. By the 90s the two sounds had blended a bit until the standard techno sound had brought some of the thumping bass of house and dropped Electro's fascination with Kraftwerk but kept the mechanical rigidity.

Internet experts and armchair art aficionados will argue back and forth about the precise elements that separate house and techno, but aside from the tendency for house to emphasize harmonic elements and techno to prefer the purely rhythmic the only real meaningful difference is that house is from Chicago and techno is from Detroit. What about artists that are from neither? Good luck. There is a lot of crossover and the further you go the more you realize that house and techno are cousins who have been fucking nonstop and producing weirder and weirder offspring. Is it deep house or ambient techno?⁹ Is tech house a subgenre of techno or house?¹⁰ As an expert on the subject I can only answer these with about 70% accuracy so don't worry about it. Just trust that if someone says they're showing you house it will be house and if they say techno it will be techno.¹¹

In order to get to jungle we are going to have to take several detours. The first stop is going to be a short jump back to house music and an influential track by DJ Pierre under the moniker Phuture called Acid Tracks. DJ Pierre had purchased an unpopular bass synth called the Roland TB-303. The 303 was a synth with a less than stellar default sound so, and I'm just gonna quote DJ Pierre himself here "we didn’t know how to programme it. We had it synched up, and it was playing some stuff, and I started just tweaking knobs and turning stuff" The resulting track had a squelchy sound which emphasized textural modulation of a steady bassline. Pierre and cohorts were Chicago natives, but the acid sound would take off hardest across the pond where it became the defining sound of the Manchester and London rave scenes. UK rave would push the intensity of the tracks harder while adding extra bells and whistles. Like literally lots of bell and whistles noises. And sirens, hell of a lotta sirens. But most importantly were the breakbeats. Instrumental segments from funk and soul tracks sped up and looped have always been essential but one particular drum break would go on to redefine electronic music. We are now pulling the pin we put in Amen Brother by The Winstons way back at the start of this saga. The seven second drum break in the middle of the song became the foundation on which jungle was built.

So we have two bars of a normal funk beat, then in the third bar the last drum kick is dropped and the snare hit is delayed. The fourth measure partially inverts the beat to create a highly syncopated rhythm. The beat has a natural hiccup in the end of the third measure that creates a nice texture when sped up and it can be very cleanly cut up and rearranged. It has been used in everything. Every fucking thing. Straight Outta Compton by NWA, Firestarter by The Prodigy, Eyeless by Slipknot, the theme songs to Futurama and The Powerpuff Girls. It pops up anywhere and everywhere.

So when we take acid house, dub, and the Amen break and stir it all up into one pot in the UK rave scene you get jungle. Deep languid dub basslines with high energy breakbeats with the gritty modulated synths of acid. It was a moodier sound than previous types of club music and I'll spare you the essay about Thatcherite England and just say that socioeconomic situations made that an appealing style to British clubgoers. Eventually jungle became popular enough that major record labels were interested in signing electronic artists for the first time. And if you know anything about the relationship between the arts and mainstream audiences then you know that this is the end of jungle. By the mid 90s many prominent jungle artists including Roni Size, A Guy Called Gerald, and 4hero had started to strip down their music removing much of the dub and rave influences and trending towards faster breaks with simpler basslines. This new style was called drum & bass. The new style was less danceable than jungle but the records sold better among general¹² audiences so by the end of the 90s jungle had almost completely died out in favor of drum & bass. The fact that the slightly less club friendly genre had beat out a titan of the rave scene caused a bit of bad blood that was only exacerbated by the negative reputation that was being unfairly heaped on the jungle scene. And that is why, while few care if you mistake techno and house, mixing up jungle and dnb is a death sentence in certain circles.

I'm cutting it here. I've barely touched on rave, hardcore, hardstyle, gabber, trance, and other club music. I could go on about the history of dubstep and how we just completely ruined it when it came to the US. Brian Eno and the development of ambient music. The development of breakcore and digital hardcore. There's just so much, but the point of all this was basically just to explain why it's a faux pas to mistake jungle and dnb. I could teach a college course on this. I should be allowed to teach a college course on this. I want to get paid to teach a college course on this. Ok bye, remember you asked for this.

¹Pronounced /ˈmoʊɡ/ MOHG like the Elden Ring boss not /'muːg/ like a weird cow might say

²I could write forever about how this much maligned offshoot of funk is both an enjoyable genre of music and essential for appreciating black and LGBTQ culture. But other users have gone over it at least as well as I could so I'll just leave this as an annoying footnote

³google "even temperament" if you want to know more. It's really interesting!

⁴first known named composer, polymath, and psychedelic substance expert. Hildy is my medieval waifu~~

⁵truly the first "rock" musician

⁶an outright lie on my part, but I've already written ~800 words and I'm barely past Disco so let's move on

⁷forgive my second outright lie, it was merely the first commercially available digital synth. The first digital synthesizer is technically the IBM-704 from 1957

⁸I can find no evidence that they were in a relationship, but Levan was an out and proud gay man and Knuckles played to almost exclusively gay audiences so it's not a stretch

⁹easy really if it sounds like half the instrument are missing it's ambient techno, if it sounds like the whole track has been put through a low pass filter it's deep house

¹⁰house

¹¹and if they say dubstep then you are about to hear a bastardized American strain of riddim and tearout that has only the most strenuous connection to actual dubstep

¹²lets be real I mean white

[stevenstudios]

The Sims 4 | "Cinematic Realistic Talking" Animation Pack

New Ultra Realistic Cinematic Talking Pack with several emotions, perfect loop to bring reality and expression for your scenes!

• 5 Loopable Animations

 • Realistic Talking Theme

• The Sims 4 Animations

 • Realistic Expressions based on the game.

• Perfect Loop without errors.

T.O.U

•You can use the animation on whatever visual/video or creative project you make.

ALL ANIMATIONS (BODY AND FACE) ARE RECORDED AND PERFORMED BY ME WITH A MOTION CAPTURE SUIT, 100 ORIGINAL. DON'T REPRODUCE OR REPOST IT.

DOWNLOAD

[not-the-dum-e]

Let me start with: nobody does it like Key.

I don't fully know how to articulate what I mean by that, and that in and of itself, says something to me.

Pleasure Shop

The rap. Now, I know very little about rap, but this is good, I can feel it.

The melodic way in which he performs it, melds perfectly with the rest of the song.

Where a lot of times in kpop it feels like rap verses have a "break for rap" if you will, which is not bad, mind you; this one feels like it has been built up to slowly, and it fades back into the song in such a way that it doesn't stand out even if it feels like a highlight.

But I love the way I didn't realize we got to the rap section of the song till midway through it, and it's a long section, too.

Following Tongue Tied with this, just... I wanna scream into my fist, it's so good. Really loopable.

The way that every section smoothly moves into the next is so nice, and even though the beat is very repetitive, it has enough variation throughout that it does not get boring or annoying.

Next, this is more about the mv but the fact that the dancers were highlighted instead of bringing in models or actors... my heart (⁠｡⁠ﾉ⁠ω⁠＼⁠｡⁠)

Since we are talking about the mv, the concept is so good, I might try to do a breakdown for the mv later.

Overthink

I can't wait to see a performance of this, I know I can watch fancams, but I haven't watched one yet.

I love that little synth... arpeggio? riff? over the bass, wish it was longer though, I feel like it could have another minute or so.

The way he uses different contrasting tones for different parts of the song is just so charming, and just gives the song such a trippy kind of feel, that, and that wubby bass and the synth.

Golden

This sounds so sweet and bright, truly has a golden hour type of feel. I always look forward to that warm tone he uses for songs like this; like Sunny Side, it has this comforting effect on me that I can't quite describe.

The percussion really catches my ear on this one, I feel like it has a lot of variation, all in all, really nice.

I Know

His vocals really are the focus of this one, it's similar to Overthink, but it's stripped down, I think.

I really like how it moves back and forth from lower tones to higher ones, and how his vocals are contrasting to the backing track. Like at parts the instrumental goes low, and the vocal line goes high, and vice versa and then meet again.

Going Up

This might be my favourite, the one I was most excited for from the highlight clip, and it did not disappoint.

I am addicted to his lower register. And paired with the shifts into falsetto for the "we're going up" *chef's kiss*

It has that sort of spacious, dark feeling that's hypnotic, for lack of a better word. Like it's pulling me somewhere, don't know where, but I wanna live in it.

The bass and synth, actually, not just in this but in all the album, but specially on this one, are just on point. I really love the soundscape. It scratches my brain in all the right ways.

Having said that, I think this is going to be a running complaint on my part (and I know I'm not alone on this) but, it's too short.

I want another two minutes of this song.

Novacaine

I really like the lyrics, it won't take Helium's crown for my fave eng Key song or second place from Imagine, but it's a good song.

The title makes me think of FOB, but I like this one more that I like theirs? Although this one is misspelled

If I have to compare it to the only other Lauv song I have ever heard, which is Lay's Run Back to You (and I like that one), I like Novacaine better. Don't know if it is Key's input or what, but there is something that I feel only he could do. I love the way he delivers the lines.

I wonder if the lyrics were written for him specifically, or with him in mind, because it's very Key? Like thematically it reminds me a bit of G.O.A.T., and has that melancholic, nostalgic feel of This Life.

Like in Golden, his vocals have that warm, deep quality to them, but this one is sadder, like a misery loves company kind of thing; Finding comfort in knowing you are not the only one that feels this way.

Reminds me a bit of Hold On too, don't ask me why cause idk.

I love that he is embracing his natural tone a lot more in this album and in Tongue Tied, and the way he is using it as the building block for the songs and using the higher and lower tones, and falsetto as embellishments. It makes his sound so much more distinct and unique.

It feels like he has honed in the finer details of his style.

Also I love how all the songs flow into the next, it's really nice.

Touring has done wonders for his vocals too, I feel like he levelled up for this album.

His vocals were good to begin with, but he has this richness to his sound now that comes through so much more, his voice feels a lot fuller even in the recording.

I was so fascinated watching fancams from the first Keyland On: and On and just how much better he got by this last one. Truly, he is meant to do live performances.

I hope I can see him live one day, same for the rest of SHINee hehe

If there is one thing I can say about Key's solo discography, aside from he doesn't miss (which ofc he's SHINee); Is that he has such a coherent evolution from era to era, from album to album, there is always a nod to past releases, a thread through sound and the fact that he is including his JP discography on that thread. Tongue Tied just fits perfectly with this.

I'm always really excited to see where he goes with every new release, and he hasn't disappointed me so far, this is no different💖💖💖💖💖

[thoughtfullyraggedpsion]

From Screen to Stream: How Social Platforms Are Redefining Entertainment

In 2025, the boundaries between content creation, consumption, and monetization have blurred beyond recognition. Social media, once merely a space for personal expression and connection, has evolved into a dominant force that dictates the pulse of global entertainment. From bite-sized vertical videos that command billions of daily views to AI-generated influencers captivating digital audiences, the entertainment industry is undergoing a foundational shift—one led by the innovation and agility of social platforms.

Businessinfopro explores the digital media trends that are defining this transformation and how social media platforms are reshaping the entertainment landscape in real-time.

The Creator Economy Matures

The creator economy, valued at over $500 billion globally by early 2025, has transitioned from an emerging niche to a structured, influential sector. With platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat offering increasingly advanced monetization tools, content creators now resemble full-fledged media companies. Brand partnerships, live-streaming revenue, merchandise integrations, and subscription-based content have empowered creators to build businesses independent of traditional studios or networks.

In a significant shift, platforms have begun treating top creators as strategic partners rather than just users. Meta, for example, recently announced equity-sharing deals with select creators, acknowledging their value as long-term content assets. YouTube has expanded its revenue-sharing model across Shorts, placing it in direct competition with TikTok for the vertical video crown.

For entertainment brands, the implications are clear: collaborating with creators is no longer a marketing experiment—it's a core part of content strategy.

Short-Form Video Becomes the New Standard

Short-form video has solidified its place as the dominant format across nearly all platforms. What began with TikTok’s meteoric rise has now influenced content delivery on YouTube (Shorts), Instagram (Reels), X (formerly Twitter), and even LinkedIn, which introduced vertical video stories earlier this year tailored for thought leadership and B2B storytelling.

The power of short-form lies not just in its brevity but in its algorithmic precision. Machine learning enables personalized content delivery that keeps users engaged and glued to screens. In many cases, these videos act as gateways—driving traffic to long-form content, live events, or e-commerce sites. They are also being used as testing grounds, where performance data helps content creators and studios decide which ideas are worth developing further.

For media houses, adapting to this format has become essential. Traditional trailers and TV commercials are being reimagined as dynamic, loopable micro-narratives designed for scrolling audiences with ever-shortening attention spans.

Social Streaming Eclipses Traditional Platforms

In 2025, entertainment increasingly begins not with a studio or network but on a live stream or shared story. Platforms like Twitch and YouTube Live have expanded well beyond gaming, becoming hubs for music launches, celebrity Q&As, talk shows, and real-time fan engagement. Even newer platforms like Kick and Discord-integrated streaming are finding niche audiences hungry for community-centered, live experiences.

This trend has led to the rise of social-first shows—serialized, platform-native content tailored for mobile viewing. These shows often rely on direct fan interaction, with viewer comments and real-time polls influencing plot twists, casting decisions, and even product placements.

Media companies are taking note. Major studios now allocate dedicated budgets for content developed solely for digital audiences. In 2025, exclusive premieres on platforms like Instagram Live or TikTok Events are not outliers—they are core release strategies.

AI-Generated Content and Virtual Influencers Go Mainstream

Artificial intelligence has moved from backstage to the spotlight. AI-generated music, scripts, and even characters have become common in digital entertainment. What began with tools like ChatGPT and DALL·E has matured into fully autonomous content studios, capable of generating episodic content with minimal human oversight.

Virtual influencers like Lil Miquela or FN Meka have paved the way for a new generation of AI personalities that interact with followers, endorse products, and star in brand campaigns—often outperforming their human counterparts in engagement metrics. Platforms have begun developing frameworks to regulate and label AI-generated content, signaling its growing dominance.

Entertainment companies now invest in AI character franchises—animated or photorealistic avatars that live across platforms, have their own personalities, and produce content 24/7. These characters can be instantly localized, never need time off, and come with none of the unpredictability of real-world celebrities.

Interactive and Immersive Storytelling Takes Center Stage

With the proliferation of AR and VR capabilities on mobile devices, social media has embraced immersive storytelling as a new engagement layer. Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat continue to lead with augmented reality filters and world lenses, but now these tools are being used for more than visual gimmicks—they’re part of narrative arcs.

In 2025, fans don't just watch a story; they enter it. Whether through 3D concert experiences in Meta’s Horizon Worlds, interactive mysteries on TikTok, or mixed-reality storytelling through AR glasses, entertainment is becoming participatory. Consumers are no longer passive viewers—they’re co-creators.

This participatory model also extends to user-generated spinoffs. A popular dance challenge or remixable audio trend can organically extend the lifespan and reach of entertainment properties far beyond their original format. The best campaigns are no longer top-down but community-led, where the audience helps shape the narrative.

Platform Algorithms as Cultural Architects

Behind the scenes, algorithms have become the true architects of pop culture. What gets seen, shared, and celebrated is increasingly determined by platform recommendation engines. These algorithms don’t just follow cultural trends—they create them.

For example, TikTok’s “For You” page is now considered one of the most influential spaces in the entertainment ecosystem. A viral moment here can launch careers, revive old songs, or propel indie films into mainstream consciousness. As platforms refine these algorithms with behavioral and contextual data, the ability to predict and manufacture virality becomes more potent.

Entertainment marketers are investing heavily in algorithmic optimization—testing different thumbnails, keywords, hooks, and formats to align with each platform’s invisible rules. Success is no longer just about creative quality, but also about platform fluency.

Social Commerce and Shoppable Entertainment

The convergence of entertainment and e-commerce is one of the most commercially impactful trends in 2025. Social platforms now integrate seamless shopping experiences within content, enabling viewers to buy products directly from a video, livestream, or creator page.

Influencers and content creators have become retail curators, guiding audience purchasing decisions through authentic content. Whether it's a fashion haul, tech gadget review, or home décor tutorial, every piece of content has the potential to drive direct sales.

Platforms are now integrating AI-driven product tagging, real-time inventory tracking, and affiliate commission management, turning every post into a potential storefront. For entertainment brands, merchandise drops, event tickets, and digital collectibles (NFTs) are now part of the viewing experience—not an afterthought.

A Decentralized Entertainment Ecosystem

Lastly, 2025 marks a growing decentralization in entertainment. The power once concentrated in Hollywood studios and record labels is now dispersed among thousands of creators, micro-networks, and digital communities. Blockchain technology, while quieter in the hype cycle, continues to provide decentralized content ownership, transparent royalties, and creator-controlled monetization models.

This means fans can support their favorite creators directly, buy fractional ownership in future music releases, or even vote on storylines and production decisions. The entertainment world has become more democratic, and more unpredictable—favoring agility over legacy.

Read Full Article : https://businessinfopro.com/digital-media-trends-2025-social-platforms-reshape-entertainment/

Visit Now: https://businessinfopro.com/

#DigitalMedia2025 #CreatorEconomy #SocialEntertainment #AIinMedia #ShortFormRevolution

[vividxp]

Have a few covers of "Snowdin Town" from the Undertale soundtrack. It does have a wintertime/christmas vibe without being overly on the nose about it.

The first cover is a really nice harp performance. Relaxing and loopable.

The second is a fantastic brass arrangement that takes the original and really does some really epic things with it. It takes you on a journey, you literally feel like you went on some Christmas adventure by the end of it.

Here is the original:

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] Track publishers were on a spending spree in recent times, purchasing the catalogs and copyrights for songs of well-known musicians at a frantic tempo. Final December, Common Track Publishing Workforce purchased up in a deal estimated at greater than $300 million. In a similar fashion, to Number one Wave Track for an estimated $100 million that very same month. However as all this cash adjustments arms for the business’s greatest stars, one songwriting startup has plans to open the firehose of tune royalties to the everyman. “You notice those large offers, just like the Bob Dylan care for the publishing rights and all this cash,” Alex Mitchell, co-founder and CEO of Boomy informed Engadget. “It began with a popularity that the general public are going to be disregarded of that and it brought about us to have a dialog about fairness within the tune business, 'how will we quite remunerate artists, what is the function of labels,' there is simply chaos taking place within the tune business at this time.” Mitchell learned that one primary impediment holding novice musicians from changing into revealed musicians used to be a technological one. , and educating oneself methods to navigate the hyper-granular keep watch over schemes of professional-grade DAWs (virtual audio workstations) like Ableton Are living or Professional Equipment can take months, if now not years, to totally grasp. However what should you had an AI-based co-writer to maintain the heavy technical lifting as a substitute, very similar to what Tik Tok and Instagram do for his or her creators? “We actually began having a look at what it takes to attract creativity out of any person, what sort of instrument are you able to put of their arms — the place there is such a lot of the method that is semi- or fully-automated — that they are able to simply upload their very own layer of humanity to it.” What they got here up with used to be . “There is already AI being utilized in studios and within the tune advent procedure,” Mitchell mentioned. “A really perfect instance of that is . They've used synthetic intelligence so as to create nice mixes, put nice ultimate polish on tracks, such things as that.” “So what we have performed is we have taken a large number of the ones ideas and we have rewritten these items from the bottom up,” he persisted. “[It’s] much less to consider how other people generally make tune, and extra within the context of, if any person does not have any abilities in any respect, how briskly are we able to get them making some stuff that they suspect is beautiful cool?” The internet-based app is, necessarily, a one-button tune studio. Customers can compose wholly authentic songs in round 5 to ten mins just by clicking Create Tune from the homepage, settling on the specified taste of beat — whether or not that’s rap, lo-fi, experimental or “world grooves” — after which fidgeting with the composition and blend till they’re glad. That tune can then be uploaded to any of 40-plus streaming and social platforms the place the tune’s creator can earn royalties in line with the collection of instances their tune is performed. Embedded underneath is a loopable, meditative jingle I put in combination all the way through the process my analysis. Regardless of my inherent loss of rhythm and common disinterest in tune manufacturing, I discovered this to be a fairly enjoyable and relaxing revel in. After opting for the underlying beat and ready a half-minute for the AI to generate a combination, the manufacturing procedure in large part concerned simply shuffling icons round to regulate the composition and fidgeting with dropdown menus to the device units till I were given one thing that I preferred and assume vaguely resembles the Konami menu display screen tune I grew up with. All of the procedure took lower than 10 mins. In contrast to recurrent neural community research fashions akin to OpenAI or Google’s Magenta which, for instance, can analyze Michael

Jackson songs so as to recreate the King of Pop’s signature sound, Boomy isn't skilled on copyrighted works. That is due partly on account of the highly-segmented nature of copyright regulation, which varies significantly between international locations and territories, but additionally on account of the black field nature of such programs. If is any barometer, there's all the time a possibility (albeit tiny) that a machine skilled on Michael Jackson would possibly randomly spit out a super game of “.” And that’s very dangerous for the machine’s clothier. “If I am a tune writer and I personal the rights to Michael Jackson,” Mitchell mentioned. “I am going to have a look at that fashion I am gonna say ‘nice, you understand what, that is all mine’… if you are making a duplicate of any person else's paintings, although it is reworked, you are more than likely going to owe some publishing on that.’” As a substitute, the workforce is taking a backside up way, leveraging earlier revel in in A&R analysis to coach its AI in development beats and compositions from scratch. “We have now some actually complex algorithms which can be doing computerized blending, deciding what sound must cross in combination — what are the options of the ones sounds, how do the ones have compatibility in combination, what's the perceived loudness charge of the ones sounds,” Mitchell defined. The ones options grew from a brute-force building way — striking in combination quite a lot of mixtures of beats and compositions, then presenting them to beta testers. “In our first iteration of our fashion had a 98-percent rejection charge, however a 2-percent keep charge,” he persisted. “And in that 2 %, over hundreds of thousands of periods, we began pronouncing, ‘ok, listed here are teams of options that cross neatly in combination.’” Mitchell doesn’t view Boomy merely as a tune advent instrument, however as a method to succeed in “​​the perfect global that we need to create," one which might permit creators anyplace on the earth to sign in themselves as a co-writer in their paintings along Boomy at their native publishing rights group. On the other hand, as a result of copyright regulation varies from nation to nation, Boomy has established another option to make certain that songwriters receives a commission for his or her ingenious works. “So what we are pronouncing here's, an actual global instance can be, we simply constructed a tune studio, we stuffed it with nice apparatus, and spent hundreds of thousands of bucks development the studio,” Mitchell informed Engadget. “You'll are available in and use it without spending a dime, make no matter you need, and to your method out, we are assigning you to our label, and we are going to come up with an 80 % rev percentage on the whole lot we gather from what you made within the studio.” “The IP vests with us,” he persisted, noting that Boomy has been used to create greater than 3 million songs up to now, “which if truth be told makes us, mockingly, the most important report label on the planet.” For customers who're both already established musicians or differently need to download sole possession in their songs, ”they are able to post a rights request, and we will principally both promote the copyright to them or come to a couple different association.” Whilst Mitchell may now not percentage actual figures with Engadget, he did estimate that within the two years since Boomy’s release, the corporate has paid out “tens of hundreds' ' of bucks in royalties to its consumer base. Transferring ahead, Mitchell foresees Boomy’s UI so as to add extra further keep watch over options and composition inputs, “over the following a number of months, we are actually gonna focal point and double down on vocal, melody and most sensible line,” he defined. The corporate could also be running on new how one can earn royalties for its customers. “We’ve were given a host of influencer teams covered up and we have been doing a little stuff at the back of the scenes to position tracks into YouTube movies,” Mitchell persisted.

“In case you are a author, or if you have got a podcast, fairly than cross pay for tune rights, why now not receives a commission for the tune that you are the use of?”All merchandise really useful by means of Engadget are decided on by means of our editorial workforce, impartial of our mum or dad corporate. A few of our tales come with associate hyperlinks. If you are going to buy one thing via any such hyperlinks, we might earn an associate fee. [ad_2]

[anambermusicbox]

這晚夜沒有吻別

Tonight there was no one to kiss me goodbye

Li Keqin and Zhou Shen perform Li Keqin’s classic “Half-Moon Serenade” 《月半小夜曲》 on episode 2 of Our Song 《我们的歌》

Bonus: 

“Will the original singer like how I sing it, there’s that sort of pressure-” 

“I like anything you sing :)”

[2bstudioblog]

Ed The Boxer - My entrance

2 years ago, I was on a dry spell. Not many things were coming for me despite I had a lot of experience writing music for some of the most major AAA-developers in Japan like Konami, Bandai Namco, Sega, Suda 51′s Grasshopper Manufacture and CAPCOM. I was hoping 2017 would be the year I would finally see some changes to my life.

I received a phone-call at the end of 2016, asking me if I wanted to work and write music for the introduction movie for Tekken 7 and I was so happy to hear that they would consider me. I did let them know about my holiday schedule and what days I would be outside Japan and I was promised that it would start once I got back home. But right before I left for my holidays as usual to Bali, a last minute cancellations happened and that my schedule conflicted with theirs.

I thought I’ve missed one of my biggest dreams of all time, to be one of the first Swedes to write music for a Tekken game of all time. (However, there was another Swedish band on the soundtrack who wrote and performed a song called “Vrede” (Wrath in english) for Lars Alexandersson’s character theme-song. But I didn’t know this until I heard the Swedish Radio P3 gameshow “P3 SPEL” with host Angelica Norgren, do an interview segment about the Swedes who ended up in writing music in Tekken 7. I don’t really go out looking for interviews, but I know I’ve been on nobody’s radar since working in Japan makes me and all the people I worked with a little bit paranoid due to all the NDA’s we have to sign once we start working on a project. That’s why I haven’t posted anything due to the process of that once I’m done producing a piece of music, it is no longer mine. It is the property of the client.

So I wasn’t sure how I would go about it since my major release of Resident Evil 6 and one of the most popular tunes from that game was Mercenaries, it went viral on YouTube. I didn’t feel I needed to pursue and tell them who wrote that song, because I’m so obviously hoping people were doing the re-search and credit the right people. But when I found out that they credited the wrong people, that’s when I thought: - “Somewhere, there got to be a limit, and when people are wrong about the sources and I have the original material to prove it, I should be able to call out for corrections of the YouTube material. I’m not doing it to boast myself, right should be right.”

It’s fun when people talk about music, but when the composer/producer doesn’t receive recognition, that’s where I say ENOUGH. It should be easy as breathing. That PERSON wrote THAT song.

It took 4 years to get my next biggest project since I finished Resident Evil 6. I missed the opportunity to write for Tekken 7. I felt I was down and out. 3 weeks earlier before I left for Bali, I receive a phonecall from a guy from an agency who’d like to talk to me, Mr. Ho. He wanted to ask me some stuff about how I do virtual orchestrations and what you should think about when you are doing those, he took notes and I thought it was a nice little chat. We didn’t talk much about any projects, but it was interesting. But little did I know it would bear fruit to something completely different.

Back in Japan after the missed opportunity to write the opening cinematic for Tekken 7, 2 weeks later I got another phone-call beginning with the words: -”Hey, it’s Mr. Ho. By the way, are you familiar with Street Fighter?” My eyebrows lifted up in a Roger Moore surprise look: -”Yeah, I played it all the way up to Street Fighter IV. How come?” -”The thing is, they are going to include a brand new character for the game. Are you interested, do you have time to have a look at it?” -”Sure, I really have NOTHING going on at the moment.” -”Great. They are actually look for some hip-hop music for this character. Do you have any songs of that nature that we can show them?” -”Well, actually no. But I can have something down within the next 3 hours. What do they have in mind?” The conversation kept going and then I was ready to just do the beat. Hip-hop is one of the most simplistic music styles out there. All you really need to care about are the instrument choices, the samples and how to make it sound heavy and snappy if required.

Within 3 hours I had a demo-ready hip-hop song. Team Street Fighter were actually very shocked about my quick result and said: -”This is the right direction. We like the initial approach, but it’s too close to the song you are listening too. Can you change it a little bit so we don’t get sued?” -”No problem. I’ll see what I can do to make the track really stand out.”

So they sent out the documents, some concept art about the character and a video. This was Ed. The Boxer. The experimental lab-rat from Balrog’s ending in SFIV.

How do you make a hip-hop track stand out? But how? Hip-hop is such a monotone music style, that dynamics doesn’t really exists in its loopable context. I needed to figure out a way to make this track sound more dynamic.

I kept looking for clues in the concept art, but I really had nothing more than the guy in red shoes, black-sports pants and a white shortsleeved hoodie to go on, but then it struck me. Hip-hop has always used orchestral samples. But nobody has done a hip-hop track that actually has a narrative orchestra going throughout the song to really make it dynamic. It was my time to shine. But I still needed to find a way to dirty down a few instruments. I felt that having an old-sounding gramophone piano would be the easiest way to fake an old-sample, but it was actually me performing the piano with an EQ’d in a RADIO/Telephone configuration. Then I added crackles from a vinyl bank from the Stylus RMX library and that pretty much sealed the effect for me. The rest was easy. I needed to make the orchestra sound as good as Don Davis’ one from The Matrix, if I could find the perfect blend between Hip-hop, orchestral and electronica, I felt I would hit the spot.

This was a gamble on my part, but it was the only logical way for me to make the track to stand out. I also changed the bass-line from that 8th beat rock-bass to a solid octave-sweeping synth-bass, reminiscent from my childhood. I remember Digital Underground and The Humpty Dance.(Remember, I was not a hip-hopper) The craziest thing though is that I think they did the right choice. Choosing someone who doesn’t do Hip-hop to create a hip-hop track, will ALWAYS sound UNIQUE. It’s the concept and I thank CAPCOM for their gamble and trust in me.

Now, I was 80% done with the track when I received the next request. -”We’re going to have vocals on this track.” My heart sank a little, because I’ve never really written a rap my entire life. :-”So if I understand you correctly, you want me, a Swedish countryside boy, to write a RAP to one of the most aggressive characters in the game....?”

There was a slight silence on the line but the voice came back on: -”Don’t worry about it. We got a guy who’s on the writing and the rapping. But just keep it in mind when you’re doing the background, ok?” -”Ok, no problem.”

The last 20% turns out that once I get the vocalist tracks into my project, I’ll be done. That was what I was missing. So I just waited. Just a day later I got 2 versions sent to me. But I told myself, if I hear the word FIST in there, it’s going to be a HIT. I was finally thinking like a Music Producer. I dropped the lines in at it’s correct starting points. Version A was playing. The word FIST comes out of my speakers and I was jumping up and down, thinking that IT was EXACTLY what THIS TRACK NEEDED. Did I dare listening to version B? I did another mix and I felt B was a little bit more laidback. As a final request before I was stemming down the final files I urged Capcom to go with Version A, because it was more aggressive and it felt more honest to the character. They agreed on my choice, told me to tell me to prep the files.

And there it was. My first and last song for SFV I thought. But 2 weeks later, I received another phone-call...

[bencemiklosi]

The photo looks very ridiculous, isn’t it? Well, to me this music sounds like an ideal song for a sports highlight video. Don’t ask me why, these are feelings and impressions that can’t be explained. When I came up with the idea on guitar, it just felt like this could be a good song for something where performance is in focus. Fast song, typical indie style, easily loopable, cool and also very realistic. So perfect for a sports highlight video, isn’t it?

Mixed and mastered by oliverfeccichif.

[stevenstudios]

The Sims 4 | "Idol Fame Red Carped MOD" Mega Animation Pack

Get the perfect RED CARPET REALNESS vibes! ⭐

• 15 Loopable Animations

• Idol/Paparazzi/Fame Themed

• The Sims 4 Animations • Realistic Expressions based on the game.

• Perfect Loop without errors.

T.O.U

•You can use the animation on whatever visual/video or creative project you make.

ALL ANIMATIONS (BODY AND FACE) ARE RECORDED AND PERFORMED BY ME WITH A MOTION CAPTURE SUIT, 100 ORIGINAL. DON'T REPRODUCE OR REPOST IT.

(Camera accessories included and needed.)

DOWNLOAD

[themepluginpro]

Download Abstract Modern Background 4K motion graphics on videohive

Description Abstract Modern Background 4K :

Download Abstract Modern Background 4K . The undertaking releases on Tuesday 2nd February 2021 By The author vjbackground on videohive. It’s Tagged with 3d,summary,animation,background,Christmas,laptop graphic,live performance,crystal,dice,diamond,disco,dj,laser,gentle,magic,motion graphics,music,New Year,ray,render,shiny,video,video wall. Project Title: Abstract Modern Background 4K Category: motion-graphics/backgrounds/summary Price: $9 Creator: vjbackground Publish Date: Tuesday 2nd February 2021 02:57:51 PM More Info / Download

4K Ultra HD 3840×2160.

Seamlessly Loopable.

More Info / Download #Abstract #Modern #Background

[emilydaisyanimation]

Introduction to Principles of Animation 3 - 20th November

Today, we were introduced to the set of animations that should take us right the way up to mid december, leaving us work-free before christmas. I, for one, am pleased these principles are finally coming to a close, excited to see what we have next.

This list of exercises is the shortest yet, but this is made up for by some of them beign quite long. Additionally, one of the exercises, being the 3D box, is being left until after christmas, giving us an even shorter workload. Once again, they surround stick characters and making them move, which I find exponentially more fun than squashing boxes.

From the brief, key details are pasted below for this project:

Secondary action is a smaller element of acting or performance that adds interest to the primary action of your character or animated object. For example, a walking character may be flicking a coin in the air or eating an apple. The primary action is the walk, the secondary action is the coin toss. The secondary action should never dominate, it should add information to further highlight the emotion, mood or acting performance of the character Solid drawing is an understanding of character shape, form and volume. Maintaining consistent volume, relative proportions and  understanding of the object’s 3-dimensional form is vital to good  character-based object animation. These basic and essential skills can  be transferred to any object or character. Appeal –The design and  performance of the object within a scene must be attractive to an  audience. ‘Straight Ahead’ and ‘Pos  to Pose’ are terms describing methods of drawn animation production. Straight Ahead refers to a consecutive frame by frame method of drawing. Pose to Pose methods ‘block out’ key moments of an action and then ‘fill in the gaps’. Both methods can be used in the same sequence depending on the required  action. Effects animation is often animated ‘Straight Ahead’. Action  closely synchronised to pre-recorded sound is often,  but not exclusively, Pose to Pose.

The above sequences must be produced as digital 2D animation or as stop motion sequences using an appropriate phone app, saved and exported as individual MP4 files at 1920  x  1080 resolution and H.264 compression. All animation must cycle a few times and the exported sequence must be ‘loopable’, ie:the final frame must match the first frame, except for exercise 6.  

Submission deadline:  15th December 2020 (AMENDED)

-------------------  

Following this lesson, since I anticipate the rest of the semester’s lessons to simply be an opportunity to get some help or an update on our progress, I won’t be writing entries for each specific lesson, unless they provide us with something new or different to work with. I will simply be showing my progress with the Principles of Animation exercises and anything that I research or that inspires me. My aim for the   principles themselves will be to finish whichever principle I begin on any given day, on the same day, meaning update posts or progress posts will come all in one go.  

[toddbotblog]

Album / Show Announcement: The new Oahu double album “Slow Waves & Simple Sounds” will be available for purchase this week! On July 6 I’ll be performing an Oahu set kicking off the Masters of Machines Fest at Taphouse in Norfolk, VA which will also serve as the launch point for this new collection of music! I’m VERY excited about the release as it is TWO DISCS: the first is “Slow Waves” - an all new album I made using source sounds provided by my friend John Dieterich from @deerhoof which I manipulated and accompanied with modular synthesizer and tape - and the second is “Simple Sounds” - 40 loopable tracks selected from over four years worth of the #dailybleeps project! John mastered both albums, which are being co-released by my own Second House imprint and my dear friends at @hardingstreet09 STAY TUNED for ordering/streaming info! If you’re in the area, I hope to see you on the 6th ❤️ #recordcover #music #ambient #experimental #modularsynthesizer #quiet #lowfi #albumart #oahu #757 #757events #norfolkva #virginiabeach #recordrelease #mastersofmachines @taphousenorfolk https://www.instagram.com/p/BzYhejCh0Gw/?igshid=1qhj60wzmp4oj

[prostheticknowledge]

Responsive Action-based Video Synthesis

Research from University College London can prepare video for interactive playback, segmenting key visual areas which can be customized:

We propose technology to enable a new medium of expression, where video elements can be looped, merged, and triggered, interactively. Like audio, video is easy to sample from the real world but hard to segment into clean reusable elements. Reusing a video clip means non-linear editing and compositing with novel footage. The new context dictates how carefully a clip must be prepared, so our end-to-end approach enables previewing and easy iteration.

We convert static-camera videos into loopable sequences, synthesizing them in response to simple end-user requests. This is hard because a) users want essentially semantic-level control over the synthesized video content, and b) automatic loop-finding is brittle and leaves users limited opportunity to work through problems. We propose a human-in-the-loop system where adding effort gives the user progressively more creative control. Artists help us evaluate how our trigger interfaces can be used for authoring of videos and video-performances.

More Here

[nancygduarteus]

The Hack That Created an Underground Market for Old Medical Devices

One day last June, Doug Boss pulled into a police station parking lot to meet a stranger from Craigslist. His purpose: to buy used insulin pumps. Boss has type 1 diabetes, and he relies on a small pump attached to his body to deliver continuous doses of insulin that keep him alive.

To be clear, he didn’t need to buy used medical equipment on Craigslist. Boss, who is 55 and works in IT in Texas, has health insurance. He even has a new, in-warranty pump sitting at home. But he was thrilled to find on Craigslist a coveted old model made by the medical-device company Medtronic and discontinued years ago. What makes these outdated Medtronic pumps so desirable is, ironically, a security flaw. Boss was looking for a pump or two he could hack.

He’s not the only one. In 2014, a few hackers realized that the security flaw in certain Medtronic pumps could be exploited for a DIY revolution. Type 1 diabetes is a disease where the pancreas is unable to produce insulin to control blood sugar. For years, Boss had counted, down to the gram, the carbohydrates in every meal and told his pump how much insulin to dispense. Every cup of coffee (more insulin), every brisk walk (less insulin) turned into a math problem with serious consequences: Extremely high or low blood sugar can both be fatal. The healthy pancreas does these “calculations” to adjust insulin automatically, and for decades researchers have worked toward creating an artificial pancreas that can do the same.

By 2014, the hardware components of a DIY artificial pancreas—a small insulin pump that attaches via thin disposable tubing to the body and a continuous sensor for glucose, or sugar, that slips just under the skin—were available, but it was impossible to connect the two. That’s where the security flaw came in. The hackers realized they could use it to override old Medtronic pumps with their own algorithm that automatically calculates insulin doses based on real-time glucose data. It closed the feedback loop.

They shared this code online as OpenAPS, and “looping,” as it’s called, began to catch on. Instead of micromanaging their blood sugar, people with diabetes could offload that work to an algorithm. In addition to OpenAPS, another system called Loop is now available. Dozens, then hundreds, and now thousands of people are experimenting with DIY artificial-pancreas systems—none of which the Food and Drug Administration has officially approved. And they’ve had to track down discontinued Medtronic pumps. It can sometimes take months to find one.

Obviously, you can’t just call up Medtronic to order a discontinued pump with a security flaw. “It’s eBay, Craigslist, Facebook. It’s like this underground market for these pumps,” says Aaron Kowalski, CEO of JDRF, a nonprofit that funds type 1 diabetes research. This is not exactly how a market for lifesaving medical devices is supposed to work. And yet, this is the only way it can work—for now.

By the time Boss decided to try looping, he had not gotten a good night’s sleep in a decade. Every night, the alarm on his glucose monitor would go off when his blood sugar dipped too low or climbed too high. He’d wake up, do math with a sleep-fogged brain, and either eat a snack or give himself extra insulin. Like many patients with type 1 diabetes, he was sacrificing sleep to stay alive.

OpenAPS changed that. To start looping with OpenAPS, Boss did also need to buy a mini computer called Edison. The Edison receives data wirelessly from his continuous glucose monitor, runs an algorithm to predict future blood sugar, and tells the insulin pump how much to dispense every five minutes to prevent highs and lows. Boss could choose to monitor everything through his phone. But at night, he simply slept. “The sheer idea that I have a chance to sleep through the night ... ” he marveled to me. So many other loopers I spoke with echoed the sentiment. Jeremy Pettus, another looper, used to keep apple juice by his bed to guard against perilously low blood sugar. “One day my wife was like, ‘We haven’t bought you apple juice in a long time,’” he says. “That burden of having a dangerous low in the middle of my night completely disappeared.”

The looping algorithm makes these corrections throughout the day, too. Laura Nally, another looper, described to me how she had always planned out her life hours in advance: Would she be walking a lot at work that day? Eating a meal in a couple hours? Taking a hot shower that could affect insulin absorption? “You’re always thinking, ‘What is the next thing I’m going to be doing?’” she says. With Loop, she still uses an app on her phone to tell the algorithm when she’s eating. (Same with OpenAPS, which is why both systems are technically “hybrid” closed systems rather than fully closed.) But if she is off by a few grams of carbohydrates or walks a little bit more than she expects, Loop can easily make real-time corrections. “Every decision we make we’re trying to hit a bullseye. With Loop, all I’m trying to do is get the dart on the board,” explains Erik Douds, who also uses Loop to manage his type 1 diabetes.

Users of Loop have to carry around an extra device called the RileyLink (in white) that translates the iPhone’s signals to the Medtronic insulin pump and vice versa. To make she didn’t lose it, Laura Nally decided to attach her RileyLink directly to her phone case. (Laura Nally)

Loop and OpenAPS users tend to be a pretty self-selecting bunch, as the systems require buying your own equipment out of pocket and following detailed set-up instructions. It also comes with a bit of a learning curve. But according to one small study and many, many anecdotes, looping is, when done properly, both safe and better than a human brain at managing blood sugar. As the good word about looping spread, demand for the few compatible models of Medtronic pumps has swelled.

Early on, loopers were often able to find old, compatible Medtronic pumps sitting unused in their own closets or a friend’s. Boss had actually gotten his first Medtronic pump from a cousin’s daughter before upgrading to a bigger version he found on Craigslist. Pettus, himself an endocrinologist, got his from a young woman who was his patient. “I have a cute little purple pump,” he says. Douds got his from a friend and looping evangelist who he stayed with while traveling across the country. But when Nally wanted to start looping last year, she was living in the Bay Area, full of tech-savvy early adopters, and everyone she knew with a compatible Medtronic pump was already a looper. She was wary of buying one from a stranger online. Luckily, she ended up winning one of the periodic raffles for a loopable Medtronic pump in an online diabetes group. That’s how coveted the pumps have become.

[Read: ]My pacemaker is tracking me from inside my body

An underlying security flaw is still the reason looping is possible with Medtronic pumps. (Would-be loopers are even told to watch out for old pumps whose software have been upgraded to fix the flaw.) The security issue doesn’t bother Boss, whose day job is in IT. There’s a tiny, theoretical risk that someone who knows his pump’s serial number and gets physically close can take over. But, he says, “If I drink coffee in the morning and forget to enter it into my phone, my blood sugar is going to be higher than normal.” The everyday risk of making such a mistake outweighs the remote risk of someone else hacking his pump.

A spokesperson for Medtronic wrote in a statement, “Patient safety is our first priority, and intentional device modifications can adversely impact device performance and put patient safety at risk. Medtronic strongly discourages intentional device modification of our insulin-pump systems.”

In the absence of official customer support, loopers have come to rely on each other. Rebecca Vitale told me the only reason she hasn’t quit Facebook is because she uses a group for Loop tech help. (Vitale is also friends with my partner.) From the group, she learned to cover her Medtronic pump in packing tape. The compatible Medtronic pumps, unlike newer models, are not waterproof, and their buttons are especially finicky around moisture. The packing tape keeps it just a bit more sweat and waterproof. It’s a hack around a hack.

Like many loopers, Rebecca Vitale put packing tape on her Medtronic pump to protect it from moisture. (Rebecca Vitale)

The looping community is so tight-knit that the person who wrote the code is sometimes the person answering questions. Hilary Koch, whose son loops, remembers spending two hours on the phone with one of the creators of OpenAPS. She tries to do her part, too. “How you give back is, if you see somebody ask a question you know you can answer, you answer it,” she says. Boss also scours eBay for Edisons, which have since been discontinued, and has given a few to people who want to loop, in return for a small donation to Nightscout, another open-source project used with OpenAPS to remotely access glucose data.

When the creators of OpenAPS, Dana Lewis and Scott Leibrand, shared their code back in 2015, they did so for free. They weren’t in it for money, and that ethos is still very much alive in the looping community today. And so, despite all the people clamoring for loopable Medtronic pumps, attempts to sell one to the highest bidder are met with swift backlash in the online community. The going price is usually around $500. “You’ll see posts for $1,000 to $3,000—and community members are like, ‘Haha no,’” says Lewis. (The sticker price of new Medtronic pumps runs over $7,000.)

Since OpenAPS first became available, looping options have slowly expanded. Another group developed Loop for iPhone, which is more user-friendly in some ways but still requires an extra piece of hardware called a RileyLink.

A couple other new options don’t even require Medtronic pumps—but they are currently limited in other ways. AndroidAPS, for example, runs on Accu-Chek or Dana pumps, which are approved in Europe and elsewhere, but not yet in the U.S. The system also goes straight to an Android phone, eliminating the need for an extra device like a RileyLink or Edison. The manufacturer of Dana pumps consulted with the DIY looping community in developing its latest version.

[Read: ]How do you regulate a self-improving algorithm?

Erica Potter liked the fact that her eight-year-old daughter would not need to carry around another part with AndroidAPS. But her family lives in the U.S., where no compatible pumps are sold. Through a contact in the diabetes community, Potter managed to find a medical-supply company in north Africa that would ship a Dana pump overseas. It came out to $2,000 with supplies and shipping.  The set-up has worked so well that Potter has ordered a second pump for her six-year-old, who was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. “I’m aiming for perfection because these are my kid’s organs,” she says. She is waiting for that second pump to ship right now.

More recently, loopers have started testing a hacked version of another pump called Omnipod, which is available in-warranty and tubeless. (Think about the convenience of AirPods versus regular earbuds, except for something that goes under your skin.) Public testing of the Loop-Omnipod system began just last week. Kate Farnsworth, who runs a Facebook group about looping and whose own daughter loops, saw her group gain 1,000 new members in just a few days, buoyed by interest in Omnipod. “I think we’ll have a lot of new loopers,” she says.

Even with these new options, DIY looping is still on the margins of the official health-care system: It’s going overseas to buy pumps not yet approved in the United States. It’s testing an experimental version with Omnipod. And in most cases in the United States, it’s been finding old, out-of-warranty Medtronic pumps. Loopers with Medtronic pumps told me they worried their decade-old devices might break, and they’d have no way to fix it. Boss has a couple backup pumps stockpiled. Kowalski, of the nonprofit JDRF, told me that he once saw his brother, who is also a looper, watching soldering videos on YouTube when something broke. “People are doing wacky stuff,” he says. “We don’t want wacky. We want them to use things like they normally would.” JDRF, which is a major funder of artificial-pancreas research, has been working to make the technology mainstream.  

In fact, the FDA approved a looping system from Medtronic called the Minimed 670G in 2016, after the first people started using OpenAPS. The DIY loopers I spoke to had various reasons for sticking with their DIY setup, though: It gave them more flexibility in setting their target blood sugar. It allowed them to use their preferred glucose monitor rather than Medtronic’s.

A nonprofit called Tidepool is now running a clinical trial to get Loop approved by the FDA.  It’s also partnered with the company behind Omnipod to make the next version of its pods officially Loop-compatible—a more formalized version of the DIY Loop-Omnipod system that hackers just made available for public testing.

JDRF, which is a funder of Tidepool, has put forth a vision of a “plug and play” artificial pancreas. Currently, Medtronic’s MiniMed 670G locks the patient into a Medtronic pump, Medtronic glucose sensor, and Medtronic software. The idea, says Kowalski of JDRF, is to have multiple compatible pumps and glucose sensors and algorithms, so that patients can mix and match what they prefer. Looping, in whatever form, is almost certainly the future for type 1 diabetes. It might be all that kids today ever know.

Koch’s son is almost 13 now, old enough to start learning how to manage diabetes on his own. She reflected on the years of interrupted sleep, of weighing the carbs in every meal he brought to school, of ticking off minutes for his blood sugar to drop before he could eat a snack. He’s been looping for over two years now, and some of those memories are starting to fade. “He will never know it like we did,” she says. “And I think that’s a wonderful thing.”

from Health News And Updates https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/looping-created-insulin-pump-underground-market/588091/?utm_source=feed