Zeus
08-21-2008, 11:27 AM
<b>Interview: Dragon’s Den star Yann set for success with Wii Loop Machine</b>
<center><img src="http://www.maxconsole.net/content_img/yanselnec.jpg"></center></a>
James Caan may have laughed Yann Seznec off of the Dragon’s Den stage and called him a ‘nutty professor’ but it looks as if Yann is set to have the last laugh. Originally a homebrew developer like many out there, Yann wanted to take his Wii music creating game up another level, so he decided to seek investment from some of the UK’s richest folks in the Dragon’s Den TV show. While no dragon offered an investment, Yann has been very busy since the show and there is a strong chance his game may well be published by a big-name publisher. Read on for details on his game, his view on his TV experience and more general thoughts on seeking alternative investment and the state of music games on the Wii!
1) Hi Yann, please introduce yourself and give us a brief summary of
what your game is all about?
Hello there. I'm a 25 year old Franco-American living in Edinburgh, and I've designed and created the LoopMachine, which is creative music software for the Wii. It lets you create, compose, mix, and manipulate music in real time, using the motion controlling Wii as an interface. In other words, it lets you make funky beats and music just by dancing around and looking totally awesome.
2) How did you come up with the idea for this game?
I'm a trained musician, starting as a pianist and eventually migrating into electronic music. I perform acoustic and electronic music regularly using laptops, keyboards, guitars, sampling, and so on, and I've always felt there was a real gap in terms of performing a "real" instrument versus performing a computer.
I came to Edinburgh in 2006 to do a Masters in Sound Design. During that course I learned how to create audio software in Max/MSP, and I started experimenting with new interfaces for musical creation. This was around the time the Wii came out, so of course the first thing I thought of when the controller was revealed to be wireless and motion sensitive was "I want to make that into an instrument". From there it was just a matter of choosing how I wanted to do so. Getting the data from the Wiimote and coding a piece of software is actually relatively easy, because it uses Bluetooth. What is hard is designing a piece of software that uses the data in an intuitive, fun, and (most importantly) good-sounding way.
I decided to take a loop-based approach, rather than trying to emulate instruments, because it makes much more professional sounding results, and frees up the motion control to do more exciting things like controlling effects and filters and so on. Making a system that "plays" a guitar or a drum kit or something just strikes me as trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
So I put together a prototype for a project for my course, and it attracted an enormous amount of attention, which convinced me that it had potential as a commercial product. After my thesis I started a business to further develop the LoopMachine and hopefully get it onto an official platform soon.
3) Why did you decide to go onto the Dragons Den, was it for exposure,
financing or a bit of fun?
It was a bit of all three, to be honest, but mostly to show the LoopMachine to as wide an audience as possible. People react most positively to my software when they see it in action - I think it translates very well into video, as you can see from the video tutorials I've made over the past year. So when I heard that Dragons' Den were looking for entrepreneurs, I figured it could be a very good way to get some exposure, and if I'm lucky I could get some investment too. It would have been great to get some money, but to be honest the deals that are offered are often shockingly bad for the entrepreneur! It's not a very accurate representation of the world of venture capital, to say the least.
Overall I'm really glad that they showed me using the software in action, that was the most important thing for me. It was a hilarious experience over all, although a bit frustrating in some ways! The concept went way over their heads, and the questions they asked were rather irrelevant, which took me by surprise. But the experience was
amazing in so many ways, and the reaction to the software has been much stronger than I expected.
4) Have you attempted to attract other investments prior to or after
Dragon's Den, what has been the result if so?
I filmed Dragons' Den in May, which now seems like ages ago. That was right at the beginning of my search for partners or investment, and it was an interesting way to start! Since then I have been awarded a grant from NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) to develop my business and brand. On top of that, I'm now in talks with several games developers (who I can't name, I'm afraid) who are interested in bringing the LoopMachine to console. So I'm busier than ever, and things are looking very promising indeed.
5) Has anything changed now you have been on Dragons Den, any big name
publishers knocking on your door?
I don't want to say too much about this...but I will say that I have been pleasantly surprised to learn that some pretty powerful companies watch that show!
6) Did you feel any Dragon was particularly impressed, would you do
anything differently if you went on the show again?
They all (except Duncan Bannatyne) seemed to think the software was technically impressive, but none of them believed that people wanted to be creative! How sad is that?! I think I would frame my presentation differently, stressing the business end first rather than the musical side. But then, that would have made for less exciting television, and TV audiences would not have seen as much of the LoopMachine in action!
7) Are you surprised that there hasn't been a really successful Wii
music making game out there? What will it take to make sure yours becomes the first?
I'm not hugely surprised. The Wii games market is dominated by huge publishers right now, who don't necessarily have any desire to make anything off the beaten path. Nintendo has just announced WiiMusic, which seems to be taking the instrument emulation approach. That isn't much of a danger to the LoopMachine, which is much more designed with professional sounding music production in mind. I'm confident that I'll be able to get something to the console relatively quickly, and it will be the most accessible yet powerful music creation tool on the market.
8) It's been great talking to you Yann, feel free to add anything else!
It's been a pleasure! Thanks so much for the interest. Check my website for updates and announcements - there's a lot going on these days and I'm posting new things all the time. If you have a Mac you can download the software and start playing right away. I would love for more people to send me videos of themselves using the LoopMachine! I'm also working on a Windows version, hopefully that will be coming out soon: www.wiiloopmachine.com
<center><img src="http://www.maxconsole.net/content_img/yanselnec.jpg"></center></a>
James Caan may have laughed Yann Seznec off of the Dragon’s Den stage and called him a ‘nutty professor’ but it looks as if Yann is set to have the last laugh. Originally a homebrew developer like many out there, Yann wanted to take his Wii music creating game up another level, so he decided to seek investment from some of the UK’s richest folks in the Dragon’s Den TV show. While no dragon offered an investment, Yann has been very busy since the show and there is a strong chance his game may well be published by a big-name publisher. Read on for details on his game, his view on his TV experience and more general thoughts on seeking alternative investment and the state of music games on the Wii!
1) Hi Yann, please introduce yourself and give us a brief summary of
what your game is all about?
Hello there. I'm a 25 year old Franco-American living in Edinburgh, and I've designed and created the LoopMachine, which is creative music software for the Wii. It lets you create, compose, mix, and manipulate music in real time, using the motion controlling Wii as an interface. In other words, it lets you make funky beats and music just by dancing around and looking totally awesome.
2) How did you come up with the idea for this game?
I'm a trained musician, starting as a pianist and eventually migrating into electronic music. I perform acoustic and electronic music regularly using laptops, keyboards, guitars, sampling, and so on, and I've always felt there was a real gap in terms of performing a "real" instrument versus performing a computer.
I came to Edinburgh in 2006 to do a Masters in Sound Design. During that course I learned how to create audio software in Max/MSP, and I started experimenting with new interfaces for musical creation. This was around the time the Wii came out, so of course the first thing I thought of when the controller was revealed to be wireless and motion sensitive was "I want to make that into an instrument". From there it was just a matter of choosing how I wanted to do so. Getting the data from the Wiimote and coding a piece of software is actually relatively easy, because it uses Bluetooth. What is hard is designing a piece of software that uses the data in an intuitive, fun, and (most importantly) good-sounding way.
I decided to take a loop-based approach, rather than trying to emulate instruments, because it makes much more professional sounding results, and frees up the motion control to do more exciting things like controlling effects and filters and so on. Making a system that "plays" a guitar or a drum kit or something just strikes me as trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
So I put together a prototype for a project for my course, and it attracted an enormous amount of attention, which convinced me that it had potential as a commercial product. After my thesis I started a business to further develop the LoopMachine and hopefully get it onto an official platform soon.
3) Why did you decide to go onto the Dragons Den, was it for exposure,
financing or a bit of fun?
It was a bit of all three, to be honest, but mostly to show the LoopMachine to as wide an audience as possible. People react most positively to my software when they see it in action - I think it translates very well into video, as you can see from the video tutorials I've made over the past year. So when I heard that Dragons' Den were looking for entrepreneurs, I figured it could be a very good way to get some exposure, and if I'm lucky I could get some investment too. It would have been great to get some money, but to be honest the deals that are offered are often shockingly bad for the entrepreneur! It's not a very accurate representation of the world of venture capital, to say the least.
Overall I'm really glad that they showed me using the software in action, that was the most important thing for me. It was a hilarious experience over all, although a bit frustrating in some ways! The concept went way over their heads, and the questions they asked were rather irrelevant, which took me by surprise. But the experience was
amazing in so many ways, and the reaction to the software has been much stronger than I expected.
4) Have you attempted to attract other investments prior to or after
Dragon's Den, what has been the result if so?
I filmed Dragons' Den in May, which now seems like ages ago. That was right at the beginning of my search for partners or investment, and it was an interesting way to start! Since then I have been awarded a grant from NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) to develop my business and brand. On top of that, I'm now in talks with several games developers (who I can't name, I'm afraid) who are interested in bringing the LoopMachine to console. So I'm busier than ever, and things are looking very promising indeed.
5) Has anything changed now you have been on Dragons Den, any big name
publishers knocking on your door?
I don't want to say too much about this...but I will say that I have been pleasantly surprised to learn that some pretty powerful companies watch that show!
6) Did you feel any Dragon was particularly impressed, would you do
anything differently if you went on the show again?
They all (except Duncan Bannatyne) seemed to think the software was technically impressive, but none of them believed that people wanted to be creative! How sad is that?! I think I would frame my presentation differently, stressing the business end first rather than the musical side. But then, that would have made for less exciting television, and TV audiences would not have seen as much of the LoopMachine in action!
7) Are you surprised that there hasn't been a really successful Wii
music making game out there? What will it take to make sure yours becomes the first?
I'm not hugely surprised. The Wii games market is dominated by huge publishers right now, who don't necessarily have any desire to make anything off the beaten path. Nintendo has just announced WiiMusic, which seems to be taking the instrument emulation approach. That isn't much of a danger to the LoopMachine, which is much more designed with professional sounding music production in mind. I'm confident that I'll be able to get something to the console relatively quickly, and it will be the most accessible yet powerful music creation tool on the market.
8) It's been great talking to you Yann, feel free to add anything else!
It's been a pleasure! Thanks so much for the interest. Check my website for updates and announcements - there's a lot going on these days and I'm posting new things all the time. If you have a Mac you can download the software and start playing right away. I would love for more people to send me videos of themselves using the LoopMachine! I'm also working on a Windows version, hopefully that will be coming out soon: www.wiiloopmachine.com