30 May 2010

Lifehouse Method - initial impressions aren't good

You might've heard in the news recently about Pete Townshend's much hyped website that will compose a unique piece of music for you, based on data you provide.

Well, first impressions aren't too good! Firstly they demand a real postal address. Not likely! Next, on attempting to sign up I was instantly told that my email address couldn't be validated. I was about to try again when I noticed an email in my inbox giving me a validation link. So far, so sloppy.

Once logged in, I went through the "sitting process" for my "portrait" only to fall at the first hurdle. You see, it assumes that you've got a microphone connected (I don't here in the office,) although as you can see above the screen letting you record something isn't the easiest to work with. They do offer an option of uploading a wav file, but that seems to just give you a blank screen when you click the "next" button.

Considering it wants three sound samples from you, your voice, a sound that you like, and the sound of you tapping out a rhythm, it doesn't give a great impression. You can click with your mouse instead, but this seems incredibly laggy, and misses out quick clicks.

If you can't use a microphone, and you can't upload sounds of your own, you're basically left with the option to upload a single image. Far from ideal.

As it only gives you three "free" sittings, if feelt like a bit of a waste to use my first one with an incomplete set of data, but anyway, here's what it came up with:

Help! I'm getting flashbacks to 80s video games! (Then again, I think they often were far less monotonous - it starts out ok, but soon sounds like a stuck record, constantly repeating the same few awful notes!)