Musicians with a unique approach, who use their gifts to make a difference.
- ENGAGE: Upgrading the Magic September 25, 2023
ENGAGE has now put immersive-content creation within everyone’s reach.
Not to mention making it more magical.
And Chris Madsen is at the cutting edge of all the latest innovations.
Now, what is ENGAGE? Technically, it’s an Ireland-based advanced virtual-reality platform.
But that description falls short of describing its upgraded creative capabilities for educators, event planners and anyone (especially nontechnical users!) who’d like to create content, attend special events and interact in the metaverse.
We first met and spoke with Chris, who is ENGAGE’s Senior Sales Engineer, in 2019. At the time, ENGAGE wowed us with its creative tools for educators and artists.
Today, they’ve gone from “wow” to “electric”.
Swapping voices, creating animations, and bringing others into your physical environment to interact with objects in 3D, are just three of the capabilities which ENGAGE now has, as they continue to evolve. Not to mention their new incorporation of AI!
And this spring, ENGAGE hosted a landmark immersive event: Fatboy Slim’s “Eat Sleep VR Repeat” concert. For 45 minutes, attendees were transported to fantastical immersive worlds where live music provided a soundtrack to exciting and dreamlike interaction.
Chris talked about the ways ENGAGE continues to facilitate creativity in the metaverse, provided a closer look at some of the new innovations and indicated that much more is next!
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- Some of the most exciting new developments at Engage, just within the past year;
- ENGAGE ‘s new AI assistant, Athena!;
- A closer look at other ways AI is possible for content creation within Engage;
- An “onboarding” example of how a creative group might use EngageXR;
- A closer look at AR Passthrough–which interconnects users’ physical and virtual environments;
- Some of the standard worlds in ENGAGE;
- A few of the behind-the-scenes production considerations involved in the Fatboy Slim immersive concert–and how the experience “opened up” the platform for anyone who’d like to create immersive experiences;
- What Chris is currently creating on the ENGAGE platform;
- How to access the immersive worlds of ENGAGE, for consumption or creation of content.
- Some of the things to look forward to the most, on the platform (there will be more events!).
- Meloscene: Musicians’ Metaverse September 4, 2023
Over Coffee® is on holiday-weekend hiatus. Please enjoy this reposting of one of our top episodes of 2023!
(Photo courtesy of Chad Gerber, and used with permission.) Meloscene Founder and Chief Visionary Officer Chad Gerber says he had a “ridiculous fantasy”.
As a platinum-selling recording artist, Chad found himself daydreaming about not having to travel.
“How can I be in more places at once, and not have to go anywhere at the same time?” he thought.
But then–affordable headsets put virtual reality within reach. For Chad, VR was a game-changer.
A patented futurist, he created Meloscene. This is the world’s first metaverse designed for musicians. Meloscene debuted at CES® 2023 in Las Vegas in January.
And Chad will be speaking at the “Voice and AI 2023” conference in Washington, DC this week! His topic, according to his LinkedIn profile: “AI in Music and Metaverse Applications: Advancements in Research and Development”.
“I’ve been using, and toying with, AI, for a couple of years now,” Chad commented during this interview, recorded in March, 2023.
Meanwhile, here is the link to sign up for updates as Chad and his team continue work on the beta!
And here’s where you can hear Chad’s latest music.
Chad talked about his background, shared the story of Meloscene and explained the different ways it could facilitate artists’ career paths in the future.
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- How Chad first became interested in music:
- One of the considerations which has made a crucial difference for him, as a working musician;
- The story of Meloscene;
- How Meloscene works for musicians at different career stages, and in various aspects of the music industry;
- Chad’s own best experience so far, collaborating in a real-time session in his virtual environment;
- His current musical projects;
- How he’s planning to use virtual reality and AI to augment his compositions;
- Chad’s creative process, as a musician;
- Why his music appears under the moniker “Woodrow Gerber”;
- His recollections of his experience, debuting Meloscene at CES® 2023
- Meloscene: Revolutionizing Music March 6, 2023
(Photo courtesy of Chad Gerber, and used with permission.) Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Meloscene Founder and Chief Visionary Officer Chad Gerber is revolutionizing the music industry.
Chad, who has garnered multiple gold and platinum records, is also a futurist. His innovation: the world’s first metaverse for musicians!
And it’s all about breaking down barriers.
As a gifted composer, producer and performer, Chad has first-hand knowledge of the challenges that go along with being a working musician. Cost, travel, time, logistics, and venue availability all come into the equation.
Ultimately, he says, daydreaming about ways to remove these obstacles led him to create Meloscene. This is the world’s first metaverse designed for musicians,, which Chad recently introduced at CES® 2023 in Las Vegas this January.
Currently being produced in beta, Meloscene allows musicians to, as their website explains, “create real music in a virtual world”. Collaborating live with other musicians all over the world, hosting events, and teaching lessons to a wider range are just three of the capabilities this new technology allows.
Chad talked about his background, shared the story of Meloscene and offered a look at the different ways it could facilitate artists’ career paths in the future.
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- How Chad first became interested in music:
- One of the considerations which has made a crucial difference for him, as a working musician;
- The story of Meloscene;
- How Meloscene works for musicians at different career stages, and in various aspects of the music industry;
- Chad’s own best experience so far, collaborating in a real-time session in his virtual environment;
- His current musical projects;
- How he’s planning to use virtual reality and AI to augment his compositions;
- Chad’s creative process, as a musician;
- Why his music appears under the moniker “Woodrow Gerber”;
- His recollections of his experience, debuting Meloscene at CES® 2023.
Continue reading →