Artificial Intelligence & Innovation
In addition to Charlie Chan's proficiency on a diverse range of musical instruments, and THEIR natural business and entrepreneurial flair, Chan leads a highly technical life when it comes to music and technology.
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Meet Baxter the robot
In 2017, the Interactive Orchestra, a Global Orchestra project, took to the stage at the Sydney Opera House in a performance that proved music and technology could work hand-in-hand.
Under the direction of Artistic Director Charlie Chan, the Global Orchestra Foundation worked alongside the Accenture Liquid Studio team to create an orchestra like no other. An orchestra that would become a part-human, part-robot collaboration.
In a world’s first, an artificial intelligence robot - Baxter - was a key member of an orchestral performance, playing the marimba… even performing a musical solo in front of a live audience!
Presented at the 2017 Adobe Symposium, the Interactive Orchestra was an example of the art possible when you blend artificial intelligence and robotics with creativity.
Using a million pieces of music and custom-built artificial intelligence, engineers programmed Baxter to play the marimba. Then, utilising cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology, Baxter was able to respond to commands from the conductor during a live performance - contributing to the performance like any other member of the orchestra.
To create an even greater interactive experience, the music, lighting, and visual projections were manipulated by the audience interacting with the performance on their mobile phones.
A fusion of robotics, machine intelligence, and music… this Interactive Orchestra performance was a first.
Global Orchestra Foundation
In 2012, Charlie co-founded the Global Orchestra Foundation with friends, Nathan Waks & Justin Baird.
The Global Orchestra is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to bring people together through the act of playing music, to mark our global commitment to finding a sustainable future for our planet.
During Earth Hour 2015 the Global Orchestra with the support of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra facilitated the Concert for the Planet. This was a mass participation, multi location, simultaneous performance of Holst’s “The Planets”. On the count down to Earth Hour, direct from the stage of the Sydney Opera House, a live stream of chief conductor David Robertson was beamed out into the atmosphere.
Everyone, anywhere on the planet was playing along to the stellar sounds of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra with the help of Conductor-Cam.
In 2015 the Global Orchestra achieved its goal is to have millions of participants across more than 350 locations in Australia and abroad playing together in sync as the soundtrack during Earth Hour.
Coming together to play music requires collaboration, listening, creativity, and playing your part.
MUSIC TECHNOLOGY & DIGITAL INNOVATION
Working first with Yamaha as a new product demonstrator put Chan in front of much new music technology. They became proficient on the Yamaha DX7 – the first commercially successful digital synthesizer. They also took to the Minimoog – a monophonic analog synthesizer released in the early 1970s. This led to further experimentation with keyboards, sequencing software and electronic sampling – something Chan embraced at the very beginning of their career and has continued to incorporate into their ongoing work with original albums as well as for stage and screen scores.
Chan was among the first group of Australian musician/composers to embrace technology in their work. As noted by journalist Bridget McManus, "Buzzing with creative energy and driven by an insatiable desire to learn, this composer, performer and cyber-chick is tuned in and logged on". The sentiment was also echoed by Cal Clugston writing for Revolver magazine: "As well as being known for their forays into sampling and electronica, this cutting-edge pianist and composer has an association with technology (and) the internet."
In the early to mid 2000s, Chan expanded their label, Martian Music, into a successful independent online music service for themselves and other artists in Australia and around the world. Its Internet based sales and distribution mechanism pioneered digital downloads and music ecommerce in Australia. Chan has since moved on into the field of application development, partnering with several technology firms to develop new music distribution models.
Their recent projects now feature generative composition tools such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
