Google confirmed the hiring of Logan Olson — the man behind popular virtual reality music creation application, Soundstage. According to the company, Olson will now be based in its New York City office where he will apply his knowledge and experience to future Google products. This move will also mean the end to further development of Soundstage itself.
Olson’s move means that active development is now complete on Soundstage and will not continue. The project will live on for the near future in maintenance mode. It is unclear if Olson will be working on a specifically music-based VR experience at Google. However, the company has reiterated its commitment to combining creativity and virtual reality which was first demonstrated by Tilt Brush.
In an official statement emailed to UploadVR, a Google spokesperson wrote that “We’re excited to welcome Logan to the Google VR team. As a leader in thinking about creating in VR with his app Soundstage, we’re really inspired by what he’s built and for the potential for VR and creativity.”
Olson describes Soundstage as “a virtual reality music sandbox built specifically for room-scale VR. Whether you’re a professional DJ creating a new sound, or a hobbyist who wants to rock out on virtual drums, SoundStage gives you a diverse toolset to express yourself.”
The app went far beyond a digital drum set, however. It also took a few steps toward the more robust toolsets of professional grade music programs like Logic Pro or FL Studio. That said, anyone that hoped the project would grow to one day exceed those programs in VR will have to look elsewhere.
Olson’s bio on the Soundstage website describes him as “an experience designer who has worked in immersive entertainment since 2008. He started building for room-scale VR at the Institute for Creative Technologies with Mark Bolas then moved on to theme parks and interactive toys.”
Soundstage was Olson’s first independent VR project. Google’s VR team is led by Clay Bavor.
