{"id":24381,"date":"2016-03-02T18:12:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T22:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/?p=24381"},"modified":"2016-03-02T18:12:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T22:12:46","slug":"how-sonar-user-bentley-ousley-executes-a-crazy-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/2016\/03\/02\/how-sonar-user-bentley-ousley-executes-a-crazy-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"How SONAR user Bentley Ousley Executes a Crazy Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I love it when something comes across my desk that MAKES me want to dig deeper\u2014find out more.\u00a0 Recently I have been spending more time reading our Cakewalk forum<\/a> and I am amazed at how passionate and talented our user base is.\u00a0 I find myself going through posts, clicking links, poking around and being genuinely entertained and inspired.\u00a0 One recent post really got my attention and after inquiring directly to the user, I found myself turning into a CSI investigator<\/strong>\u00a0(Cakewalk-SONAR Investigator) looking for clues to make some sense out of what I had just stumbled upon\u2026<\/p>\n

Opening the case:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cakewalk User:<\/strong> bentleyousley<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0[My Inside Voice]:<\/em> \u201c\u2026sounds a little suspicious to me\u2014sounds like a Rock Star I should know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case:<\/strong> Once and Future Cities: A Fractal Journey –\u00a0[My Inside Voice]:<\/em> \u201c\u2026I think I remember the word \u2018fractal\u2019 from some distant math class or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Location:<\/strong> Kansas City –\u00a0[My Inside Voice]:<\/em> \u201cbest BBQ I’ve ever had in that city, but a SONAR user in Kansas City with a studio that looks like a rocket fuselage? Okaaaayyy???…\u201d<\/p>\n

Evidence: <\/strong>PBS, Kansas City Star, Kansas City Planetarium –\u00a0[My Inside Voice]:<\/em> \u201c\u2026PBS? A Planetarium? A home-brew large format projector and software? Fractal equations translated into visuals? A brilliant film all edited and scored meticulously in SONAR Platinum by one person made for<\/em> planetariums?\u00a0 I\u2019m IN\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>My next plan of action in curing my curiosity was to try to contact this mysterious \u201cbentleyousley\u201d user through the Cakewalk forum IM feature.\u00a0 After a few days with no response, I was still on a mission to find out more, so I did something crazy; I Googled \u201cBentley Ousley.\u201d\u00a0 I found more evidence of a real human along with fractal information, but nothing concrete.\u00a0 Then, I did the unthinkable; I typed in www.bentleyousley.com<\/a> and boom\u2014there it was: \u201cWelcome to the website of award-winning Film and Media composer Bentley Ousley,\u201d along with an actual email address. Case closed? No way.<\/p>\n

About an hour later I was thankfully on the phone with Mr. Ousley trying to get my head around what I was hearing\u2014and I mean this in a good and respectful way.\u00a0 The conversation was inspiring to me.\u00a0 You see after listening to all these politicians cackling at each other these days, and after hearing all the headline news in the background here in NYC, I needed to hear this great story of sheer authenticity, community, and talent.<\/p>\n

Case Solved:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bentley Ousley is a ridiculously talented individual on many levels.\u00a0 Besides his talent of music composition and film creation, he also writes code and understands complex equations of which I cannot comprehend or explain for that matter.\u00a0 A while back, as a member of the Kansas Astronomical Society, Ousley started becoming more and more involved donating his much needed time and knowledge to the Gottlieb Planetarium in Kansas City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Being a fan of \u201ccrazy ideas\u201d he had a notion to combine his interest of Fractal Imagery with his passion of music and film creation, and bring this all together under the roof of the planetarium.\u00a0 But first there was a small problem; the planetarium needed a whole new projection system, and in today\u2019s world these modern systems are not cheap.\u00a0 In fact a modern projection systems and accessories for a planetarium can run up to a cool $-mil with ease.\u00a0 Knowing that the dated and cash strapped planetarium was in desperate need of a makeover, Bentley decided to go one step further and focus his efforts on building what he describes as a \u201chome-brew\u201d planetarium projection system.\u00a0 [INSIDE VOICE<\/em>]: (\u2026who does that? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After researching many different avenues, Bentley and his newly assembled and dedicated team of local professionals ended up buying, on their own, an extremely bright projector and a delicately polished curved mirror that was custom-made in Australia. They coupled them with a Mac Pro computer and some special-sauce software to create a system that they say, is every bit as capable as the more expensive ones.\u00a0 The price: about $27,000 opposed to the anticipated 800k hiring out.<\/p>\n

[Another odd fun-fact: If you\u2019re ever designing and building a new \u201chome-brew\u201d planetarium projector system and software from scratch and become bored, enter into–and win a Warner Bros composer competition.\u00a0 During 2013 in the midst of creating his film, Bentley decided to enter into a Warner Bros Pictures fan-based composer competition called \u201cInspiring the Future\u201d which he subsequently won.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>With obstacle number one being solved, Bentley was now ready to move on to his next mission of researching fractal imagery, reaching out to fractal artists, and creating a masterpiece that could be displayed on the new system for others to enjoy.\u00a0 That is in fact what he did–which is now a 45-minute immersive sound and visual experience based on expressing mathematical formulas through computer code resulting in beautiful imagery.\u00a0 Bentley told AfterTheHarvestKC.org, \u201cThese fractal designers manage to distill the essence of both natural and man-made processes and landscapes into concise mathematical formulas and express them through the creation of amazingly engaging and believable miniature universes.\u201d<\/p>\n