Review of Proposal : “A/V Synthesizer”

Proposal author: Trent Small

Reviewer: Kellen Zelle (kzelle@unm.edu)

Part 1: Proposal restatement

The purpose of this project is to create an audio/visual synthesizer that takes in midi input and visually displays the audio with a range of visual effects. The software will be combined with hardware to sell to the customer.

Part 2: Reviewer reaction

It’s a really cool idea, but I think the way that you have it planned out requires the customer to do too many technical aspects to get the A/V synthesizer configured and set up. The thing that could remedy this would be to develop a user friendly GUI interface with all of the configuration options easily accessible. Another thing that was a little iffy to me was the blanket statement of ‘hardware’, there was no detail as to what the ‘hardware’; does the hardware consist of arduino’s with LED lights/projectors attached to them etc.

Part 3: Quantitative Scores

Format: 3.8

Easy to follow. Though, there could be a few more sections to provide more detail (hardware in particular). Very bare.

Writing: 3.8

Good overall. A few misspellings and grammar mistakes.

Goals and tasks: 4

The goal is very clear and the tasks are easily identifiable from the Timeline, but there should be more detail in a section of it’s own for goals and tasks.

Scope: 4

It is clear what the scope of the project is, but it may be a bit large for the time given to complete it.

Plausibility: 3

I can see being able to create an AV synthesizer that can be run on any screen that can be used with a computer. But developing the AV synthesizer and hardware to run the synthesizer over wifi seems like it may be a little unreachable given the available time.

Novelty: 4

It’s a cool idea, but there is nothing explaining how this AV synthesizers will set itself apart from other synthesizers.

Stakeholder identification: 4.5

The stakeholders are clearly identified in the proposal.

Support and impact: 3

There were no detailed plans on:

• How much the hardware would be sold to the customer for.
• Is the software portion of the project given freely or is its cost included with the hardware cost? What makes this hardware unique that a customer wouldn’t be able to buy it from somewhere else and run the software on it?
• How would you market the product for it to get into the hands of the public?

Evidence: 3.5

There is a decent amount of evidence that the project can be complete, but there is none that shows that the resulting product will be marketable.

Challenges and risks: 2

There are some inherent challenges seen in the proposal, but there should be a section going into detail about the various challenges that need to be overcome to complete the project. There should also be a small risk section going over the risks of early hardware prototypes failing and how much that could cost over the full development of the product.