Resume for Phil Burk

Areas of Expertise

• Software: Audio, Internet and System software from low level firmware and device drivers, to high level applications.
• Hardware: digital ASIC design and system level architecture.
• Business: product design and development, international sales and contract negotiation, customer relations.

Employment

President, Mobileer, Inc., San Rafael, CA, 2003 to present

Led technical team in development of a polyphonic MIDI synthesizer for embedded devices. Applications include mobile phone ringtone player and music player for toys. The Mobileer player was used in the popular Treo 600 and 650 handsets from PalmOne. Also managed marketing, sales, planning, contract negotiations, customer contact including international clients, and budgeting.

Owner, SoftSynth.com, 1998 to present

Developed, marketed, distributed and sold a variety of software products including:

• JSyn, a real-time audio synthesis API for Java and 'C' with plugins for web browsers, graphical patch editor,
• JavaSonics, a simple audio I/O API for multiple platforms, ListenUp voice recording Applet,
• PortAudio, a cross-platform audio I/O library for Mac, PC, Linux, etc., with Ross Bencina,
• pForth, a public domain portable 'C' based Forth compiler,
• TransJam, a generic server for multi-user games and music performance.

Independent Contractor, 1997 to present

Projects include:

• Audio and system related projects for Sony PlayStation 3.
• Audio related projects for digital television and set-top boxes for TeleCruz.IEC958 and DAC interface in Verilog. Porting and optimizing AC-3, MPEG and other audio algorithms on an embedded processor. Signal processing and voice e-mail,
• Development of audio systems for the works of composer Max Neuhaus. Designed analysis hardware and control software. Travelled to customer sites in New York and Germany to install systems.
• Using JSyn in contracts for various clients including High Wired Technologies and Dartmouth College,
• Audio device driver development for Red Jade,
• Java based audio content production tools for Leap Frog Toys,
• Various audio software projects for video game console manufacturers,
• Taught courses in pForth and assisted clients in using pForth to verify and bringup new ASICs,
• Technical Director for Auracle project, a voice-driven collaborative online instrument.

Manager of Audio Systems, CagEnt Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, 1997 to 1998.

Continuation of 3DO work. CagEnt was a 3DO spin-off. Chief architect and developer for custom RISC style DSP core and audio system software.

Manager of Audio Systems, The 3DO Company, Redwood City, CA 1992 to 1997

Led a team in the design and development of system software that used the 3DO custom DSP to synthesize audio in real-time. This system provided a modular, patchable software synthesizer for generating sound effects, and for playing MIDI files and soundfiles. Responsible for hardware architecture of the audio portion of 3DO's multi-media ASICs which include a custom DSP, proprietary decompression hardware, and multi-channel audio DMA. Developed cycle accurate simulator of a custom RISC processor.

Lecturer and Researcher, Mills College Center for Contemporary Music, Oakland, CA 1988 to 1992

Designed and developed HMSL, the Hierarchical Music Specification Language. HMSL is an object oriented language based on Forth that provides music related tools for experimental composers. Taught courses on electronic music.

President, Delta Research, San Rafael, CA 1986 to 1992

Worked with four partners to design, develop and sell JForth for the Commodore Amiga. JForth is a subroutine threaded Forth programming environment with an integrated editor.

Manager of Graphic Systems, Exploration Systems Inc., Sausalito, CA 1984 to 1986

Systems Architect for a petroleum exploration and mapping system. Designed and developed a smart terminal program for the Macintosh that allowed a mini-computer based application to display menus and dialog boxes using the Mac GUI.

Education

Bachelors degree in BioPhysics from University of California at Berkeley. Coursework included computer programming, genetics, radiation biology, biophysical chemistry, electronics and music. Senior thesis involved mapping a chromosomal translocation in yeast.

Publications

• "Band-Limited Oscillators using Wavetable Synthesis", Audio Anecdotes II, 2004, AK Peters, Ltd. ISBN: 1-56881-214-0
• "Adaptive High-level Classification of Vocal Gestures Within a Networked Sound Instrument" Proceeeding of the ICMC, 2004 with Jason Freeman, C. Ramakrishnan, Kristjan Varnik, Max Neuhaus, and David Birchfield
• "Music and Computers: A Theoretical and Historical Approach", online textbook with 5 authors, Key College Publishing. ISBN: 1-930190-95-6
• "PortAudio: an API for Portable Real-Time Audio ", with Ross Bencina, Audio Anecdotes I, 2004, AK Peters, Ltd. ISBN: 1-56881-104-7
• "The Stochastic Synthesis of Complex Sounds", Game Programming Gems 3, 2002, Charles River Media, Inc. ISBN: 1-58450-233-9
• "Using the Biquad Resonant Filter", Game Programming Gems 3, 2002, Charles River Media, Inc. ISBN: 1-58450-233-9
• "PortAudio – an Open Source Cross Platform Audio API" Proceeeding of the ICMC, 2001,with Ross Bencina.
• "Java Music Specification Language, an introduction and overview", Proceeeding of the ICMC, 2001, with Nick Didkovsky.
• "Jammin' on the Web: A New Client/Server Architecture for Multi-User Musical Performance", Proceedings of the ICMC , 2000.
• "JSyn: Real-time Synthesis API for Java", Proceedings of the ICMC , 1998. Describes a unit generator based synthesis library for Internet music.
• "Iconic Programming for HMSL", with R. Marsanyi, Proceedings of the ICMC , 1992.
• "The Integration of Real Time Synthesis into HMSL", Proceedings of the ICMC , 1991. Describes DSP 56000 based synthesis techniques.
• "HMSL: A Theoretical Overview" with Larry Polansky and David Rosenboom. Perspectives of New Music, Volume 28, Number 2, Summer 1990, pp136-178.
• "Squiggle" and "RelNet" compositions on "Hallways, 11 Musicians and HMSL.", Frog Peak Music, 1993. For live DSP.
• "JForth Users Manual", with M. Haas, Delta Research, 1986,88,90.
• "HMSL Overview and Notes on Intelligent Instrument Design", with L. Polansky, D. Rosenboom, Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference,(ICMC), 1987.
• Invited to lecture on computer music and synthesis at Danish Institute of Electronic Music, New York University, Dartmouth College, HarvestWorks in NY, Cal Arts, CCRMA, Forth Conference, NUMUS Festival, Berlin ICMC, etc.
• Won $1000 in "World's Fastest Programmer" Contest at Embedded Systems Conference, Anaheim, CA in 1988 with partner Mike Haas.

References available upon request.