Hobnox is a Berlin-based start-up that brings creative minds from all over the world together in their online community. With a strong focus on music and video, users can create, share, and collaborate their funky stuff.
What particularly impressed me when I first reviewed Hobnox in May, was the state-of-the-art Audiotool. The developers have created a browser-based Flash version of a mix table, so that Hobnox members can create their own beats and melody lines within the site. For me it was all quite overwhelming, as I’m anything but a digital music maker.
That my influence my ability to properly review the tools as well, since some commenters basically said that online flash based toys are not useful in the ultimate business of making music. I can imagine what they meant to say, so I’m really interested to hear their opinion about Hobnox’s updates. David Noël, head of Hobnox marketing, has sent me the following list:
Live recording and saving functionality
Addition of a ‚Mac-Dock’-like shelf with all the devices
We added new devices (Splitter, Merger, Compressor, Phaser, Slope and Gate)
We’ve improved the performance by getting rid of the Java bypass which means that you’ll need to upgrade to Flash 10 to use the tool
Starting the Audiotool, you can choose out of three default set-ups or start a blank set-up
The latter even is exciting for a uninitiate like me, as I can just press “electro” and listen in awe. Anyhow, if you’re a professional, please let me know what you think about the Hobnox Audiotool.
Sometimes I look back at the good ol’ days of Magix Music Maker 6. I used to spent hours in my bedroom, creating cheesy dance songs. The software so rich and incredibly complex, at least that’s what I thought back then. Little did I know that a decade later, tools like Magix Music Maker would’ve found their ways to the web. Some are even more sophisticated than the hobby-minded music tool. Remember the incredible audio tool from Hobnox? This morning I received a tip about another music editing tool called Koblo.
Technology caught up with a vision
The Aarhus, Denmark-based developers have enriched their desktop software (which dates from 1998) with an online community.t Founder Max Gronlund looks back the days of ‘98: “Big stars had teams of experts and sophisticated working groups to produce their music. I wondered how could technology be used to do that for all musicians. I wanted to create tools that connect people to music and musicians to each other. Technology has now caught up with that vision. With the advances in web applications and computing in the cloud, we can now collaborate globally in a way that really works. Enabling groups of people to work together in an efficient fashion.”"
What does Koblo add?
This is also the thought behind Berlin-based start-ups Hobnox and Soundcloud, although the latter doesn’t provides audiotools. The people behind these companies told me that both music start-ups are doing pretty good. Is Koblo too late? Or does this Danish service adds something Hobnox and Soundcloud don’t?
Apart from my Magix Music Mixer glory days, I don’t have any experience mixing and recording music. So I have to leave the mixing comparison between Hobnox and Koblo up to the experts. I can say that an advantage of Hobnox is that musicians can do everything online. Moreover, Hobnox is free. Koblo charges money for several plugins. On the other hand, their software is open source.
Sell those tracks
But there is definitely one thing which gives Koblo added value in the online music world (once again, maybe their editing tool does as well, but I can’t be the judge), musicians can sell their tracks on the marketplace. In the ideal situation, a vibrant community emerges which will share and comment on each other’s tracks. Just like on SoundCloud. But while at Soundcloud it all revolves around indirect advantages, Koblo wants to give it users the possibility to make some money out of it as well.
Where’s the soul?
I’m not sure whether this approach will work, since a large and active community is a necessary condition. If I were Koblo, I’d take another look at competitor SoundCloud, which seems like an expert in making feel their users welcome and part of something (both online as offline). Koblo will have to show some more soul, so that their website becomes a more welcome environment. It looks a bit cold now. If Koblo succeeds in this, it might grow out to be an enrichment of the online music world.
After spending only three days of my life in Germany’s capital, I’m already in love with this city. I’ve been exploring the streets, shops, museums, and restaurants, but most of all, I’m trying to get in touch with the locals here. Berlin is famous for its underground scene and there’s only one way to get there, via the people. David Noël – marketing manager of Hobnox (review here) – organized a Music 2.0 dinner last night and guess what, your blogger was so fortunate to be invited. After some good chats – some of which lasted till 4am – with the guys from Hobnox, Soundcloud (review here), and The Hype Machine, I realized Berlin is one rocking start-up city. Here are four reasons why. “Only four?”, you might ask. Yeah, just four, because that’s all you need to realize this is the place where a digital nomad should stay for a while.
1. Cheap office space
For some reason, the rents in Berlin are ridiculously low (maybe because it’s so spacious?). I’ve met some guys who only paid 250 euros per month for a huge office space with a great view and all. Even in Mitte, hearth of the city, rents aren’t that high.
2. Find inspiration on the streets
Just like New York, this city really oozes energy. Mostly because of all the weird and funky people walking around. So whenever you have something that comes close to a temporary burn-out, just hit the streets and suck up the creativity. Read these tweets by Hype Machine founder Anthony Volodkin (who is here for a month) to see what I mean:
3. International allure
This probably not the first article you’ve read that describes how awesome Berlin is. The great reputation of the formerly divided city attracts thousands of creative people from all over the world. Fellas like Hype Machine guys just like to hang out here because the atmosphere is great. That gives the city – and thus your start-up – international allure. Moreover, it offers you plenty of opportunities to meet other Web-minded people who visit your city. Like the TechCrunch UK meet-up last May. No wonder the whole Web 2.0 Expo circus is gonna do its act here.
Party at SoundCloud’s Henrik Berggren’s
4. Vibrant web community
I’ve only been here for a few days, but already met a lot of interesting Internet entrepreneurs and bloggers. While we were having dinner, everyone called friends and business partners to come down to the restaurant as well. But the best thing was yet to come. Henrik Berggren from Soundcloud invited us to a smashing party at his home. Next to being an entrepreneur, this Swedish guy is also a DJ. He sure knows how to throw a party with a mini casino, bar, dance floor and a balcony filled with uber cool people.
That’s all there is to it. If you’re up for some creative and fun times, while working on your start-up, Berlin is the place to go to. Who can lend me a room for a month or three?
Noel: “Right now, we produce editorial content for three channels in the broad areas music, film and culture”. The next step though, is more interesting. Hobnox will integrate content from talented users into existing shows or create new shows around them. “The existing formats are always made in a way that our users can easily make these shows themselves. Like the iNterview format. Just grab a laptop with a webcam and answer the questions your fans or friends send you.” (Here’s the latest episode with The Ting Tings)
The player does have some problems (in Firefox) though, as I can’t manage to get the embed code or a direct link. But if Noel and his team fix this, I think I can call Hobnox once again one the coolest start-ups of this year. These new plans make it even better. Seesmic has already proved that using your users’ content for shows can turn out to be really good move, as the funny g-spot episode showed. If Hobnox does the same, but with media talent, this German site could soon become one of my favorite channels.
When you’re talking about German start-ups, you’re talking about Berlin. The city is booming. There are cheap offices and a bunch of angel investors of which one might help you to get that so-wanted lead investment. I learned this optimistic lesson at the TechCrunch UK/Twidox meetup yesterday. Mike Butcher had left London to find out how it feels to say ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ and to meet 15 startups – all eager to promote their business. These are my personal highlights:
Undersigned and Chris from Hiogi
Hiogi – the community answers your questions
Hiogi is a mobile search service that is based on a knowledge community. You can ask anything via Twitter, SMS or email and receive an answer on your mobile. I’ve tried it and ask for the best pizza place near Senerfelderplatz. Within 10 minutes I had my answer and I must admit, it was a very good pizza. Hiogi has just released an open API which gives you acces to the latest questions and answers that were posted. Not surprisingly, these guys have received funding this year and won a couple of prices.
Hobnox – platform for professionals from the creative industry
Hobnox is an online music and video platform where users can watch, connect, collaborate and create. The Next Web has already written about this in May 2008. They are now busy with the community feature of their product where you can download and upload the music to the site and share it with friends.
Jimdo – a personal website for everyone
Jimdo is an online website builder. You can create your own JimdoFree-Page and add several modules to it – like a blog, guest book, photo gallery, etc. The team is now working on adding social modules like Open Social widgets. Jimdo is based in Hamburg and received the first round funding earlier this year. By the way, one of their most important competitors is Webnode, who presented on The Next Web conference. (more…)
You might have read about this on Mike Butcher’s TechCrunch UK: Hobnox, a Germany-based start-up that aims to become the next big thing for people in the creative industries. It’s an online music and video platform where users can watch, connect, collaborate and create. Co-founder David Noël sent me an invite so I decided to give it a shot, as his plans sounded very ambitious. What struck me the most when testing the service were the über cool flash-based audio and video Noxtools. I’ve made a screen shot of the audio Noxtool to give you an idea:
Once you’ve figured this tool out it’s possible to upload your masterworks to a personal library. You can then create a playlist that you can publish to the stage for everyone to see. There are also three Channels which are maintained by Hobnox’s own editorial team and streamed in high quality. This team is screening the work of the community to find some hidden talent.
It’s an original concept, yet I’m afraid it’s not original enough to function as a closed platform. To me it sounds like MySpace on steroids. The only part of the service I haven’t seen on the web so far are the super sophisticated Noxtools that bring the music and video editing to the browser. Therefore, the guys from Hobnox should work on integration with other services. I don’t feel like starting another blog, I’d rather import one. Same goes for pictures (Flickr), movies (YouTube), songs (MySpace), and calendar (Upcoming). If you want to show your ‘old work’ on Hobnox you’ll have to upload it all over again, or link to it from your blog.
I’ve e-mailed David to ask whether this will change or not. He replied: “Good point. We plan to add API’s to sync with other services but they haven’t been created yet. We’re still working down the list of features. Users can simply upload their content into a Hobnox profile.”
They’d better hurry, since David also told me Hobnox will launch a rather impressive marketing campaign this summer, aiming it UK, US and main-land Europe. “We will start a contest in the early summer with which contestants can win a 25K€ artist development package. We are also looking for other means of directly approaching creative people. Bar camps, trade fairs, events etcetera, all centered around music, film, and culture.”
Hobnox is one of the coolest start-ups I’ve seen lately – the design, high quality Web Tv and Noxtools certainly make an impression. If they take the walls of their garden down, I’m sure they can attract the creative crowd they’re aiming for.
Written on 18th October 2008
1 COMMENT 
This is also the thought behind Berlin-based start-ups Hobnox and 
Written on 12th June 2008
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
