LoLa
A low latency, high quality audio/video transmission system for network musical performances and interaction developed by Conservatorio di Musica "Giuseppe Tartini" from Trieste (Italy) in collaboration with GARR, the Italian Research and Academic Network.



About LoLa

LoLa project aims to enable real time musical performances where musicians are physically located in remote sites, connected by advanced network services, like the ones provided by the NRENs and GEANT and other International backbones.
The project motivation comes directly from musicians who are currently engaged into many geographically distributed activities (Concerts, MasterClasses, Teaching, Recording Sessions, etc.) which require them a lot of travel and result in a big time waste.

LoLa provides a tool which permits musicians to perform many more rehearsals before a concert, for example, giving them much more time to refine the performance before they join together for the event; they can engage in MasterClasses teaching students around the world even when they are located in distant sites, including the ability to perform together with the student during the lesson, and enabling many more students to participate without the need of travel; they can take part in recording sessions without the need to travel to the recording studio, etc. But LoLa provides also the ability to perform real concerts for the public, with distributed performers, and distributed audience, too. It thus opens a new fully unexplored performance scenario, with new challenges and new opportunities.

LoLa is a project developed by Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Tartini from Trieste (Italy) in collaboration with GARR, the Italian Research and Academic Network, and was conceived in 2005 after a demonstration of the first intercontinental viola MasterClass between the GARR National User’s Conference in Pisa (Italy) and the New World Symphony music academy in Miami (USA).

LoLa was first demonstrated in public in 2010, with a piano duo concert between Conservatorio Tartini in Trieste and IRCAM in Paris, and is now deployed in a large number of institutions around the world (LoLa installations), all connected to their national research and education network.

The project research and development team is composed by Massimo Parovel (project supervisor), Paolo Pachini (project coordinator), Stefano Bonetti (current system designer and lead software engineer since 2012), Carlo Drioli (former system designer and software engineer), Nicola Buso (former audio engineer and musical advisor) from Conservatorio Tartini, and Claudio Allocchio (network engineer and tester) from GARR.

NEWS

18/10/2019 - LoLa 2.0.0 - BETA 1 RELEASED!
New features:
  • A renewed main interface
  • Support for three hosts connection
  • Support for Multicamera switch (up to 4 cameras)
  • Various bug fixes
Other changes/notes:
  • Starting from ver. 2.0.0 LoLa is compiled for Ximea cameras only.
    Support for Point Grey cameras has been temporarily suspended and there is no more support for CXP cameras and framegrabbers.
  • Starting from ver. 2.0.0 the minimum OS requirement is Windows 8.1 (64 bit)
  • NOTE: This version is not compatible (you cannot call) with previous version, due to the need of a completely different initial negotiation.

30/11/2017 - LoLa 1.5.0 RELEASED
New features:
  • Full support for Windows 10
  • Audio support for both 44.1kHz and 48kHz sampling rates (LoLa setup)
  • Ximea API updated to fully support xiC cameras
  • Video test signal (SMPTE color bars)
  • Audio test signal level reduced to -12dBFS
  • Minor bug fixes
Other changes/notes:
  • Starting from ver. 1.5.0 LoLa is compiled for x64 architecture only
  • Starting from ver. 1.5.0 the minimum OS requirement is Windows 7

30/11/2017 - NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH XIMEA

Since November 2017, the LoLa development project also established a partnership with XIMEA (www.ximea.com). XIMEA USB3 video cameras have proven on the field to be the technically best, cost effective and more reliable video hardware compatible with LoLa. With this partnership we will be able to tailor even more both the technical camera features needed by LoLa, to provide better users' support and to provide custom interfaces and models: sharing common research will also enable new vision features to further enhance the overall "LoLa experience".


02/06/2017 - GÉANT Community Awards 2017 - Linz, Austria - TNC17

In June 2017, Massimo Parovel was awarded the GEANT Community Award Prize, for having conceived the idea of LoLa back in 2005. The Award honors those individuals who shared an idea with the research and education community, and then the idea became an outstanding service for the community itself. This is also a great recognition for the whole LoLa project, which is now helping the world of education, creativity and research, giving unprecedented possibilities to all.

CONTACT & INFO

LoLa Team

  lola-project@garr.it

LoLa Installations Map

  LoLa in the world

Conservatorio G. Tartini

  Conservatorio Tartini

GARR

  Consortium GARR

HOW TO GET LOLA

LoLa is a licensed software and it is available for free for all academic and education non profit uses. In all other cases, it has a shareware license to support the project. Please contact us (Conservatorio Tartini as the IPR owner and GARR as its Agent and Representative) via email at lola‑project@garr.it to receive the appropriate license and for any further detail or information you may need.
When we will receive via email the scan of your filled in and signed license (just the last page is enough) we will generate your license code and your login credentials, so you can access the restricted area of this site and download the installation kit and other items. You will also be added to lola-users@garr.it mailing list, which is the discussion area for all registered LoLa users.

You should also be aware that in order to use LoLa you need a very specific hardware (we will also give you all the needed info) and a good and stable network connection: at least 1Gigabit clean path between locations, and this is something that currently no commercial provider can deliver: only academic and reseach networks can deliver this network service, and this network service is a fundamental componet of LoLa itself. Using m-jpeg compression, LoLa is also usable at lower speeds (but we suggest at least 100Megabit) and also in this case you need a commercial ISP which can deliver a clean and symmetric connection to make LoLa work properly.

SUGGESTED HARDWARE

  LoLa suggested hardware