SONiVOX
Business:
- Digital Audio Software & Libraries
Partners:
- Jennifer Hruska
- Donna Hruska
- Betty Hruska
Location:
- Somerville, MA
Founded:
- 1999
Sold:
- 2007 – Mobile Technology to Google for Android
- 2011 – Music Technology to Numark Industries
Product Lines:
- Pro-Audio Digital Music Libraries
- Downloadable Music Libraries
- Mobile Ringtone Technology
Sonic Network was born out of the desire to build an internet business after my time at Applied Systems. I teamed up with my sister Jennifer Hruska, and my mother Donna Hruska. Jennifer had cut her teeth in the digital music space, working with Kurzweil Music to create some of the first high-end music synthesizers. She also had moved out on her own to develop a series of efficient sound libraries for the budding digital music industry. Donna had previously been national sales manager for Applied Systems during the high growth years in the 1980s. I had an itch to develop some internet ecommerce technology. Together we started the adventure in 1999.
Jennifer ran the company as President & CEO. She also led development of all the mobile and sound library products. She is an amazing mixture of left and right brain; having both an astonishing musically creative mind, as well as a keen logical business sense. I built the online ecommerce infrastructure from scratch to suit our unique company’s needs. Donna was Chief Financial Officer as well as a key strategist in all important business decisions.
Mobile Division
Our first great break came with when we convinced Motorola they needed to upgrade their ringtone technology beyond simple “beeps”. We developed a MIDI synthesizer software engine that Motorola then used in most of its cell phone product line. This software product went through multiple versions, was sold to dozens of cell phone and chip manufacturers, and was later sold to Google for the open source Android phone platform. In fact, Sonic Network was a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance started by Google in 2006 to create the Android open source mobile phone platform.
Sound Libraries
Sonic had two different lines of sound libraries; one for professionals and one for hobbyists. The hobbyist products were sold online as downloads, and also through a vast retail channel; most notably through GuitarCenter retail stores. Sonic invented the DVI (Downloadable Virtual Instrument), and over the years building a massive library of sound sets that were used in major motion pictures and super bowl commercials alike. This sound library and technology infrastructure was sold to Numark Industries in 2012.
What I Learned
I must say I learned a great respect for any company that has to sell widgets to meet payroll. We managed to do so, but it was always with great sweat and effort and often without my own paycheck. My entrepreneurial adventure with Sonic Network was a winding road with both ups and downs, but in the end we left a mark on both the music software industry and the world’s largest mobile phone platform; android. And that’s pretty cool!
I had an exciting time with my mother and sister building, running, and later selling this company. Jennifer joined Numark at the sale of our company, and today runs their entire software division. My mother Donna finally decided to retire at the age of 76.