Sygyt Software was founded in 2003 by Bodo Maass and Wolfgang Saus to explore the creation of tools that help people to become better musicians and to realize the full potential of their voice. "Sygyt" is the mongolian word for a specific throat singing technique that creates a very strong, high pitched overtone sound. The name represents the company's origin in overtone singing.
Bodo Maass
Bodo Maass (born 1973 in Germany) is the founder and main software developer of Sygyt Software. He first began programming at the age of 11. After studying Cognitive Science (Psychology and Philosophy) at the University of Oxford, he worked on voice based human-machine interfaces for a company called MicroStrategy in Washington D.C. He subsequently returned to Oxford to become the first employee of the newly founded NaturalMotion, where he was the lead developer for NaturalMotion's award winning animation software "endorphin", a commercial product to synthesize human movement based on artificial intelligence research.
He discovered Overtone Singing in 1994 through some friends and immediately wanted to learn this seemingly impossible art of singing two melodies at the same time. While he did learn quite a bit on his own, real progress came when he met Wolfgang Saus as a teacher a few years later. The two talked about the lack of good software to assist teaching overtone singers, and thus Overtone Analyzer was born.
Wolfgang Saus
Originally trained in Germany as a scientist as well as a classical singer, Wolfgang Saus has gained a profound understanding of overtone singing, both as a performer and a teacher. His unique combination of a scientific intellect and over 20 years experience as a singer enables him to make overtones accessible to many people by explaining them in simple, intuitive terms. Saus has become one of the most preeminent overtone singers in Europe, and has taught hundreds of students individually and through workshops. He is also an expert in improving the intonation of a choir by training the singers to listen to their overtones.
Overtone Analyzer is the consequent application of his knowledge to the medium of software, which allows the visualization and exploration of voice and sound in an interactive way.
