Jennifer Hruska

Assistant Chair

Affiliated Departments

617-747-6758

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Jennifer Hruska brings a diverse set of skills and experience to Berklee as a musician, electronic instrument designer, and business entrepreneur. Early in her career, she was as a sound designer for Kurzweil Music Systems, designing their award-winning K2000 series of music synthesizers and working with industry greats, such as Ray Kurzweil, Bob Moog, Robert Chidlaw, and Hal Chamberlin.

Later, Hruska founded and operated SONiVOX, an audio technology company producing software MIDI synthesizers, virtual instruments, and sample libraries for professional audio software products and embedded consumer products. SONiVOX technology reached hundreds of millions of customers when its products were embedded in Google, Motorola, Samsung, and other mobile devices. In 2012, Hruska sold SONiVOX to inMusic Brands, where she served as vice president of software engineering and content development for the company’s iconic brands Akai Professional, M-Audio, Alesis, and others. In 2016, she left inMusic to cofound 2getheraudio, makers of software synthesizers and effects plugins for musicians and audio professionals.

As a musician, Hruska was a member of D’Cuckoo, an electro-acoustic performance group based in San Francisco, California, in the 1990s. The band was known for its interactive performances, live graphics, and handmade electronic instruments. Later, she composed, produced, and performed The Underground Forest, a musical project and CD inspired by the writing of Clarissa Estés’s best-selling book, Women Who Run with the Wolves. Hruska is an active jazz pianist and keyboardist in Boston, Massachusetts–based ensembles and an active composer and sound designer for theater productions, contemporary classical ensembles, and other electro-acoustic music projects.

Courses Taught (5)

Control Systems in Advanced Production

EP-321

Sampling Techniques for Electronic Music

EP-351

Sampling for Advanced Instrument Design

EP-354

The Startup of You

ICE-325

Producing Music with Logic Pro X

MTEC-214

Career Highlights

Featured as one of 56 artists in The Art of Digital Music: 56 Visionary Artists and Insiders Reveal Their Creative Secrets by Kelly Richards and David Battino
Private jazz piano studies with Robert Christopherson and Bruce Thomas, Berklee College of Music

Awards

Akai Professional Advance Keyboard and VIP Software Awards: Best in Show NAMM Award (2015), Best in Show Keyboard Magazine Award (2015), Music Tech Innovation Award (2015)
SONiVOX embedded MIDI synthesizer technology chosen for Google Android mobile OS platform
TEC Award (1993) for Kurzweil K2000RS sampler synthesizer

In Their Own Words

“I want my students to come away with excellent foundational knowledge about music technology. In other words: how it works under the hood. This is because the applications and interfaces will change over time, but the fundamentals of audio technology remain the same. To understand it at this level will keep you always current and allow you to go beyond the tools to the most important part, which is the making of art and music and sound.”

“When I began my career, I was determined to be an artist but also to be successful in business so I did not have to be a poor artist! As an entrepreneur, business executive, and a passionate musician myself, I have a keen understanding of how to balance and leverage these two very distinct attributes into a successful career. My aim is to share and teach this to my students, no matter the particular subject or instrument they are studying.”