Erply’s POS got a sound makeover for Christmas! The new jingles help enliven and brighten both your and the customer’s day. Our point of sale welcomes you when you switch it on and off and during every transaction.
During the holidays, even our POS is filled with Christmas cheer, and you just have to hear it for yourself!
The following transactions make the register sing:
- Opening the POS;
- Closing the POS;
- Opening the cash drawer;
- Payment;
- Opening the day;
- Closing the day;
- Error;
- Buying a serial numbered gift card and the inserted serial number already exists;
- Stock running low;
- Paying with a gift card that has 0 balance;
- Paying with a gift card and the inserted serial number does not exist;
- Pay attention/info;
- The serial number of a gift card needs to be inserted;
- Clicking on the pay button and paying for the purchase;
- Customer not in POS.
The jingles in Erply’s software do not come from a synthesizer but an orchestra of virtual instruments. The creator of these audio clips, composer Sven Grünberg explains that while a synthesizer synthesizes sounds and merely generates audio, a virtual orchestra imitates actual instruments, uses various techniques and hundreds of samples. This creates a more immediate and heartfelt result compared to the more primitive sound of a synthesizer.
The Man to Make Erply’s POS Sing
The most exciting thing about Erply’s new jingles is their creator, composer Sven Grünberg – a living legend and one of the best and most prolific Estonian composers of the past century. He formed the Soviet Union’s first progressive rock band Mess in the 1970s and was the first musician to create electronic and ambient music in the Soviet Union (see links to his music below).
Sven Grünberg recently turned 62 and has composed music for nearly 150 movies (in Estonia, Finland, Japan, the USA, Germany, Poland, Russia, etc.) and released tens of albums. When creating Erply’s sound identity, Grünberg primarily relied on his experience in the film industry, where sounds need to invoke emotions. “The message behind the sound or audio clip is what matters,” explains Grünberg. “When I was creating the jingles for Erply, I asked myself the same questions as when composing for a film. When we think about the services offered by Erply, it becomes clear that the sounds should be calm rather than aggressive.”
In addition to the psychological challenge, Grünberg was also set strict time limits. “It was quite a challenge fitting the jingles into three-second clips,” admits the composer. “While three seconds is a world of time in visual art, it’s difficult to say much in that time with the music. Music requires space and time – it is a slow art form.”
The POS that Reminds You of Life’s Core Values
According to Grünberg, even a sound indicating an error shouldn’t be overly unpleasant to avoid frustrating the person at the register. And he knows what he’s talking about because in addition to actively composing new music, he is also a professor of Sound Aesthetics and Sound Dramaturgy – a subject he has pioneered – in Finnish and Estonian universities. During his lectures, he explains the importance and meaning of film music to future filmmakers and critics.
Sven Grünberg has been living according to Buddhist creed and values for decades. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Estonian Institute of Buddhism and has organized three visits of the Dalai Lama to Estonia.
“Life today is so crazy that we figuratively live several lives within one lifetime – someone living a hundred years ago would have come into contact with far less information than we do now,” contemplates Grünberg. “We live many lives in the same amount of time. That’s another reason why I believe Erply’s jingles should be relatively calm and calming – our brain is overburdened with information attacking it from all sides.”
Grünberg’s Buddhist mindset means that he is an expert at remaining calm and recommends doing so to others as well. “Say no to being busy all the time. Take the time and go into nature to find the space to think,” is his recommendation. “The busy lifestyle is the death of creativity.” On a final note, he points out that a quick Google search is not enough to understand and describe the scent of a flower – you actually have to go smell the flower.
So if your shop echoes with Sven Grünberg’s jingles, it is Erply’s POS’s way of reminding you of life’s core values and Buddhist wisdom – he who understands what is important, will reach what is important, but he who thinks the unimportant important will never reach what is important. It’s just as simple as that.
It’s nice to be reminded of that during Christmastime!
Take a moment and make your day – listen to the magic of Sven Grünberg’s music
Sven Grünberg’s album Hingus (1980)
Music for Anima (1977–2001)
Prana Symphony (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymdDNKEGiJ8
Two songs from iconic Soviet movie Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (1979), sung by Grünberg himself:
Sven Grünberg’s film music (Estonian Film Database):
http://www.efis.ee/en/filmmakers/filmmaker/id/475/filmography
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