VRACE – Virtual Reality Audio for Cyber Environments

As part of the VRACE ITN project (2019-2023) we are aiming to raise Virtual / Augmented Reality to a next level beyond gaming and entertainment by benefiting from the critical mass of expertise gathered in this distinguished consortium. The ITN project “VRACE – Virtual Reality Audio for Cyber Environments“ establishes a multidisciplinary network that will train the next generation of researchers in the audio part of virtual and augmented reality.

“Study for virtual keyboard instrument and hand tracking in a VR environment” (2021)

This sound installation explores the non-physicality of virtual environments and their impact on interactions with virtual musical instruments. Using hand-tracking technology, visitors of this virtual reality (VR) sound installation can play a virtual keyboard instrument displayed via a head-mounted display. Following an experimental approach to contemporary piano music, in this installation the entire instrument behaves differently compared to the real world. Due to the virtual-physical system, the expected quickly transforms into the unexpected. The implications of an instrument with free-floating keys that produce sound when they collide are to be explored by the visitors.

Documentation of the exhibition at Nime 2021 NYU-Shanghai (China)

The full-paper can be found here: http://nime2021.org/program/#/installation/47

Download a stand-alone version of “Study for virtual keyboard instrument and hand tracking in a VR environment”:

“Study for Saxophonist Avatar and two Loudspeakers in a VR environment” (2020)

This work is an artistic research project in progress, that explores Virtual Reality (VR) as a performance space for experimental music. This experiment puts the listener into a scene with stroboscopic lights and dissolving walls of a large and almost empty hangar. A group of listeners can explore the scene that comprises both light effects and sound. The scenery contains a saxophonist avatar, two loudspeakers and a sofa, placed with enough distance for the listeners to move around between the sound radiating objects.

The interactive sound installation “Study for Saxophonist Avatar and two Loudspeakers in a VR environment” will be presented at the Ars Electronica Festival 2020 as part of the Kunstuniversität Linz SOUND CAMPUS - Metaverse from 9-13 September 2020. The Metaverse by Enrique Tomás, Daniel Romero and Julia del Río is a social and public virtual environment for sound art exhibition and concerts. It is a multiplayer game on a cruise where you can experience live concerts (10-12 September) and interact with more than 30 sound artworks. Download the Metaverse app and enter the Metaverse. Also available for Oculus VR!

Screenshot of Part 3.

“Study for Saxophonist Avatar and Loudspeakers in a VR environment”

Scene and Audio Design by Alex Hofmann

Additional Credits: Scanned Avatar by Jun Seok Kang from Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Saxophone Model by kelumeiguidzyh (CC-BY), Couch Model by Danny Bittman (CC-BY) Speaker Model by Ryan C (CC-BY)

Downloads:

Download a stand-alone version of “Study for Saxophonist Avatar and two Loudspeakers in a VR environment”:

Download a stand-alone version of “Study for virtual keyboard instrument and hand tracking in a VR environment”: