VRcussion
The idea behind using panoramas for the audio environment is that the player can navigate within the panorama until they get to one of possibly many unstable places at which point they fall or stumble or flip or go under water to emerge immersed in another panorama. Each panorama will present a uniquely generative audio environment.
VRcussion is a collaborative effort. The prime players in this enterprise are:
Jesse Niles
Jesse is responsible for the overall program design and for much of the graphic programming. He is the first person to develop audio in VR at ARSC.
Bill Brody
Bill is responsible for much of the structure and philosophy of the applocation. He has developed a good deal of the graphic content, such as the panorama, the explosion imagery, the animated geometry and the general ideas behind connecting graphic events with audio events. The connecting idea is to use a version of particle systems for both.
Quinton Harris
Quinton has developed the Max/MSP patches that synthesize the sound. He has worked on flocking behavior in audio space. One of the most significant products of his work has been a communications method whereby the graphic application broadcasts messages to an internet address to be received by a Max/MSP patch and parsed into meaningful sound.
Scott Deal
Has been our audio expert, the reality check. VRcussion is an enterprise to develop a musical instrument for Scott to play in Virtual Reality.
Glenn Chappell
Glenn is one of the guiding lights behind all of the advanced graphic application in virtual reality at ARSC. His direct input into VRcussion has been limited, but his ideas permeate our endeavor.
When we take VRcussion to the Guerilla Studio SIGGRAPH, we will have guests and visitors come and 'play' it , recording what they have done. We will endeavor to make contact with the very large Max/MSP community and develop an on-going dialog directed at networked collaborations in musical performance.
VRcussion is a logical extension to BLUI. It is gestural, generative, and takes place in virtual reality.