Learn how to play drums, laser harp, pedal steel guitar or a unique chord harp – all within VR.
We have demoed a couple immersive music games on the HTC Vive this year and they some of the most entertaining experiences you can find in VR. Much of it has to do with the power of hand presence using motion controllers, waving and dancing in the air to the rhythm, allowing you to enjoy hours upon hours of playability and entertainment for everyone.
So when we saw the trailer for Melbourne-based developer Chroma Coda’s new VR music experience, we started to do a little dancing in our seats.
Launching July 24th on the HTC Vive, The Music Room will in their words “make you a multi-instrumentalist,” through a collection of playable VR instruments and inspiring spaces to get your creative juices flowing.
In the trailer seen above, musicians strap on an HTC Vive and begin playing everything from virtual drums, laser harp, pedal steel guitar and even Chroma Coda’s own chord harp.
In comparison to entertaining game-like music VR experiences such as Audioshield, The Music Room is positioning itself as a more serious immersive music creation tool, allowing you to not only create beats, but giving you the ability to record and sequence tracks with a full Bitwig DAW (digital audio workstation).
In addition to letting you come with your own collection of samples, there is also solid collection included with Bitwig. In a way, The Music Room is an “expressive MIDI controller,” outputting traditional MIDI as well as the new MPE standard. With MPE, The Music Room can control pitch, volume (aftertouch), timbre and 6 more dimensions continuously per note, giving you creative freedom of your music.
Chroma Coda has also implemented what they call “expressive instrument control,” meaning parts you could previously only do with automation can now be performed live – no longer constraining you to mapping instruments to a keyboard. Drum kits from Pearl, Ludwig, DW and Gretsch have been carefully scanned and included.
The experience has also built in inspiring spaces to work in VR, letting you get comfortable being on stage, in the studio or in a practice room. You can play at the Cherry Bar rock and roll bar, Bakehouse Studio, a favorite rehearsal room of Elvis Costello, Tool and Nick Cave as well as an art deco theater, a stage The Beatles played on and many more. We don’t just carefully scan the look of the space; we record it and use convolution reverb to make the instruments sound just like they would in the venue.
The space you are in shapes your music. Get comfortable being on stage, in the studio and in a practice room. Play at Cherry Bar, the best rock and roll bar in the world, Bakehouse Studio, a favourite rehearsal room of Elvis Costello, Tool and Nick Cave as well as an art deco theater, a stage The Beatles played on and many more. Chroma Coda carefully scanned the look of each space as well as recording and using convolution reverb to make the instruments sound just like they would in the venue.
It’s obvious that The Music Room is targeted to musicians who are excited to explore the world of VR instruments, giving serious artists different ways of songwriting. It will be interesting to see what musicians dream up of in this new medium, where unlike traditional electronic instruments or acoustic instruments, The Music Room instruments aren’t constrained by physics.
The Music Room goes on sale July 24th for $129 with the price including a copy of Bitwig.
