PatchXR - VR modular synth

Kinda crazy!

(not my video)

I love goofing off in these apps, there are a couple of them out now (the names are escaping me but if anyone is interested I'll dig em up). It's a weird niche.

also big lol at the disembodied energy ghouls bobbing around to the beat at 1:20 

This is pretty awesome. I read the description and apparently the "floating blob dudes" are actually him on earlier passes on the track... so, basically, a recording of various versions of him working on the individual segments. Thanks for sharing!

Amazed by how many people haven’t embraced, or even tried, VR yet. It’s at the frontier of more than just gaming. Outside of gaming the visual arts (short films, painting/sculpting) and education are being explored so it’s nice to hear there are some music making applications as well now. 

guess it's the quite high (still) barrier to entry

  On 9/17/2021 at 11:17 PM, pizza said:

guess it's the quite high (still) barrier to entry

High end PC VR for sure. Stand-alone however, is very modestly priced and has several advantages. The Oculus Quest 2 can even run the best games out on PC VR via the virtual desktop app if you have a high end PC and if not you can even rent one (not physically, you just pay like $15 month and can play half life Alyx off of a remote connection from a PC in California or some shit). 
 

The quest 2 goes for $300, and the overwhelming majority of the games and apps purchased are $10 - $30.  Hopefully I don’t come across as argumentative in tone here, I’m not trying to be at all, but I would say that currently at least ONE very impressive option is very accessible. The issue there, however, is FaceBook’s involvement and apparent future requirements so I fully understand people not wanting to touch it for that reason.

I really hope we see more stand-alone headsets from competitors in the near future but damn, the Quest is some revolutionary hardware in my book. 

Yeah but the Oculus stuff is married to Facebook, and this taints it unimaginably in my opinion.

Honestly, I have not tried modern VR headset stuff practically at all. I guess I am kept away by the impression that I need a high end gamer PC for it.

I thought full, immersive VR still needed a good size room for motion tracking to be usable (even if the user stands in one spot they still need space for their arms).  Having an unobstructed space, say 2.5 meters square, is going to be the biggest barrier to entry for most people, probably insurmountable.

  On 9/18/2021 at 11:51 PM, TubularCorporation said:

I thought full, immersive VR still needed a good size room for motion tracking to be usable (even if the user stands in one spot they still need space for their arms).  Having an unobstructed space, say 2.5 meters square, is going to be the biggest barrier to entry for most people, probably insurmountable.

Yeah, that’s a good point. A lot of games do require some floor space, or at least would be better with it. I don’t think the game here would really require it though. Many games you can use the joystick or teleportation. Other games, however, it’s a necessity. Thrill of the Fight for example, you actually want to be running around while boxing. Open spaces to game in can definitely be a 1st world privilege (probably still a challenge for those in 1st world coastal cities). I guess I’m fortunate in that I have some floor space where I live. Also, if you have a garage and can park outside for a while that’s another option for select people. Many games don’t require room scale but you’re right. That’s definitely a barrier depending on which experiences you want to have.

edit: regarding tracking you don’t really need space for an oculus quest. Just lighting. Thankfully the tracking towers are becoming a thing of the past now. The headset does a phenomenal job tracking the controllers via IR sensors.

On the other hand, the game of sulking in the corner of a IDM show probably requires only about 1 meter square, so that's definitely doable.

makes me dizzy and want to vomit.  $0 - $15 for Bespoke modular seems more doable. 

A buddy and I took a crack at doing a VR startup at the beginning of the resurgence in VR (our focus was on educational opportunities in VR). We used to lug around our rigs to schools and do demos of Titans of Space mainly (this was back in the DK2 days, before the retail version had launched, and well before standalone models). 

Even back then, this stuff was very compelling (I mean, not this program per se, but the idea of VR - the chance to do things in a virtual space and, for me, particularly the promise of artistic expression). Things didn't ever work out with the startup (turns out ... running a business is hard, and there isn't a lot of $ in the educational space for VR, or at least there wasn't at the time) - but I still carry this love for VR that I've had basically ever since I read Neuromancer etc. and it lit my brain on fire as to the possibilities. 

@ignatius I hear you - my last experience with VR was admittedly not the most ideal, as it was on devkits and even back then unless your had a god tier rig you weren't ever going to even be hitting the FPS you need to start to mitigate sim sickness for those who are sensitive. I'm about halfway sensitive - I don't immediately get sick, but after a certain amount of time I found myself getting nausea that lasted well beyond taking the goggles off. It's funny - I've actually very willfully held off on trying any new VR - mainly because when I do, I want to be blown away. Basically, like the jump from playing a game on the OG nintendo to a PS5.  

Stuff like this is kind of the same - pretty crude but interesting glimpse at what things may end up being down the road. At the beginning, I think we all thought "oh, I'll throw on this headset and live inside Quake forever" but then you realize there are all these things that need to be sussed out first. A main one really is the movement/space issue - if there was a functional way to trick the brain into believing the legs/body is moving without actually having to move around a game space, that would go a long way towards solving a huge hurdle of VR. Right now, you're either confined to a box/limited play space or using teleporting or some other non-natural feeling solution. 

Anyway, appreciate this for what it is - not something I will ever actually use to make music, but a great proof of concept/seed for what might be amazing down the road. Look forward to what the future brings!

I think VR might be neat to create more immersive audiovisual experiences like when you are watching some band/artist play live. I say this as someone who used a VR headset for 1 minute total in my life probably.