Physically Colliding with Music: Full-body Interactions with an Audio-only Virtual Reality Interface

A Very Real Looper (AVRL) is an audio-only virtual reality (VR) interface inside of which a performer triggers and controls music through full-body movement. Contrary to how musical interfaces in VR are normally used, a performer using AVRL is not disconnected from their surrounding environment through immersion, nor is their body restrained by a head-mounted display. Rather, AVRL utilizes two VR sensors and the Unity game engine to map virtual musical sounds onto physical objects in the real world. These objects help the performer locate the sounds. Using two handheld VR controllers, these sounds can be triggered, looped, acoustically affected, or repositioned in space. AVRL thus combines the affordances of the physical world and a VR system with the reconfigurability of a game engine. This integration results in an expansive and augmented performance environment that facilitates full-body musical interactions.