Bright Light Interstellar Ltd. today announced the public launch of a unique modular synthesizer for virtual reality, Synthspace.
“This is an opportunity for everyone who ever wanted to try their hand at sound design to compose and create,” says creator Markus Hofer.
The company says that cost and space are no longer an issue with Synthspace, because the app gives you a virtual modular system at a fraction of the cost of a physical system.
Users can “spawn” as many modules as they choose. Setups can be saved and shared with others by generating a unique save-code that can be shared.
An interactive tutorial teaches the basics of shaping sound and each of the 40+ included modules comes with help built in.
Bright Light Interstellar has also released the source of the Synthspace Audio Layer on GitHub, which allows people to code their own modules.
Pricing and Availability
Synthspace is available now for $29.99.
Note: Requires a VR headset.
VR seems kinda redundant given the variety of modular synthesis software already available, but partially open source is a nice thing and at only $30 it’s harmless fun. However I have to nominate it for Cheesiest Synth Demo of 2021, although the year is still young.
This one is up there, but I’m going to have to submit my nomination for Cheesiest Synth Demo of 2021: https://youtu.be/SzgpcRqxy_8
Please enjoy.
I have a Vive so will give this a go, but I can’t see it replacing VCV rack!
Although this all seems like a novelty, the reality is that its possible that VR or AR will become the ‘normal’ at some point and we may all be working this way one day…
no, this won’t become the new normal, because it´s a shitty interaction;
but enjoy your little video game. 😉
@lala you really don’t think that VR or AR will become the normal at some point? AR is about guaranteed to become tightly integrated into our lives in the future.
The display in my hands works well. Why would I want to wear it on my nose? I don’t see the killer application for AR. It’s not maps or cloth or furniture shopping. 😉
VR will certainly take off, for certain verticals. Make no mistake, there is a future where music concerts, gallery showings, stand up comedy, even a “movie theater” experience in VR will become the norm. Literally will only take 2 things to speed it along:
1. The cost of tech still needs to come down some more, but not by much really.
2. Another pandemic that puts performers out of gigs and makes people crave a “social” experience again.
See you in the virtual Merch booth line in 2025!
why would I want to wear the display on my nose for that?
since when are glasses and helmets comfortable?
or socially accepted?
I don’t see the mass market here.
Social Acceptance is by no means an absolute, it’s fluid. Wearables will merely become more and more normalized. if you asked someone in 2010 that by 2016 people would happily be putting Google Search Microphones into their home, they’d be reacting exactly the same as you are about VR headsets.
It can’t get more in your face than wearing glasses . 😉
C’mon. Don’t you want to be that dude dancing around in a headset and swinging a pair of nunchucks? What could be cooler than that?
And it’s supposed to be VR. Where’s the fireflies? That weird volumetric mist? The unicorns?
I thought AR killed VR.
Didnt hear a lot of synth sounds in a video for modular synthesis. I think it was just the bass.
I’ll stick to my Eurorack hardware and MiRack on my IPad!
It’s kind of a wild juxtaposition of very old (read: resilient) synthesis platform, with VR interactivity that is in its infancy.
If this got to be very responsive, and the VGUI designers were VERY VERY clever, this could be a viable way to work with gear. Big “if”, but certainly seems within the realm of possibility, one day.
A certain number of people will always like whatever comes along, but modular synthesis is already so anal-retentive, adding VR and a user crowd to it seems like overkill. Even where patch-saving is possible, modular is a major black hole that feeds on your time. It depends on how serious you are. You don’t have to write an opera, either. You can just enjoy a VCV setup for the wankery of it. That defines about a third of my setup. 😛
‘Modular synthesis is already so anal-retentive’? I laughed out Loud to this. Not showing disrespect to your comment here!! Your comment baffled me and amused me at the same time. I really don’t understand your use of your words here.
Bill, modular is anal-retentive because its the ultimate concentration of all things synth in one place. Its wildly open-ended in theory, but I had a friend who lost his sh*t because he was missing one last vital patch cord for his Serge. It can turn your brain into one big band-reject filter. Of course, I’m no better than anyone else about it; I just create my version of it with software ROMplers, duh!
Praise wankery. I may actually enjoy some sort of gestural electronic sound/video game but the traditional modular interface w knobs and wires is so ill-suited for the task. Unsurprisingly the design also uses skeumorphism which, although uninspiring, is the mark of some sort of crossover/bridge to something better (just too radical yet). Im not hating on the developer, just being over-opinionated as usual.
or maybe skeumorphism is just a hand-holder for normies
Just had my first session on it and it was awesome. Hopped in the discord and the group is super friendly and dev is super responsive. If you have a VR headset give it a shot. Streamed it to my quest 2 via virtual desktop.
What this needs is a multiplayer lounge where people can hang out and talk to one another. Think how much fun it would be to discuss and demonstrating patching with strangers and to share ideas, etc. Jamming together wouldn’t work due to latency but the “virtual modular meetup club” could totally be great. Allowing people to design their own modules would add to that as well.
Seems to me that if you can afford 1k+ for a VR rig and 1k+ for a PC capable of running it, you could have instead bought a pretty killer real modular synth.
quest 2 headsets are $300, and i have a pc from 2012 that’ll run this just fine – those are ‘minimal’ expenses for synth people. i’ve also got a 15U euro system. sometimes i have a patch going i don’t want to tear down, or just want to explore other modules/patches with no commitments. i think this is a pretty sweet idea.
Modular looks badass no doubt about it
All the cool sounds have already been done by Luis and Bebe Baron
Modules are kinda like indie brewers: slap a bunch of cool eye candy on a surface, individualize the holy hell out of it, and it’s still just an ipa with a hint of this or that if you try hard enough
I’m into peanut butter porters at the moment
With a hint of The Jets and shades The Nightfly-New Frontier
Teen pop R&B and Donald Fagen! I need to hear your music stat, Rio-Beside You!
This is not meant to bring VR to the modular crowd, but bring modular to the VR crowd. So if you have a hardware modular setup, you are probably not even the target audience for this.
Hmm this or my 20 volca setup? My volca setup times 1000 is my preference.
Note: no VR headset required. But so much more fun for me. More cables and batteries, but at this point….well, we all are allowed our preferences right?
been following this for a while now and it always amazes me how much hate there is for new technology
…When reason came out people said … when vcv came out people said … and now it continues
if this $30 tool works for you use it ..if not don’t .. but this is not the last … there are more to come . ar and vr are not going away. , personally a room full of synths is a wonderful thing, this does not have to replace vcv or vintage hardware it is something else ,,worse case it might stop you from spending $1000’s on eurorack like vcv did for me.
I love spending money on, and using real hardware. But try not to be that person that hates on the future and emerging technologies. For a lot of us the internet is this thing that came along and changed everything. For younger generations it’s just how life is. VR/AR is going to be the same thing eventually. You can still love doing things however you like and be positive about the future.