Vox Augmento : An Improvisable Sampler Interface

Vox Augmento represents an attempt to leverage VR technology for creative musical expression. What are the advantages of interacting with holograms musically?  This experience allows you to easily create your musical interface in real time. with a three-dimensional paintbrush and the ultimate synthesizer-- your voice. As you paint in space, audio is recorded and mapped to that brushstroke.

This mapping of vocal recordings facilitates non-linear access to the playback location of the recording. That allows the user to trigger the audio playback from any point in time by colliding with it’s respective location in time of your brushstroke. Furthermore, certain characteristics of the user’s brushstroke can modulate the sound in real time.

Paint a line plummeting towards your feet, your voice will be pitched down as the line falls. This modulation allows users of all skill levels to play with vibrato and tremolo effects by painting lines that zig zag and wiggle.

The proof of concept for Vox Augmento was developed at the Seattle VR Hackathon September 15-17, 2017, and won an award for “Best Technical Achievement.” The playable demo is an exciting first iteration of a modern musical interface that is expressive for all musicians while being intuitive and accessible for beginners.

On the development side, we plan a few more improvements:

  • Rendering of brushstroke is affected by vocal sample-- looks like waveform
  • Brushstrokes that loop become looping samples
  • Fluid dynamic “scrubbing” of vocal samples-- akin to scratching techniques on a turntable
  • Amplitude modulation (tremolo) via outward/inward brushstroke movement

The "Megateam"

  • Andrew Luck (audio design + implementation)
  • Philip Kobernik (audio design + implementation)
  • Arunahb Satpathy (ux)
  • Daniel Nelson (ux/pm)
  • Michael Wolf (ux/pm)
  • Nathan DiPietro (art)
  • Cory Robertson (Unity programming)
  • Christopher Nguyen (ux)
  • Mike Chokran (maya modeling)

More details on the hackathon here: https://devpost.com/software/lead-human