Musical Interactions in Networked Experiences using Real-time Virtual Audio (MINERVA)

Project Description

The pandemic exposed an underlying problem common across music-making communities: current tele-conferencing software like Zoom or Virtual reality (VR) based solutions like AltSpaceVR don’t facilitate natural live music production and consumption over networks. The technical challenges include network latency, interaction, naturalness, audio quality, accessibility and a major lack of production infrastructure, leading to a surge of new research in the field of Virtual Reality based Networked Music Performance (VR-NMP). However, our vision goes beyond solving the immediate challenges with Covid-19. We will develop long-term sustainable solutions using hybrid paradigms whereby in-person interaction at musical events will co-exist with remote engagement of both performers and listeners through the use of VR.  The main goals of this project are therefore twofold:

1. To fully establish the extent of technical and perceptual barriers of VR-NMP in different music contexts.

2. To build a team working across three key-areas of implementation of VR-NMP to establish high impact proof of concepts in Music performance, Music education, and Well-being.