Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire
On Show 2020
Adam O’ Malley

The project is a Virtual Reality Audio Synthesizer, built using the Unity video game development software in addition to Cabbage, a front end for audio programming language Csound.

The aim of the project was to develop a system that would allow the user to play melodies with several audio synthesis techniques, such as additive synthesis and frequency modulation, with the goal of composing a piece of music. This system is capable of running in VR and has head tracking and motion control enabled to give the user complete freedom when exploring the virtual environment.

A combination of raw frequency and midi note values are used in the instrument design, along with a selection of modulation algorithms, dynamic reverb and envelope control means a wide variety of tones can be created with ease.