Instrument Studio VR is a complete virtual recording studio with “all the instruments and equipment needed to make a record”.
This article was originally published September 24. It has been updated to reflect the fact that this app is now released.
The app was developed by Irish musicians Paul Cullen who spent the past two years learning to develop for VR, initially developing a simple virtual drumkit in 2017. He was accepted into Oculus Start in 2018, a program which provides indie developers with hardware, tips, and direct support.
Assisting Cullen are Kenny and Carl, audio specialists from platinum selling Irish band Relish. Together they’ve had Top 10 hits in many countries and now produce for and manage Sinead O’Connor.
The barriers to becoming a musician are lower than they’ve ever been, but instruments and recording studios are still expensive and take lots of space. With Instrument Studio VR, musicians can produce real records with just a VR headset and controllers.
The included instruments have low latency and provide dynamic responses in tone and volume. It also includes music matched dynamic haptics so you can feel what you’re playing. To move around the studio, users can use the thumbstick, click on instruments in a handheld menu, or using voice commands.
There are a ton of features in this app, so we recommend you watch the above video to see them all in action. The developer has clearly payed attention to detail, including useful features like piano compositions being saved as scores for printing later.
Instrument Studio VR is available on Rift for $20. Valve Index and Oculus Quest will come next, followed by Vive Cosmos. Cullen describes it as being built “by musicians for musicians”- we can’t wait to see what’s produced in this virtual studio in the coming years.
