Connected music lover community or music creation application? PatchWorld is both: it provides virtual worlds in which music enthusiasts can open up new horizons for their creativity. The project was co-created by Eduardo Fouilloux (artist and developer) and Mélodie Mousset (XR designer), with major contributions from Gad Baruch Hinkis (musician and technologist) across Denmark, Switzerland, and Italy. (Part 1)
PatchWorld is available on Quest, Pico, and VIVEPORT.
This is the follow-up to the article Are Musicverse the future of music? by Adrien Cornelissen. You can also read PatchWorld 2/2 – What can you use it for?
- CES 2024
- AUREA Award 2024
- Startup Wise Guys XR Accelerator 2022
- Fast company “Most Innovative XR Startup”
- Auggie Award “Startup to Watch”
XR creation for collaborative music worlds: from MuX to PatchWorld
Mélodie Mousset – PatchWorld brings a new dimension to digital culture by enabling a community of creators to come together in virtual worlds and collaborate on immersive visual and musical projects. We’ve taken our cue from sandbox multiplayer games like Minecraft, where players join virtual worlds not only to play and socialize but also to participate as creators or “modders.” We bring this collective spirit of world-building and modding to the world of music creation and entertainment. This is the real difference from other virtual music platforms, which focus more on producing and broadcasting virtual concerts by established artists. The origins of PatchWorld go back to my meeting with Eduardo Fouilloux and his earlier project MuX. Available in early access on Steam back in 2017, MuX was a sandbox experience that already offered the possibility of designing sound machines and even producing live music. Edo and his partner at the time were inspired by node-based visual programming tools such as Pure Data and Houdini. They conceived MuX as a Rick & Morty-style, quirky, fun 3D sound experimentation lab, laying the foundations for PatchWorld’s technology.
M. M. – With the launch of MuX, Eduardo and his team quickly observed the emergence of a community of sound inventors. At the same time, I was developing a creative multiplayer experience called “HanaHana,” in which you could grow hands in a desert and create surreal sculptures. We met at Nordic Game at a party where the rock band was playing on stage with MuX; it was an instant revelation! The world of creative sandboxes, visual music, and collaborative experiences – we shared a common vision of pushing back the boundaries of creativity, me in the arts, him in music.
M. M. – Following our meeting, we pooled our efforts and equipment and created a first experience together, THE JELLYFISH (Le Chant des Méduses). It’s a synesthetic work in which the user can visualize his voice through an aquatic ballet of luminescent jellyfish. For us, it was also a form of testing before embarking on the PatchWorld adventure. At my “Sound & Vision” exhibition at Swissnex San Francisco, we met a content manager for Meta, who chaperoned us through their creator grants. After many iterations, we finally got their support and put together a great team of artists and developers. In particular, we were joined by Gad Baruch HInkis, renowned music producer and technologist. He is the creator of the Jambl mobile application (5+ million downloads). Together, we launched the first version of PatchWorld for the general public.
M. M. – PatchWorld was released in July 2022 on Meta Quest. It was a first step for the project because, in the long term, we have a vision of a global creative ecosystem for space entertainment – a busy road ahead. The platform has already evolved considerably since its launch. It has been enriched with around a hundred new instruments and new worlds, as well as key features such as web access for asset management and multiplayer. PatchWorld now grows thanks to our community. Our “patchers,” passionate creators (around 5,000 active members per month), have already got to grips with our creator tool currently in beta, and even with just limited tutorial materials, they have generated over 300,000 assets. We are currently preparing the Patchworld desktop version for release on Steam. This will enable a seamless experience between standalone VR headset players and those on macOS and Windows. It is already accessible in closed Beta via this link. We hope to significantly grow our community of creators and reach an audience beyond VR enthusiasts.”
M. M. – PatchWorld finds its inspiration in the world of the modular synthesizer, where “patching” means linking modules together with cables to create unique sounds. We’ve taken this concept far beyond sound creation. PatchWorld connects worlds, realities, players, and creators so that new forms of expression can emerge, incorporating sound, visuals, and gestures. We see it as the beginning of a new immersive, experiential, interactive, social, and spatial culture.
PatchWorld, the universal music creation platform?
M. M. – We’re already present on Meta, Pico, and VIVEPORT stores, and our aim is to make PatchWorld available on all platforms, including Windows and macOS, to reach a wider audience. Moving towards the Apple Vision Pro is on our roadmap. This will require interesting developments, particularly around hand gesture features due to the absence of default controllers; we’re waiting to see how this evolves and how to finance this type of update. The question of interoperability with other platforms is also on our minds, and we’re working on developing bridges to enable PatchWorld to integrate with other connected platforms.
Given the sheer volume of work created in Patchworld, we are now developing ways of generating revenue to remunerate the creativity of our users. The solid foundations we’ve laid enable us to move towards professional use of the tool.
To start, we are introducing our in-game currency called the Vibz. The currency will enable an economy based on creativity, collaboration and sharing, encouraging a virtuous circle. We hope this will inspire an optimistic vision for the future of immersive art and entertainment.
More info: https://patchxr.com
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