Drum Saber is a prototype for a two-player rhythm game where one player in virtual reality competes against another “player” outside of virtual reality, playing a real life drum kit. With each strike of the kick and snare drums, MIDI signals are routed through Unity using Keijiro Takahashi’s MidiJack plugin to generate blocks for the player in VR to slice with their virtual swords. Art assets were provided by XR artist Kevin Ang, and also synchronized with the music based on amplitude.
This demo provides a limited example of how popular rhythm games like Beat Saber can be reworked to sync with a live performance. Here it is only applied to a drum kit, but it can easily be reapplied to any instrument or sound, and reconfigured into any gameplay element. This has massive implications, including the power to inspire a whole new type of relationship between an artist and their live audiences. It is not currently available to the public, but special events and more configurations can be arranged.
Jason Gluck 