Sound

The Dynamic Sound Environment (DYSE) Generator is an audio application developed by David Beaudry for real-time audio processing for virtual reality, performance, and computer gaming that has been in development for three years at UCLA's Academic Technology Services. This sound server differs significantly from current and past approaches to sound for virtual reality in that the concern is not so much with replicating the physical acoustics of the space, but rather, developing a soundscape as engaging, dynamic, and performative as possible in order to capture the experience of the historical environment.

The introduction of sound to the ETC's historical reconstructions significantly heightens the vitual experience. Through the DYSE Generator, vistors to the virtual Roman Forum can hear Cicero performing on the Rostra, the sounds of soldiers marching through a triumphal arch. In the medieval Santiago de Compostela, visitors hear crowds of pilgrims milling about the church, singers (both liturgical and secular), as well as sounds of people and markets in the surrounding town.

Sound also used to embed subject expert narrative about a virtual world. In the Great Wall project, recorded analysis by muralist Judy Baca is embedded in the three dimensional space. 

Performance

One of the first truly "mixed" virtual reality performances was held in the ETC's model of Santiago de Compostela in December of 2004. Live performers -- the singing group UCLA Sounds -- were placed acoustically in the virtual model of the medieval cathedral in an attempt to create a living, breathing virtual soundscape through dynamic, immersive sound spatialization.

Held in the Visualization Portal, the concert featured four scenes in which the singers performed within the context of the computer model. In the first and final scenes, the singers performed in an adjacent room, but were acoustically "placed" in the cathedral. Thus, navigation through the virtual space allowed the audience to experience what it would have sounded like entering and moving through the cathedral.