Spatial and Kinematic models for Procedural Sound in 3D Virtual Environments

In the last years an increasing interest can be observed for developments in game engine technologies as a versatile creative tool. In particular, the possibility to visualize and simulate real-time complex physical behaviors facilitates the design and implementation of 3D virtual music instruments and the exploration of sound gesture as a result of their kinematic and spatial properties. This paper describes two case examples in the form of linear compositions based on non-conventional instrumental designs where audio is procedurally generated using custom-built APIs in the game engine scripting language (Unity3D-Javascript/C#). Sound events are also organized as a sequence of flexible code instructions, resulting in a quasi-fixed piece duration with subtle timbral variations over multiple playbacks. In both cases, the model presented shows inherit spatial characteristics, which are useful in order to build spatialization patterns in a multichannel loudspeakers configuration and emphasize the strong causal connection between the visual and sonic aspects of these works.