Handheld controller-based locomotion in Virtual Reality as an approach to interactive music composition: insights from composers’ preferences

In this paper, we propose a novel interactive composition approach in which locomotion within a virtual environment is used as a means to trigger predefined sound events, attenuations of sound parameters, immersive sound spatializations, and reverberations. To implement such an approach, we developed a virtual environment consisting of a large auditorium shaped like a nautilus, where users move via handheld controllers. We tested the proposed virtual environment and composition approach by conducting a user study with 15 expert composers, where we compared the 3 locomotion techniques most used in VR to move in a 3D virtual space using a handheld controller: continuous (i.e. walking), discrete (i.e. teleporting), and mixed movement (i.e. walking and teleporting). Our results showed a preference for the mixed locomotion technique. We provide a critical reflection on such a result as well as on various insights that arose from the composers’ comments.