During the SXSW Film Festival and its accompanying SXSW Virtual Cinema event Viacom NEXT and musician Hot Sugar debuted a virtual reality (VR) music video called The Melody of Dust. Today the experience launches on Steam for HTC Vive users worldwide.
The interactive experience requires users to unlock the melodies in The Melody of Dust. Exploring an ethereal castle they are invited to pick up items such as a rose, dove or champagne bottle, that have a sound emanating from them. A unique melody will play when three or more different objects are thrown into reactive vortex (more than 80 total melodies can be discovered). Eventually the vortex erupts, revealing the title track from Hot Sugar.
“The atmospheric fantasy world in The Melody of Dust allows you to confirm that any object in the universe is a musical instrument, whether we know how to play it or not,” said Nick Koenig, also known as Hot Sugar.
“The Melody of Dust truly is the first of its kind deconstructed VR music experience,” said Chaki Ng, SVP Viacom NEXT. “What makes The Melody of Dust unique is the whole experience is ‘the song.’ We believe this is a glimpse of what the future of music could look and feel like as you literally step into the mind of a musician and create your own score.”
The Melody of Dust music VR experience from Viacom NEXT and musician Hot Sugar is now available at a discounted price of $2.99 USD on Steam for the HTC Vive. Then from 17th April, The Melody of Dust will cost $4.99.
Viacom NEXT was worked on several VR productions which include Chocolate created by Tyler Hurd debuting at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and Smash Party VR, a HTC Vive videogame developed in partnership with animation studio Titmouse.
Checkout the new launch trailer below, and for further Viacom NEXT updates keep reading VRFocus.