FUN AND AWE's OPERATOR app transforms music into XR sculpture

"The core of the FUN AND AWE 's OPERATOR app is its music system. It is composed of a set of colored cubes that represent samples, including drums, synths, bass, and effects, along with simple tools like a voice recorder and a frequency filter. These blocks are accessed from an inventory that acts as a portal, visible only from the front."

"Users arrange these blocks on a sequencer that can be extended infinitely - like a game of Snake - to form their electronic compositions. Both the recorder and filter are controlled by just a single UI element, providing customization and a personal touch without a complicated setup. The visual component is just as critical as the musical foundation. As the user arranges the blocks, the resulting sound composition is simultaneously realized as a customizable, dynamic sound sculpture integrated into the user's real-world space."

"The experience is heavily informed by classic modular systems, particularly the Lectron system developed by Braun in the 1960s, which emphasized learning by experimentation through magnetic blocks. Architectural models and sketches also informed the app's sculptural shapes, creating flexible systems where different instruments and tools unite to form a single, captivating sound system. OPERATOR turns the act of music production into a visual, spatial, and inherently playful building exercise."

OPERATOR for Vision Pro enables users to construct electronic compositions by assembling colored modular cubes that represent samples, synths, bass, drums, and effects. An inventory portal supplies blocks that users place along an extendable sequencer, allowing infinite arrangement like a Snake-style chain. A simple recorder and frequency filter are controlled via a single UI element for easy customization. As compositions form, corresponding sound sculptures materialize and integrate into the user's real-world space. Design draws from classic modular systems such as Braun's Lectron and from architectural models, emphasizing playful, intuitive experimentation and hands-on spatial music creation without prior experience.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine