‘Vinyl Reality’ Lets You DJ in VR with Realistic Equipment, Now in Early Access

By
Scott Hayden
-
18

Created by Berlin-based indie studio EntroPi Games, Vinyl Reality recreates a traditional DJ setup in virtual reality that gives you everything you need to start learning how to spin.

Like VR headsets, DJ equipment varies in price and quality, but if you blew your fun-money budget on VR headsets this Black Friday and aren’t ready to invest more in a new hobby, Vinyl Reality gives you a taste of what DJing your personal music collection with two turntables and a 2-channel mixer is really like.

The game includes a few key tools: two turntables modeled to have realistic behavior, a fully-featured 2-channel DJ mixer with per channel EQ, PFL and gain, and a VR vinyl record case to browse and load your own mp3 audio tracks. Critically, you can separate audio output for live performances and even record and export your own mixes to .wav file format.

The game is currently in Early Access on Steam for HTC Vive, and is slated to stay in Early Access for the next 6 months. The developers say the primary focus in creating the full release will be “making the application more accessible to people who have no prior DJing experience, by adding features that will lower the learning curve, such as BPM displays.”

Tutorials are already included, but the EntroPi says these will be improved upon and supplemented with extra external learning resources so you can get a better handle on the equipment.

The app supports Oculus Rift + Touch, although according to the studio’s road map on Trello it’s still in need of polishing. The developers also intend on adding multiple environments and create live streaming camera feeds so users can share their VR DJ sets.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Massimo Depero

    imagine this with a real audience

  • dogbite

    It’s bad enough we had to go and digitize analogue music, but now we have to listen to it in VR? “Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma”
    This interests me about as much as tossing burgers in Job Simulator interests a McDonald’s employee.

    • Spam Box

      Agreed, Like Rollins said, DJing is not music

      • Raphael

        DJing is pre-recorded music mixed and stuttered. Have to disagree with illogical statements.

        • Spam Box

          yea, like I said, it’s not music.

    • All of VR is digital, so is your PC and if you do not listen to music on your PC then you are not affected at all. Besides, this is about creation of music, the art of it rather than just listening to it.
      Decades ago almost every band switched the piano for synthesizers (digitized samples) then sent that to vinyl so you have been conned anyway :)

      • Massimo Depero

        synthesizers were analog, actually :)

        • If they had a DSP they weren’t. And then the samples that the older analog ones used had digitized samples in them.

          • Massimo Depero

            touché

      • dogbite

        And my entire vinyl collections is analogue. And when I started it, we had tubes in our amps (still do). You are obviously too young to appreciate the humor behind the song title. No problem. If simulating a DJ is your thing then it looks like you have a new option. It’s all good,

        • I missed the humour in the song title, but I just watched it on YouTube haha. I agree Vinyl has a lovely sound that is comforting and mostly nostalgic for me, especially if you sat around a turntable with your mates playing singles back in the day, vinyl revival may still happen, it seems to be gaining traction by the younger generation again. I have a collection myself although not using a valve amp, My dad gave me his old valve amp which I kept hidden at their house in storage, a few years ago I discovered he had given it away to an installer who was putting in their new sound system as this guy liked vintage kit /cry

  • I love this. Cheaper than buying a starter deck to see if you like mixing. Also, if this can be brought into VR social spaces it would add to the fun.

  • CarlosTSG

    Still got my decks, but unplugged and boxed in the junk room.

  • Duane Locsin

    I always figured there eventually be a vr version of DJ and a band, I just imagined it the focus would be more performing in a live crowd, concert or part to simulate that atmosphere.

    I have a mixer and 2 x cdj2000s, it would awesome if vr would some allow you to integrate those psychical controls represented in vr.

    Perhaps a special camera to scan things into vr could be a thing in the future.

  • Tommy

    I dig it

  • Tommy

    All it would take is one famous DJ using this in a video and it would probably catch on quick

  • Roman Smolyakov
  • nekrololi

    Screw this, I want something in VR that takes digital files and turns them into virtual vinyl records I can place around my VR home and play on a virtual turntable.