I really liked the concept of this one, but it was a little hard to use at times. I've tried to do something similar in the past with a flute, but I stopped pretty early on due to how hard it is to map an instrument's fingerings to a VR controller. You definitely have my respect for seeing it through to the end. I know a previous comment mentioned having the notes update in realtime which I also wished was the case, but I understand why you went for the approach you did as handling the inputs more dynamically was the main reason I had given up on my flute in the past. Overall, I really liked the idea, but I found it a little hard to use due to the limitations the controllers present.
Viewing post in VR Trumpet! jam comments
Great feedback. I'm guessing you had real world experience with a flute, too? Trying to recreate an embouchure in VR is still the bugaboo, but as you guys have discovered, so is avoiding polyphony (only playing one note at a time, to honor the design). You're totally right, notes changing mid-blow is hard as heck (especially when each clip has an intro/outro), but its necessary to maintain the mechanic of 'airflow through valves makes sound'. Discovering I had combos of valve+blow that played NOTHING was a frustrating late discovery, but that was due to my attempts to parse the scale vs. the valve positions vs. the breath octave. (Two full closed notes in every octave with only one note with all three valves open? ARGH!) It's just not as simple as Switch(int, bool, bool, bool)...
I still want to do a post-Jam update, with some UI feedback on the notes we're playing. Should be able to do Taps at the very least... The only thing that would take your lil' Groovebox over the top would be what I cannot allow: Multiple notes at the same time (so both hands could play, but that's just wishlisting on an already cool thing)
Thanks for givin' it a toot!