Immersive audio and Music in the AlloSphere

The UCSB Allosphere is a 3-story-high spherical instrument in which virtual environments and performances can be experienced in a fully immersive fashion. It is made of a perforated aluminum sphere, ten meters in diameter, suspended inside a quasi-anechoic cube. The space is now being equipped with high-resolution active stereo projectors, a 3D sound system with hundreds of speakers, and with tracking and interaction mechanisms. The Allosphere allows for the exploration of large-scale data sets in an environment that is at the same time multimodal, multimedia, multi-user, immersive, and interactive. This novel and unique instrument will be used for research into scientific visualization/auralization and d ata exploration, and as a research environment for behavioral and cognitive scientists. It will also serve as a research an d performance space for artists exploring new forms of art. In particular, the Allosphere has been carefully designed to allow for immersive music applications. In this paper, we give an overview of the instrument, focusing on the audio subsystem. We present first results and our experiences in developing and using the Allosphere in several prototype projects.

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