Düsseldorf, Germany (November 28, 2023)—Dear Reality has introduced its dearVR Spatial Connect immersive audio mixing controller to Steinberg’s Cubase 12, enabling in-headset control of the most-used DAW functions and the dearVR Pro spatializer plug-in.
The app facilitates positioning and automation of audio tracks via gesture control in a virtual 360° environment. In combination with Dear Reality’s dearVR Monitor headphone monitoring plug-in for multi-channel speaker setups, Cubase users can now use the software’s professional spatial production toolset.
“With the latest dearVR Spatial Connect update, we make our VR mixing solution available to a wide range of music producers mixing Dolby Atmos in Cubase 12,” says Dear Reality co-founder Christian Sander. “This combination enables them to experience a revolutionary way of working with spatial audio. By optionally adding our dearVR Pro spatializer and the dearVR Monitor virtual headphone mix room, engineers benefit from a complete spatial audio ecosystem where they can spatialize, control, and monitor spatial audio sessions.”
By linking a VR headset like the Meta Quest or HTC Vive with their DAW, users can position and automate audio tracks in the virtual space by pointing at them with two handheld controllers. dearVR Spatial Connect enables direct VR access to the position, channel volume, solo & mute, and the automation status. This gesture-controlled process speeds up the mixing workflow and leads to more lively and authentic automation moves, according to the developer.
“When positioning and automating sounds, we shouldn’t be limited by drawing automations in the DAW with the mouse or copy and paste automation lines,” says Felix Lau, product owner at Dear Reality. “When mixing spatial audio content, we should explore the space without any restrictions.”
Pros Talk Approval Tools for Spatial Audio
In addition, dearVR Spatial Connect provides overlay modules for extended navigation and control in the VR headset. The main control module enables direct control of Cubase 12’s transport functions like start, stop and rewind.
Users can directly jump through the timeline and set markers and loop points. The meter bridge module brings the traditional mixing console to the VR world. In this module, users control each audio channel’s volume, solo and mute status. When the mixing session grows in complexity, the “minimap” module provides an overview of all audio sources in the scene.
Based on the selected operating system, dearVR Spatial Connect can run on the same Windows machine as the DAW or in an easy-to-set-up two-machine setup. This allows the user to run the VR application on a Windows machine while running Cubase 12 on a Mac OS. dearVR Spatial Connect now supports Apple M1/M2 processors and connects with Nuendo 12, Cubase 12 and Reaper.
