EXA: The Infinite Instrument is a virtual reality environment made for musicians. In EXA, musicians can compose and record their own music. They can also perform to an audience, create instruments, and build a virtual band. This application was meant to be used by anyone who wants to make music. Developed by Aesthetic Interactive in the Unity game engine, EXA: The Infinite Instrument started development in early 2016 and first released on March 31, 2017 in early access. It was fully released on January 14, 2020.

EXA: The Infinite Instrument requires a VR helmet and controllers. Some VR equipment that can be used include the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift. The player will find themselves in a room-sized environment and they are available to sit or stand to play.

The basis of EXA: The Infinite Instrument uses three main things: ringers, tools, and menus.

The ringers are essentially what the player will interact with to play sounds. These ringers come in several shapes. These include triangles, circles, squares, and lines. The player can assign what instruments those ringers play as well as what notes to play. There are already 1000+ different sounds for the ringers to produce including drum sounds, pianos, guitars, synths, etc. by choosing either a Soundfont file (SF2 files) or a sample file (WAV, AIFF, or OGG files). The player can also import their own sounds. The player can change the pitch of a specific ringer by changing it to a specific note. They can also select several ringers and assign a scale of notes.

As for how the player can interact with the ringers, EXA includes specific tools to use:

The draw tool allows the player to make new ringers by drawing the shape with their controllers.

The grab tool allows the player to grab ringers. They can either grab a specific ringer or grab several by touching the ones they want. They can also grab ringers to edit the ringer’s size.

The play tool is what the player will use to interact with the ringers. Depending on what kind of play tool the player uses, they can interact with the ringers by hitting it (like a mallet for a xylophone), sliding a bow (like a violin), and a proximity tool to swell sounds like synths.

The mute tool can be used to control the volume and duration of a sound on a ringer. It merely depends on if the player hits the ringer or holds the mute tool close to the ringer, stopping a sound immediately or reducing volume over time respectively.

Because of the total customization of the different ringer types, it allows the player to be creative in creating instruments. Sure, they can make a simple bundle of ringers similar to a piano or a drum set, but where is the fun in that? There are examples of players using vertical stacks of ringers to simulate chords. There are also instruments that represent a windmill that the player can play notes in a circular motion. These instruments can actually be saved as a bundle so the player can reuse these at a later time.

• A fun feature in EXA is that playing loops show a robot performer playing that loop. If you have several loops playing at the same time, it would look like a virtual band.

• The player can export their songs as a WAV audio file or a live MIDI output for music programs

• Zero latency, meaning that there is no delay between hitting ringers and sound coming from them

• Multiplayer support allows friends to jump into the VR world and make music together

Creating and listening to music is an interactive process. It would be very daunting to sit in front of an instrument you do not know how to play and have someone tell you to create a song. The engaging user interface and the design of EXA allows the player to create instruments and songs with ease. For the most part, it does not require the player to have any musical knowledge at all. Having the game in virtual reality allows further control for the player, making things more immersive.

One example of this flexible interaction would be the hitting the ringers themselves. The ringers in EXA react differently to the speed and angle the player hits at them. Similar to a xylophone or a drum set, if a player hits a ringer softly, then the sound coming out of it is subtle. On the other hand, hitting a ringer loudly makes it play a louder sound. Another example is using the bow play tool. In other music making programs, it would be impossible to simulate a violin being played unless you actually have a violin. In EXA, you can just use the line tool to draw line ringers to make a virtual violin-type instrument and use the bow play tool to play that instrument.

It is intended for anyone who wants to make music. I say that because I think that the ease of this game and it’s intuitive user interface allows non-musicians to create their own instruments and music. This is also something for actual musicians to play with because the capabilities of creating music are pretty much endless. There are a lot of moments in EXA: The Infinite Instrument to create interesting instruments that normally would not be found in the real world. It makes for a very interactive experience and a great way for players to learn, make, and play music.

One pro I can give EXA is its intuitive user interface. I noticed this early on as I was looking through videos of musicians testing out the game. After a few minutes, I was able to learn how EXA works, including how ringers work, how to record, how to change instruments, etc. I think that it is impressive that despite me not knowing how the game works initially, I was able to learn it after watching one five-minute video. Granted, I am already a musician and I know the general music stuff, but the user interface is intuitive enough for someone who does not know music right off the bat. If the player does not know what a tool is, the tools actually come with a text window that you drag closer to read. EXA leaves no stone unturned when it comes to teaching its players how to use it.

Another pro is that EXA encourages creativity. Making music is a creative task alone, but EXA pushes further than that. Fully customized instruments allow for unique playing experiences for each player. The ringers can be sized, arranged, and functioned differently. There is even a setting for the player to disable double sided ringers so that one side of the ringer plays the sound. Overall, it just depends on how the player wants to use EXA as a mode of making music. The creativity is endless and the game actively encourages you to create instruments that are to your liking.

One con that should be addressed is that while EXA is a music making experience, it is not a fully fledged one. There are still things missing from EXA that would be important for music making such as effects, filters, and a proper mixer. You cannot mix and master a song using EXA. There is an option to export these songs into WAV files, but whether the player believes that these sounds are radio-ready or not is debatable. If the player is already a musician with proper programs, they can export the separate loops as WAV files and load them into a proper music producing program. I am not expecting everyone who plays this game to have experience with other music making programs. If a player wants to record vocals of any kind, they can NOT do it in EXA. They must use other recording software to do something like this. Any song made in EXA should be exported to other music making software in order to sound ready to release for the public. In the scope of just the game though, EXA does do a good job of allowing players to make songs with ease.

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