Using Web Audio Plugins in 3D environments

This article explores the frontiers of interactive, modular music creation by presenting how existing WAM plugins, available on the Web in their 2D version, can be deployed in real-time 3D collaborative environments without any modi- fication of their existing source code. We present a system in which users build and play with modular audio graphs, which we call music installations, using both audio proces- sors and note generators, all instantiated as headless WAM plugins, with additional, dynamic 3D user interfaces that re- place their 2D counterparts. These 3D interfaces are either generated automatically by introspection from the plugins’ metadata, or created manually using a dedicated interactive 3D GUI editor.

The entire system is hosted in WAM JAM Party, a multi- user 3D application where participants assemble, spatialize and co-edit real-time musical installations for performance or educational use.